Sunday, 10th August 2008 - 11:13CET
Malta to have biometric passports from October
Preparations for the introduction of biometric passports are in an advanced stage and these should start being issued in October, a spokesman for the Communications Ministry told timesofmalta.com.
The spokesman said the plan was for expired passports to be renewed with biometric ones.
The complex preparations being undertaken included the recent transfer of the Passport Office to Evans Building. The ministry is also implementing a National Identity Management Information System for all identity management aspects to be handled by a single office.
The office will be subject to the provisions of the existing Data Protection Act and the management of personal data will be subject to the review or audit of the Data Protection Commissioner.
This would ensure Malta’s compliance with new European standards for passports and allow the country to join the USA visa waiver programme.
Biometric data will be collected through a special image capture devise at the Passport Office. Photos and the individual’s signature will be taken at the counter.
Passports will be personalised on site in a security controlled environment conforming to stringent and established international standards and the biographic data and features of the passport holder will be reproduced in the passport’s electronic chip.
When registering for a passport, applicants will be given an optional opportunity to register for an e-ID.
The spokesman said that in normal circumstances, a biometric passport will be ready for collection in four days.
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Comments
You say that: "The 911 attacks are far from being proven to be terrorist attacks, there is still a lot of speculation about them, yet another JFK scenario!". Again, I do not know whether I should laugh or cry. Which conspiracy theories blogg are you in?
Re your post concerning terrorist attacks, I suggest you do not believe all you see and hear from news agencies that are run by GOVERNMENTS and ELITE groups who own the economy of entire countries. Such are the bank cartels and the Federel Reserve in the USA. The 911 attacks are far from being proven to be terrorist attacks, there is still alot of speculation about them, yet another JFK scenario!
You are not paranoid. You are quite right. Whats worse is that the individual does not know what info is feeded in.
Mobile phone
Wired telephone set
Credit card
Debit card
Internet banking secure keys
Computer
Avoid supermarkets, schools, banks, offices, restaurants, airports, everywhere infact, because these are equipped with CCTV's
Electricity Meter: this will soon be read remotely, and it could be that enemalta will soon know what your are doing at your own home, whom you will be voting for and what's cooking in your oven, even if the electricity fails.
Avoid going to work, since your empolyer will have all our historical information, including medical history.
And you are afraid of a piece of silicon? I do not know if I shall laugh or cry.
Law abiding and loving citezens are not afraid of a democratic government intoducing technology to fight crime. In fact I see these as a tool in my own defence.
I have spoken. You have spoken, but please do not be arrogant and put your own words in other citezens' mouths, 'cause it leaves a bad taste and we don't like it.
Not only tracked down with an implanted RFID chip,
but it will be used by the chipped population to get money out of an ATM from their bank account.
If the ruling elite " Big Brother" decide that the chipped person is a persona non grata , the chip can be turned off for the ATM function.
No money, no food, no life.
a neat effective way to herd the sheeple.
Shades of things to come, sooner than later.
If you think Spain is expensive try Ireland ;) Its not how expensive the place is, its what wages you get! Malta can be cheap, but when you have a foreign wage.
Before this change most people complained to me why we need visa to enter the US. Now that the visa is waived we still complain. Gee Wizz dejjem inzekzku...
Be grateful. I am in Spain where everything is expensive even the air you breathe!!! Malta is great to visit but we do not know how to take care of what we have.
Sahha!!
http://www.rpi-polymath.com/ducttape/RFIDWallet.php
Dear Sir - that is not the point either. There are security measures in place with things like Visa for purchasing online, banking etc... Through the use of external keys (like the ones BOV use) etc... With these cards biometric info is different. One is talking about some money in my account which is retrievable and insured through VISA, another is me. Having finger prints, retina scans etc... As per your copy from WIKI in your previous post, is a tad more dangerous.
Having worked with this tech for a while i know exactly how it works and how easy it is to take infor of them - this is my fear. EG one type of smart card that was looked at (not the same as the ID card) could be read with the same card that was used to program satellite cards - remember them? The same type as phone cards (SIM cards) another type is RFID or the famous Java cards - My fear is that my literal identity could be taken and used by someone else.
Through the media we have been forced to build a sense of fear for terrorist attacks and what have you. Now the world governments are micro managing this vulnerability by giving us false feel of security through these tracking devices telling us we'll be much safer. Some people are so convinced about this that they actually volunteering to get this implant!
I ask myself, who will be safer? Us or the world leaders knowing everyone’s where abouts?
Call me paranoid but this is really an abuse of privacy to the highest degree!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/14/human_rfid_implants/
I made some enquiries this morning with the ID card office re my ID card renewal and I was told that this cannot be renewed yet. They will inform me when this can be renewed.
My ID card has been expired since Jun 2007. Therefore you must have been very lucky to have you ID card renewed. Good for you.
You will have to have a new identity card at the end of the year.
I have nothing to hide and have no problem with having a biometric key key held on a database.
