# Passport security features **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418 "2004-01-08T14:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418/1 "2004-01-08T14:23:13Z")
All these news stories about terrorists getting around on fake passports begs the question: Why are our passports so unsecure? You could never get a fake $20 bill past a trained security personnel with some sort of verification system. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418/2 "2004-01-08T14:46:53Z")
They have an awful lot of money to throw at the problem. Plus it is sufficient for their purposes to start with a good document (possibly stolen) and only change the photo. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418/3 "2004-01-08T14:53:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*They have an awful lot of money to throw at the problem. Plus it is sufficient for their purposes to start with a good document (possibly stolen) and only change the photo. \*\* There are measures that the US could take to make the cost/time involved in making fake passports prohibitive. Hell, the DMV in NYC keeps a photo on file. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418/4 "2004-01-08T15:10:05Z")
Aha, further research reveals there will be new passport security measures in place by 2006: > **[The latest from the StarTribune](https://www.startribune.com/)** > > Follow the StarTribune for the news, photos and videos from the Twin Cities and beyond. > [@](#): > > The new “smart passports” will use facial-recognition technology, Moss said in Minneapolis earlier this month. That means they’ll have “embedded biometrics” – a computer chip with identity information embedded in a thicker back cover. . .Passports no longer carry pasted-in photographs. Instead, the bearer’s image, with a shiny holograph over it, is laminated onto the ID page. . .It’s based on “eigenface” measurements – ones you can’t disguise with superficial changes like cutting your hair, getting glasses, losing weight or growing a beard. ---
**Author:** ![fezpp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fezpp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fezpp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418/5 "2004-01-08T15:44:06Z")
To outline the differences between passports and money: 1. Passports have to be made in a number of localised centres and contain information specific to a particular person. Banknotes are identical other than a serial number. 2. Passports differ (but need to be recognised) for every country of the world. Your grocery store might be able to recognise a fake buck but how about a fake Guatemalan Quetzal?? 3. Even new high-tech passports will have to have low-tech representation of data as well for that summer trip to Azerbaijan. P. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-security-features/223418/6 "2004-01-08T22:40:36Z")
Also - those of us that fall under the visa waiver program will have to carry machine-readable passports as of October this year. If we don’t, then we have to have a visa. Problem is, I think few, if any, EU countries have issued these types of passports. [Pit Hijack] The paranoia is spreading [PH]