Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

RFID-enabled passports take center stage

Saturday, November 1, 2003

I spent last week in Europe attending conferences and meeting with industry representatives from a host of card and technology companies. At home I carry my drivers license with me everywhere, but abroad it is the passport that never leaves my possession. This seems a fitting parallel to the past year–a year that began with a focus on drivers license and national ID technology but has seen industry attention shifting to passports and travel documents.

There are 333 words in the rest of this article …

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After a nearly three-year delay, the Algerian government has finally launched its biometric passport program.

Magharebia reports that the biometric passports, which contain a contactless smart card chip that holds a digitized photo, fingerprints and signature, were supposed to be released in 2009. But the documents were delayed due to complexities with the operation of the project and the need to thoroughly research and analyze other countries’ experiences with biometric passports.

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The U.S. government has settled an infringement case with Leighton Technologies by agreeing to license its smart cards.

Leighton Technologies, a subsidiary of General Patent, filed a case against the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in January 2010. Leighton alleged that 54 federal agencies used its six smart card patents without authorization. Leighton’s technology was also used in e-passports.

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The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) announced that the registration of Emirati newborns is now mandatory for electronic passports (e-passport) and ID cards, according to ArabianBusiness.com.

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Kosovo has begun issuing new biometric passports powered by chip technology from Switzerland’s Trüb AG.

The Balkan nation of 1.7 million has contracted the Austrian State Printing House (OeSD) to manufacture the new passport booklets and integrate Trüb’s the polycarbonate film datapages, which contain an ICAO-compliant antenna and chip module that stores the document holder’s personal data, a facial image and two fingerprints.

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In an effort to streamline passenger security, Jakarta, Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport has opened the country’s first biometric immigration gate.

Fingerprint biometric identification provider BIO-key International, Inc. and Oakwell Engineering Limited partnered to create the new gate, designed for use by passengers with electronic passports. Passengers submit their e-passports and authenticate with a fingerprint.

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The Ralph Carr Judicial Center in Denver, Colorado has selected AMAG Technology’s Symmetry Homeland V7 Security Management System,to provide integrated access control and security management solutions from HID Global.

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