@ALBERT FENECH
Time to wake up to the reality of Malta in 2008. We have it much better than we have ever had it so maybe its time to get a life and start to enjoy it instead of hoping to go back to the Mintoff, KMb, Sant eras. Mind you - the MLP are doing a b\pretty good job in going back there !! hehehe
This is not a automatic entry, Most likely if you would have been denied a visa, with the old system.you will be stopped at the border.All the information that the US asks on a visa application, the answers are probably in this biometric passport, so no application is needed.But most Maltese shouldn't have a problem.If you been arrested, be careful before you spend money on a airline ticket. When you do come please visit the Maltese center on Hoyt Ave and 30th St in Astoria New York.Please bring me a couple of diet Kinnie's(if they are not diet, no problem I only live once), should I not be there, give them to the bartender and tell him these are for Catania.Tell the bartender how much I owe you, he'll pay you for me.
Therefore Honourable minister responsible for ID cards please give the issue of issuing valid ID cards the toppest priority. It is clear that many people are against biometric passports. Give your citizens the right to choose. The way things are at the moment if one's passport expires you will be forced to apply for a biometric passport which is a dangerous and intrudes on one's privacy.
Also in the flurry of comments about biometric passports you might have missed the other more serious bit of information : "The ministry is also implementing a National Identity Management Information System for all identity management aspects to be handled by a single office." Thereby introducing a single point of failure for all identity information of the nation. One socially engineered employee and all the identity information of a nation falls in the hands of Bin Laden, or worse that of spammers and identity thiefs.
J Edgar Hoover was the gay mulatto head of the FBI not the CIA.
he was the top dog of the FBI for many decades.
The currently standardized biometrics used for this type of identification system are facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris recognition. These were adopted after assessment of several different kinds of biometrics including retinal scan. The International Civil Aviation Organisation defines the biometric file formats and communication protocols to be used in passports. Only the digital image (usually in JPEG or JPEG2000 format) of each biometric feature is actually stored in the chip. The comparison of biometric features is performed outside the passport chip by electronic border control systems (e-borders). To store biometric data on the contactless chip, it includes a minimum of 32 kilobytes of EEPROM storage memory, and runs on an interface in accordance with the ISO/IEC 14443 international standard. These standards ensure interoperability between different countries.
Well said, the people of Malta do not want this horrible intrusion.
Let me clarify the point of USA visa waiver...It DOES NOT mean that some one with a biometric passport can visit the usa without hindrance.
The visa waiver only means that you can get in a USA bound airoplane without a visa.
When you arrive in the USA its still at the discretion of the imigration officer whether you get in or not and for how long you can stay.
Check out http://www.no2id.net/index
Ever heard of the fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes"? The citizens marvelled at the wonderous gown the Emperor had woven by the crafty weavers. However, there was one innocent and naive boy who had the courage to blurt the truth. The Emporer was naked! No matter the pomp and circumstance, no matter the finery, spin and embroidery that is woven about our little islands, the real truth is that the warts are always with us because we glorify the insignificant and marginalise the important out of sight.
@ Mr. Matt Bonello
Re-living a communist hell? Which ideological text book are you reading from? I suggest it is at least 20 years out of date or otherwise cobwebs are clouding your vision. Are you trying to revert us to the days of McCarthyism and Edgar J Hoover (American CIA boss in the 1940s and 1950s) who saw a "communist threat" in every person who dared criticise the United States and propagated the sentiment there was a Red under every Bed?
GOVT of Malta: This is a very clear message:
the poeple do not want Biometric ID. They do not want your hands on their life. Let the poeple who feel insecure get this bio-id done, but leave everyone else out.
The poeple have spoken.
If I'm not mistaken in the italian vocabulary the w does not exist
HOHOHO perhaps we 'Mal Awgurio' party will write more positive comments. when dr. gonzi will commit some of his electoral proposals like (the Pharmacy of your choice) (Ceiling tax) etc etc
I think that dr.gonzi is on a long holiday! Will local immigrants have this too?
Anyone owning a typewriter behind the Iron Curtain used to have to submit a sample to the Security Police, and we used to consider this outrageous. Now we have the sheeple bleating praises to this new affront. Beqqqqq.....
I am not sure whether to be insulted or not at your comment. Let me explain - having been in the IT field for quite a number of years and seen exactly (from a security perspective) what can be done with RFID and contactless cards of the like (working with them). Having IRIS, finger print, medical, financial records and God knows what else on them is my question.
My question relates to the fact that the technology to aquire the data of these cards is not that expensive, a couple of hundred euro to be exact, the data on these cards is typically encrypted but this is far from totally secure.
Identity 'skimming' - a practice that has been done is is still being done, is a constant threat with these cards. The beauty of these cards is that it is contactless.
This is not the place to get technical (believe me I can) - my question is what is the govt going to do to prevent identity theft. If you can write onto the cards then you can read off them etc...
