Paper passports may soon become obsolete

According to Techspot , many countries around the world such as Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, the UAE, the UK, Italy, the US and India, have been actively testing projects that allow travel without traditional paper passports. In Singapore, citizens can already cross borders without a paper passport, and this will soon be extended to tourists.

Many countries are testing digital passports with positive results.

The technology is based on the concept of the Digital Travel Certificate (DTC), developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The DTC consists of a virtual part containing information similar to that in a passport chip, combined with a physical part on the user's smartphone, linked by cryptographic authentication. Preliminary tests have shown promising results. In Finland, a pilot project allowed identity verification in just 8 seconds, while the digital process took just 2 seconds.

Many challenges for "digital passports"

But while the prospect of reducing airport queues is appealing, the shift to digital documents also raises privacy and security concerns. Experts warn about the technology’s lack of transparency, the risk of data breaches, and the potential for citizen surveillance. “We really don’t know how secure these systems are,” said Udbhav Tiwari, Mozilla’s director of global product policy.

Another important issue is data management. Adam Tsao, Digital Identity Project Manager at Entrust, emphasizes the importance of restricting access to data and only providing necessary information for a limited time. However, achieving this requires a lot of effort.

The use of biometric identification at airports has also been controversial. In India, the Digi Yatra facial recognition system has been criticized for its mandatory nature. The country plans to expand Digi Yatra to foreign nationals by 2025 and introduce the technology at hotels and historical sites, which will continue to raise discussions about data privacy.

Whether digital systems can completely replace traditional passports remains an open question. While the technology is advancing rapidly, the transition to digital documents requires addressing a number of legal, technical, and ethical issues.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ho-chieu-giay-co-the-som-tro-nen-loi-thoi-185241230083728735.htm