What are ICAO standards?
This begs a fundamental question as the ICAO standard (document 9303) says: “Facial recognition was selected as the globally interoperable biometric for machine-assisted identity confirmation with MRTDs [Machine Readable Travel Documents]” The basic description by the ICAO refers to a “facial image” being included in a passport. These terms, “facial recognition” and “facial image” can mean the same thing or something quite different. The inclusion of a “facial image”, allowing for “facial recognition”, can be met by the digitisation of current passport photos – this is not a biometric. Biometrics involve the “capturing” of unique physical features from an individual, that is, by taking a “facial scan”, fingerprints or an “iris scan”. As the Head of the UK Passports Service said in a recent interview with the Financial Times: “The facial biometric can be implemented with minimal change to the image capture (i.e. photo boots) and application process. The technology is eminently suitable
