By Andy McCue, 6 September 2005 13:35
NEWS UK passport applicants are being warned not to smile to ensure their mug shots comply with international aviation standards and also work with facial recognition technology being introduced with the new biometric 'ePassports'.
The new guidelines about passport photos were introduced last summer but will be strictly enforced from 12 September.
Photos submitted with passport applications from that date must show the full face looking straight at the camera with a neutral expression and mouth closed. Sunglasses or heavily tinted glasses and long fringes that cover the eyes are also a no-no.
The guidelines will ensure UK passports comply with standards introduced by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in 2003. Standardisation of passport photos means the UK Passport Service (UKPS) can also use facial recognition technology to weed out fraudulent applicants who try to apply for more than one passport using different names.
Bernard Herdan, chief executive of the UKPS, said in a statement: "In the face of the growing threat of forgery and identity theft, countries all around the world are tightening the security of their passports to the internationally agreed standards."
Existing passport holders will not need to have their current passports updated but they will have to comply with the new guidelines when they renew or replace their passports.
Comments
There are 11 comments. Join the discussion
1. Steve Brickle
Damn Right too!
When was the last time anyone smiled at an airport?
2. Roger Huffadine
Willing suspension of disbelief?
"use facial recognition technology to weed out fraudulent applicants who try to apply for more than one passport using different names"
How many times have you seen someone who is the "spitting image" of another person?
Exactly - and the human eye/brain combination is considerably more accurate than any visual recognition system.
3. anonymous
Do the technology fail if you are ugly, have a scar, wearing make-up, smirking, have spots???
Sounds like some low-tech bums on seats scuitinising passports, rather than 'iffy' technology is required.
This is before you get to turbans, head-dresses, skull caps, Burka's etc.
4. James Button
A problem for the surgically fixed grin PR and politician types!
And what about the poor bosses of the companies getting the passport and id card contracts.
Will it be possible to wipe the smile off of their pusses.
(That is without prosecuting them for the bad data and poor user interfaces in such facilities as:
DVLC, Pensions, Pensions/working TaxCredits, Inland Revenue, CSA!
As every UK citizen should have a NI number - assigned so they can get health services as a baby, child, and/or adult - and more importantly pay their National Insurance charges. And, the TV Licensing authority know all the addresses in the UK, why don't the government departments have a unique ID and a location for each person in the country - NI, or foreign passport/id card id and a postal address) to match?
5. anonymous
So it is in Canada for more than a year.
6. anonymous
What are the provisions for women wearing burkhas and headscarves?
7. anonymous
I need to get passports arranged this month for my family.
Does anyone have any tips for getting my 1 year old son to sit still and not smile for the camera.
8. anonymous
Not from my experience - and all my relatively new photos taken for health insurance & resident cards have smiles - my smiles.
9. Carroll Lewis
Terry Thomas, anonymous? If all have the same "expression" so they all look alike, why it will be harder to tell them apart. These blokes know nothing about acting, do they? Or, muscular linguistics. In Mexico, the normal mouth expression is a frown. Can we cry, then? Guess not. So the system won't work on non-Cromwellians: Roundheads only. Great system to give up your liberties for. You sure this isn't a GESTAPO Bahnhof gaulieter's idea? The Emperor hasn't even got a smile when he's only wearing a smile, it seems. Not even the Cheshire Cat to see, here. 'bye.
10. Ian Savell
So the technology is so foolproof it won't work if you smile? and of course, all those 10 year olds presenting their baby photo passport...
Back to the drawing board then.
11. Jeremy Wickins
Facial recognition is a technology, like other machine identification techniques, that forces people to conform to certain parameters, reducing humanity. OK, smiling is really neither here nor there, but tinted glasses and fringes? The UK Passport Service Biometrics Enrolment Trial results, released earlier this year proved that certain styles are incompatible with the technology - if your photograph is taken with your tinted glasses off, and your hair brushed back from your face, then when you have your facial biometric verified at passport control it won't recognise you. What about visually impaired people who wear dark glasses for a specific reason? Oh, and if you wear a beard, make sure it is always the same length.
The truth is, facial recognition *might* work one day, but it is not ready for large scale use. People are far better at recognising faces than machines, at least for the foreseeable future.