UK: Don't smile for passport photos - face scanners limitations

[Bill Stewart]

This'll probably apply to the UK's new National ID cards if they ever 
approve them.


http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20050906T030000-0500_87710_OBS__DON_T_SMILE_FOR_PASSPORT_PHOTOS__.asp

'Don't smile for passport photos'
AFP
Tuesday, September 06, 2005

LONDON, England (AFP) - Britons are being told not to smile for photographs 
when applying for new passports to avoid confusing new security scanners 
introduced at airports worldwide, officials said yesterday.

Passport applicants from next week must keep their mouths closed and retain 
a neutral expression to meet new facial recognition technology being used 
in airport scanners, they said.

The new international requirements were announced in August 2003 as part of 
a process to enable production of new, more secure biometric "ePassports" 
with facial recognition technology, the United Kingdom Passport Service 
said on its website.

By 2008 it is hoped that fingerprint identification will also be used in 
passports.
Britain is among the first countries to implement the new requirements, a 
spokesman at the Home Office (interior ministry) said.

There were concerns that Britain would not meet the United States deadline 
for passport changes, which was brought forward in the wake of the 
September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States, the spokesman said.
Without the new ePassports, visitors would have to apply for visas, the 
spokesman said.

However, the United States has not been able to keep up with its own 
deadline, delaying it twice, leaving Britain enough time to implement the 
new requirements, he added.
The security scanners are reported to work by matching key points on the 
holder's face, such as the mouth and eyes, with the photograph.

The new rules, according to one report, say "photographs must show no 
shadows: your face looking straight at the camera, a neutral expression, 
with your mouth closed".

Eyes must be open and clearly visible, and there must be no sunglasses, 
tinted glasses or hair across the eyes, it added.