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Tech

Australia Plans to Replace Passports with Facial Recognition

They'll start testing at Canberra Airport in July.
Image: Montri Nipitvittaya/Shutterstock

Can't find your passport? In Australia, that may no longer be a problem at border control. The country is looking to replace passport checks with facial recognition technology.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection wants to introduce biometric facial or fingerprint recognition systems as part of Australia's Seamless Traveler initiative, aimed at automating and streamlining border control. The new system would also help officials more easily identify arrivals who are on watch lists, and it would be the latest in a push to use facial recognition software in airports across the world, such as in Washington, DC.

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Facial recognition systems often struggle with non-white faces

Though the border officials don't have a particular system picked out yet, they can build on all the passenger data collected thus far: globally sourced and analyzed ticket information, travel history, criminal records, and more. The intelligence in the system can determine which passengers pose a risk, according to John Coyne, head of border security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

But the technology has its own biases. Facial recognition may seem like a seamless way to make airport security checks more efficient, but it isn't perfect. Facial recognition systems often struggle to identify non-white faces, and the systems are usually a handful of points away from 100 percent accurate.

Read More: The Inherent Bias of Facial Recognition

Australian authorities have not settled on which specific system they want to use for the facial or fingerprint recognition, but a trial is planned at the airport in Canberra, Australia's capital, in July. The goal is to have the system in place by 2020 to automatically process 90 percent of travelers.

Meanwhile, it's important to remember that the new system does not do away with passports entirely. Australians will still need their passports when they go abroad, while foreigners will still need them to leave.

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