Biometric passport

A biometric passport, also known as an e-passport, ePassport or a digital passport, is a combined paper and electronic passport that contains biometric information that can be used to

authenticate the identity of travellers. It uses contactless smart card technology, including a microprocessor chip (computer chip) and antenna (for both power to the chip and communication) embedded in the front or back cover, or center page, of the passport. Document and chip characteristics are documented in the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Doc 9303. The passport's critical information is both printed on the data page of the passport and stored in the chip. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is used to authenticate the data stored electronically in the passport chip making it expensive and difficult to forge when all security mechanisms are fully and correctly implemented.

The currently standardized biometrics used for this type of identification system is facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris recognition. These were adopted after assessment of several different kinds of biometrics including retinal scan. The ICAO defines the biometric file formats and communication protocols to be used in passports. Only the digital image (usually in JPEG or JPEG2000 format) of each biometric feature is actually stored in the chip. The comparison of biometric features is performed outside the passport chip by electronic border control systems (e-borders). To store biometric data on the contactless chip, it includes a minimum of 32

kilobytes of EEPROM storage memory, and runs on an interface in accordance with the ISO/IEC 14443 international standard, amongst others. These standards intend interoperability between different countries and different manufacturers of passport books.

Some national identity cards (e.g. in the Netherlands, Albania and Brazil) are fully ICAO9303 compliant biometric travel documents. However others, such as the USA passport card, are not.

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Networking CCTV cameras

The city of Chicago operates a networked video surveillance system which combines CCTV video feeds of government agencies with those of the private sector, installed in city buses, businesses, public schools, subway stations, housing projects etc. Even home owners are able to contribute footage. It is estimated to incorporate the video feeds of a total of 15,000 cameras.

The system is used by Chicago's Office of Emergency Management in case of an emergency call: it detects the caller's location and instantly displays the real-time video feed of the nearest security camera to the operator, not requiring any user intervention. While the system is far too vast to allow complete real-time monitoring, it stores the video data for later usage in order to provide possible evidence in criminal cases.
London also has a network of CCTV systems that allows multiple authorities to view and control CCTV cameras in real time. The system allows authorities including the Metropolitan Police Service, Transport for London and a number of London boroughs to share CCTV images between them. It uses a network protocol called Television Network Protocol to allow access to many more cameras than each individual system owner could afford to run and maintain.

The Glynn County Police Department uses a wireless mesh-networked system of portable battery-powered tripods for live megapixel video surveillance and central monitoring of tactical police situations. The systems can be used either on a stand-alone basis with secure communications to nearby police laptops, or within a larger mesh system with multiple tripods feeding video back to the command vehicle via wireless, and to police headquarters via 3G.

Closed circuit television

Closed circuit television (CCTV) is the use of video  to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the camera signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point (P2P), point to multipoint, or mesh wireless links. Though almost all video cameras fit this definition, the term is most often applied to those used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations, and convenience stores. Videotelephony is seldom called "CCTV" but the use of video in distance education, where it is an important tool, is often so called.

In industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe parts of a process from a central control room, for example when the environment is not suitable for humans. CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event. A more advanced form of CCTV, utilizing digital video recorders (DVRs), provides recording for possibly many years, with a variety of quality and performance options and extra features (such as motion-detection and email alerts). More recently, decentralized IP-based CCTV cameras, some equipped with megapixel sensors, support recording directly to network-attached storage devices, or internal flash for completely stand-alone operation. Surveillance of the public using CCTV is particularly common in many areas around the world including the United Kingdom, where there are reportedly more cameras per person than in any other country in the world. There and elsewhere, its increasing use has triggered a debate about security versus privacy.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology

RFID technology facilitates the identification of objects, animals and people by using radio waves. RFID is an electronic identification device and is classified as an automatic identification tool along with biometric systems. RFID can be used to store information beyond what is simply needed to identify individuals, which has potentially profound implications. A RFID system is made up of three main components:

1. the RFID tag or transporter, carries object identifying data
2. the RFID reader, or transceiver, reads and writes tag data
3. the back-end database associates records with tag data collected by readers

