Passports are moving to the CLOUD: Would YOU trust YOUR travel documents online?

Australians could soon become the first citizens without a paper copy of their passport

PAPER passports could soon be a thing of the past.

 

Australians could soon become the first citizens without a paper copy of their passport.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has endorsed a new proposal which would see Australians travel without a physical copy of their passport.

Instead, the crucial travel document would be replaced by a digital passport, which would include obfuscated identity and biometrics data.

The cloud-based passport would be kept online and then downloaded or accessed by customs agents across the globe as required.

 

The all-digital Australian passport was first proposed at a diplomacy-focused hackathon at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra, Fairfax Media reported.

Ms Bishop said: "We're in discussions with New Zealand and if we're able to put in place the appropriate requirements, including security, then it's something we'd like to trial and implement."

She told Fairfax Media the paperless passport trial could later expand from New Zealand to the entire world.

 

British passports currently hold name, images and passport number on a small chip

The passport could be replaced by a digital passport, which would be stored securely in the cloud

The Australian Foreign Affairs Minister reiterated that keeping citizens' data secure was of the upmost importance when considering cloud passports.

"Australia prides itself on having one of the most secure passports in the world, but by embracing and harnessing new technologies, we might be able to do better," she added.

Like British passport holders, Australians already have access to ePassports, which have been issued as standard since 2005.

An ePassport is fitted with a small chip that stores some information on the passport holder, including a photo, name, sex and passport number.

 

ePassports currently allow travellers to pass through an automated customs machine without speaking to a border control officer.

Cloud passports would simply move this local information to the cloud – and ditch the paper booklet, too.

The use of images pulled from passports and drivers' licenses for purposes beyond their original intent is already a matter of debate in Australia.

The Australian Government last month announced it would be spending some 18.5 million Australian Dollars, some £8.5million, on a new scheme dubbed the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability.

The futuristic system allows law enforcement and other agencies across the country to examine and match millions of photographs of Australians held in existing databases and pin-point a criminal suspects.