Clear passage for E-passports

2005-09-28

At the local multiplex cinema, movie-goers sit riveted as this year’s James Bond attempts to foil his newest arch rival’s evil plot. To outsmart the villain, Bond will rely on a wide array of technologically-advanced weapons and gadgets which he keeps stashed away in a black briefcase that also contains enough cash and forged passports to keep his identity a secret as his pursuit takes him from country to country. On screen, Bond’s mission may well succeed, but in reality, it’s about to get a lot harder for him, or anyone else to cross a border using a fake passport, thanks in part to a new international standard.

While efforts to improve traveller safety and protect our borders have only recently begun receiving top billing, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Committee’s (IEC) Joint Committee on Information Technology (JTC 1) have actually been working since the early 1980s to improve passport security.

Now, an international working group on machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs) is preparing to release the first version of a standard for ePassports – a travel document containing contactless chips that will store information about the bearer.

"The goal is to create a more secure passport," says Joel Shaw, a Canadian and CEO of BioDentity Systems Corporation. "Security and public safety are at stake as well as the facilitation of millions of people travelling across the world."

Canadians have been participating in the ISO and IEC through the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) ever since SCC became Canada’s national standardization body in 1970. Thousands of Canadians have represented Canada at the international level greatly contributing to the development and application of security standards.

In fact, it was Canada (SCC) that first proposed the work item which eventually led to the creation of a working group devoted specifically to developing the machine-readable technology.

"Canada has played a major role in creating the single largest public participation in a biometric scheme ever undertaken,” says Shaw who is also convenor of the working group on MRTDs. “The only way we could have set in motion such an undertaking is by first creating standards."

The world’s first standard for MRTDs was developed in 1980 by the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency responsible for setting standards for aviation safety, security, efficiency and regularity. In 1985, the ISO/IEC joint committee followed up with its own standard, ISO/IEC 7501-1.

By 1988, there was a realization that two competing standards would only cause confusion as processing machines in one country wouldn’t read a passport from another. Therefore a working relationship was negotiated between the two organizations.

The ICAO, which represents the interests of governments, would develop specifications based on the needs identified by its member countries. ISO and IEC would provide the technical assistance and reference the specifications in international standards.

"In the end, the standards are the full-fledged collaborative achievement of governments from around the world and technical experts," says Shaw.

By 1990, this collaboration had resulted in three standards for passports, visas and official documents of identity, setting out requirements for size, layout and content. For extra security, OCR-B font – which works much like a barcode but uses characters rather than lines – was introduced to securely store information about the bearer.

In the ensuing years, JTC 1 and ICAO developed the machine-readable documents, evolving them alongside new technologies. In 1998, SCC proposed creating the working group for MRTDs and has since provided the convenor and secretariat for the group.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, in an effort to enhance security, the United States began pushing for faster development of the new travel documents. They also made it a requirement for countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program to adopt MRTDs.

This led to pressures on the working group to speed up development on the ePassport standard.

"We have literally raced for the past four years to create a complete set of standards for the ePassport," says Shaw. "As a result, nearly 40 countries will start issuing ePassports by October of 2006."

Although Canada and the U.S. have an arrangement allowing for Canadians and Americans to cross the border without passports, Canada will be one country adopting the new ePassports.

A passport is the most important identity document a traveller can carry. Canada’s little blue book is internationally respected and one of the most secure documents in the world.

"This means people are going to be carrying a document that will meet and probably exceed the stringent international specifications," says Lynn Brunette of Passport Canada. "We’re trying to ensure that it’s as secure as it possibly can be."

The new features of the e-Passports will allow for quick and precise identification that also guarantees safety and security.

But, the rush to implement these passports has placed an additional challenge on the individuals working to create the standards. Shaw says the working group now has the task of ensuring no one gets ahead of the technology.

"Security and public safety are at stake here," he says. "We are trying to make sure that the fast track process does not give birth to a technology bomb that blows up in our collective faces."

Still, Shaw says the working group’s accomplishments have been great.

"We introduced and perfected a biometrically enabled passport and established it as a global standard," he says. "And we did this largely over the last four years as government’s pushed for its immediate use as one of the measures they wanted to deploy to help them deal with terrorism."

Shaw says while their priority at the moment is finalizing the ePassport standard, the working group is also working on standards for eVisas and eOfficial Documents of Identity. This includes any documents that can be used in place of a passport to gain access into a country.

But, the standards that arise from the working group won’t just stop at travel documents. According to Shaw, this work can go much farther.

"We added a range of card storage technologies and made them work in the special world called machine-readable travel documents," he says. "This has equally created a road map for other markets to follow."

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