Every person or object that needs to be identified through an RFID system must have a tag physically attached. The tag reader gathers information from tags by sending out a radio frequency signal and a tag will respond to the signal by sending back identification information and/or other stored data. The reader converts data from the tag into digital data and this is sent through to appropriate agencies where either automated identification process occurs or there is human processing of the data. RFID readers and tags must be tuned to the same frequency and the range between the two devices depends on whether the tag is active - has an internal power supply, or passive - draws power from the field created by the reader. There are obvious threats to RFID systems that stem from physical attacks on the tag or reader devices but a number of other potential security and privacy threats have been identified including:

Sniffing: RFID tags are indiscriminate and could potentially be readable by any compliant reader therefore providing the potential for unauthorised readers scanning tags. Unrestricted access could mean personal information such as a person's medical predispositions could be extracted and used to inform insurance coverage.

Tracking: RFID technology could be used to track individual's movements through the use of strategically placed readers and this provides the opportunity for governments to monitor the movement of individual or groups.

Spoofing: Authentic RFID tags could be produced and attached to objects that could subsequently be used to falsify the identity of goods or gain unauthorised access to services.

Replay attacks: Replay devices can intercept and retransmit RFID queries from readers or tags which could be used to abuse various RFID applications.

Denial of Services: Tags can be removed from items or people or aluminum foil can be used to block RFID systems disrupting the system and subsequently causing systems to record useless data and discrediting the technology.

The first widespread commercial usage of RFID began in 1987 for electronic toll collection in the United States and the 1990s saw the widespread use of RFID to prevent shoplifting. RFID has been used across a number of security areas including anti counterfeiting, monitoring the movement of people into and out of buildings, preventing the unauthorized taking of goods and monitoring the movement of offenders through electronic tagging.

Biometrics

Biometrics is a technique for identification of people that uses body characteristics or behavioural traits and is increasingly being used instead of or in conjunction with other forms of identification based on something you have (e.g. ID card) or something you know (e.g. password or PIN). The basic processes in a biometric system involve biometric data being collected from the data subject via a sensor module, a feature module extracts the biometric data and compared it to templates in a database to identify the data subject. The templates are encrypted using algorithmic transformation of biometric samples meaning that the original biometric data cannot be obtained from the biometric databases. The systems that operate in a biometric identification process are beyond the understanding of most individuals processed and they occur in places removed from the individual being processed. This lack of understanding means it is not possible to question the identification practices.

There are a variety of biometric characteristics that can be collected from humans including iris recognition, hand geometry, fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, and voice recognition. Biometrics technology is continuously developing to improve accuracy, robustness and security which has seen the emergence of second generation biometrics that utilise multi forms of biometrics together, behavioural biometrics and soft biometrics (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity). Any biological or behavioural characteristics could be used to identify individuals if it meets the following requirements:
1. Collectability (the elements can be measured)
2. Universality (the element exists in all person)
3. Unicity (the element must be distinctive to each person)
4. Permanence (the property of the element remains constant over time). 

Biometric systems operate in two basic modes: verification and identification . Verification mode is used to validate a person against whom they claim to be and use one to one matches by comparing biometric data taken from an individual to a biometric template stored in a database. Verification relies on individuals enrolling on the system and registering their identity prior to providing biometric samples which is a massive administrative task when applied to international border control. Identification mode uses a one to many match and searches all the templates in a database to identify an individual therefore the system does not need the compliance of the data subject. The accuracy of biometric technology depends on the accuracy and number of records within the databases.

Biometric systems are not perfect and systems compare data collected from the data subject to algorithms to determine identification and, where matches are sufficiently close, they will indicate a match. Biometrics systems rely on matching data to algorithms but they 'make two types of errors: 1) mistaking the biometric measurement from two different persons to be from the same person (called false match) and 2) mistaking two biometric measurements from two different persons to be from the same person (CALLED). Biometrics systems view the natural patterns of the body as a 'source of order' and 'a source of unprecedented accuracy and precision. The body is a form of information and this can supersede and make redundant the 'talking individual, who owns the body, and they have been criticized for treating individuals as objects.