24 August 2007
The Home Office today re-launched [1] its e-Passport programme and re-named
Borders and Immigration Agency at Gatwick. Campaign group NO2ID [2] condemns
this as "misdirection". The playing up of 'biometric' passports is a red
herring, it says, distracting public attention from the functions of
e-Borders as part of the 'National Identity Scheme'.
Following the introduction of so-called 'biometric' e-Passports last year,
NO2ID demonstrated the vulnerability of the personal information held on the
chip embedded in the passport – first reading the supposedly secure chip
using equipment bought over the internet for less than £100 [3] and then
extracting all the data from an unknown person's passport, still sealed
within the envelope in which it was sent from the Passport Office [4].
Phil Booth, NO2ID's National Coordinator said:
"Dressing staff up in new uniforms is an obviously empty authoritarian
gesture, a piece of security theatre. But emphasising 'biometrics' [5] on
the passport is also misdirection.
"What people should notice is that the new passport system is designed to
give up information about you and your movements electronically - from
passport control to the UK and foreign government agencies [6]. For official
convenience, you have been personally - deliberately - made less safe.
"e-Borders could easily stand for ‘Everywhere Borders’, since it can collect
data everywhere and pass it anywhere. It is no longer a one-off check. It
means a "papers, please" Britain of mass surveillance, where ordinary
citizens are tracked automatically. Passports mark the route that ID cards
will follow."
-ENDS-
Notes for editors:
1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6961619.stm Uniforms strengthen UK
security, BBC, 24/8/07
2) NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the
database state. Scroll down http://www.no2id.net for a list of ‘database
state’ initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing. NO2ID is affiliated to
by the National Union of Journalists:
http://www.nuj.org.uk/inner.php?docid=1595
3) http://www.guardian.co.uk/idcards/story/0,,1950226,00.html Cracked it!,
Guardian, 17/11/06 – working with security expert Ben Laurie, NO2ID were
able to extract all the stored data from the new 'biometric' e-Passport
using equipment bought for less than £100 over the internet. This data would
not only allow criminals to 'clone' new chips with valid data into fake
passports, but could also be used to facilitate fraud and identity theft.
4)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=
440069&in_page_id=1770 'Safest ever' passport is not fit for purpose, Daily
Mail, 5/3/07 – confounding Home Office claims that the data chip could only
be accessed if the passport's unique 'MRZ number' is known, NO2ID read all
the data from the chip on a new passport *still sealed inside the envelope*
in which it was sent by supposedly 'secure delivery' to its new owner.
5) The current "biometric" – a face template drawn from the passport photo –
is in essence useless for identification:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3389209.stm It is planned to include
fingerprints, but checking these is likely to be more trouble than it is
worth: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/6922882.stm
6) The Home Office website on eBorders explains:
“Carriers will provide advance passenger information (API) and passenger
name records (PNR) electronically. Passenger details (including names, dates
of birth, nationality and travel document details) will be checked against
multi-agency watchlists prior to boarding a flight. Under an authority to
carry scheme the Immigration Service will be able to prevent specified
categories of passenger from travelling to the UK (including where they are
security risks or because we think they will abuse the immigration control)
and require carriers to submit passenger details for a check against
relevant Government databases before departure. Any carrier that fails to
seek authority to carry or has been refused authority to carry a particular
passenger, but nonetheless lets him/ her travel to the UK, will be subject
to a penalty.” –
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/eborders/faqseborders
For further information, or for immediate or future interview, please
contact Phil Booth (National Co-ordinator, national.coordinator@no2id.net)
on 07974 230 839, Guy Herbert (General Secretary,
general.secretary@no2id.net) on 07956 544 308, or Michael Parker (Press
Officer, press.officer@no2id.net) on 07773 376 166.
The NO2ID Campaign
Box 412
19-21 Crawford Street
London W1H 1PJ
enquiries@no2id.net
Tel: 07005 800 651
Press: click here