With this biometric passport we can enter the USA without applying for an entry permit (visa). Without this passport, one needs to apply for an entry permit, PAY for the application, which from what I understand is not cheap AND pray that it is accepted.
If it is not accepted you will loose your money! -- AND acceptance is only to the discretion of the US government.
Have you EVER written anything positive or constructive about anything other than the MLP and your beloved Alfred Sant? You should form the 'Mal Awgurio' party. You are the very definition of 'ucello di mal awgurio'....however it is spelt.
I share Chris Grech's same preoccupations.
"Nearly every country issuing this passport has a few security experts who are yelling at the top of their lungs and trying to shout out: 'This is not secure. This is not a good idea to use this technology'", citing a specialist who states "It is much too complicated. It is in places done the wrong way round - reading data first, parsing data, interpreting data, then verifying whether it is right. There are lots of technical flaws in it and there are things that have just been forgotten, so it is basically not doing what it is supposed to do. It is supposed to get a higher security level. It's not."
Can you please start giving suggestions on how to go about these problems instead of pointing out the obvious?
How would you go about the immigration problem? Shall we place undersea mines round the perimeter of the island? Leave boatloads of helpless people stranded in the middle of the sea?
That there are certain things not up to date in a country (which is the case in all countries, not just Malta!) doesn't mean everything has to stay the way it is.
If the USA -who don`t want anyone on their doorstep but want to be inside everybody`s main hall- will with this passport allow the holder to enter their country without a visa, it means that they will have ALL THE INFORMATION IN THEIR HANDS BEFORE WE GO THERE-possibly even before they allow the passport to be created since once created it will practically allow free-movement. IS THIS DATA PROTECTION???
How much more are we going to allow the USA to control us? They already gave us a container scanner for the freeport over which they still have control (who know if they readback the images or even block it when they want to !)
If I don`t want to go to the USA, do I still have to get this biometric passport?
So anyway, to make sense out of the senseless. The reason for Biometric passports is to reduce the possibility of being able to create a fake passport. Which is why the EU is pushing for this. Now I know it's something new, but it's more or less nothing big....just a new security measure.
Now as for the "what the hell are we doing with passports when we should be focusing on other more important issues" comments... Well should all Malta go on pause till we get rid of our debt, improve public transport, and have less expenses to worry about? Does the rest of the world and life go on pause when issues like these are around. Problems take time to waver, so get with life accept the problem and hope that it can be eventually fixed otherwise keep dreaming that Malta will go on pause to wait for one problem to be over before it can continue improving itself.
I agree completely though on the delay of renewing ID Cards. Inefficient government deparmnents.
We are really abreast of the Millennium and truly in touch with our Euro brothers. What they defecate yesterday, we regurgitate today. So, now we will have biometric passports...yet, not so long ago a handful of unruly bus drivers jammed the whole of Malta, victims still fall off construction buildings and boat-loads of illegal immigrants still flood the country and we are powerless to do anything about any of these events.
We should be put in charge of the World Bank and the United Nations because we certainly know where our priorities lie. Little wonder we still have a PN Government and continue to live in a fool's paradise......
As regards the e-ID, it will be nice if one day I will not be greeted by the security warning while trying to access the government services website. Please, someone from the Communications Ministry find sometime to update the security certificate of www.mygov.mt
We already pay. Perhaps you could rephrase your question thus: What will be the difference in the fee we pay today? Or rather: How much more will it cost us?
The cost for the Biometric Passport in other countries:
Austria (available since 16 June 2006) An adult passport costs €69.90, while a chip-free child's version costs €26.
Belgium (introduced in October 2004): €71 or €41 for children + local taxes. Passports are valid for 5 years.
Czech Republic (available since 1 September 2006): 600 CZK for adults (valid 10 years), 100 CZK for children (valid 5 years)
Denmark (available since 1 August 2006): DKK 600, 155 DKK for under 18 and 350 DKK for over 65 (valid for 10 years).
Estonia (available since 22 May 2007): EEK 450 (valid for 5 years)
Finland (available since 21 August 2006) €46 (valid for max. 5 years) ....
Yes from our taxes!
Bank accounts of the holder will be included on the new E-ID cards so maybe the same info will be on the new Passports.
I think the Govt should tell us exactly what is going to be on these cards/passports, also there should be a Card reader available somewhere (ID office etc) so the public can see whats on the cards/passports.
Why are not Movement Graffiti complaining about this gross intrusion on peoples privacy.
Another interesting point...These new ID cards could bankrupt the Maltese banks as many many people will withdraw the balance of their accounts in Cash and close the accounts.
More than just finger print - literally more - look at BIOMETRICS - it is scary what is contained.
I would like to ask what provisions have been taken in this to ensure against identity theft. Please do not ridicule this, i am not talking like in the films but real identity theft - one of the most prolific and latest types of cyber crime. Having this type of information stored literally is ones identity.
Please reply.
If the answer is in the affirmative, then the new, modern system will be re subjecting Gozitans to old times, pre 1988, system when several public services were not available in Gozo.