Peter wrote:
I may well be wrong but the passport scanners are everywhere I recall going to recently. The passport stamp is just a ritual and mismatched stamps are common and therefore acceptable.
I too had thought this was the case but apparently most EU counties do not systematically log entries/exits in a database (although some do). The scan of the passport is to check the name/number against various criminal/terror databases, not to record an entry/exit. This is cited as one of the reasons for implementing the Entry-Exit System (EES).
Therefore the passport stamps are important (but not decisive, the visitor could produce other evidence to demonstrate entering or leaving). I’m missing a stamp when departing Caen after a day trip (the douaniers said it was fine to leave by phone…) but I assume any issue that this might have created has been “cleansed” as I’ve another entry stamp from a week later, which must prove that I did not overstay on that trip.
Hopefully the equipment needed to do the ETIAS / EES checks will be widely deployed, so that checks can be made at smaller airports, and hopefully there’s no further changes to the list of customs airports / PN periods…
Indeed it does not seem that the entry/exit is logged routinely from passport scans hence the EES system.
Indochine wrote:
Therefore the passport stamps are important (but not decisive, the visitor could produce other evidence to demonstrate entering or leaving). I’m missing a stamp when departing Caen after a day trip (the douaniers said it was fine to leave by phone…) but I assume any issue that this might have created has been “cleansed” as I’ve another entry stamp from a week later, which must prove that I did not overstay on that trip.
I am missing an entry stamp from Rennes from when the douanes there were not fully conversant with BREXIT requirements and refused to give me/us one. This has subsequently required an explanation on a couple of occasions which of course delays your arrival. Whilst an exit stamp and perhaps a further entry/exit shows you didn’t overstay on that occasion it could get tricky if someone is having a bad day and wants you to prove you are not exceeding 90 in 180 for instance.
How big are these eye scanners?
The ones I have seen were huge.
Peter wrote:
How big are these eye scanners?
From what I can gather reading the various documents on the process “Eye scanning” is a bit of a misnomer. What is being captured is biometric data and from the descriptions of the devices this is to be a fingerprint(s). Doing this on a mobile device is fairly easy, doing it with quality and accuracy a bit less so.
Peter wrote:
How big are these eye scanners?The ones I have seen were huge.
I’ve seen some which are of the size of mobile phones. The main reason that some appear big is because they are a part of the whole setup which includes the eye scanner but also fingerprint and passport scanners and access doors.
Eye and passport scanning could in theory be done with a normal smartphone.
Of course the alternative solution of abolishing passports and scanners in exchange of a chip implant has always been available but has been subject of massive backlashes. It may offer practicality but it is subject to massive ethical doubts.
Interesting. I’m not sure I fancy putting my eyeball up to a scanner after 1,000s of people have done the same thing already that day. At least for a finger print sensor, it’s easy to wash your hands with soap afterwards.
But like most (I assume), I’m a little less comfortable putting things close to my eyeball.
Is there a portable fingerprint sensor which can reliably positively identify a person among a million others?
On a phone, the sensor senses (usually) one finger and it only has to be good enough to tell whether it is you, or somebody else, and it needs to identify you with a high degree of “positive leeway” otherwise it would be really annoying. IME, phone scanners are at best just-ok. That is a very different thing from scanning a passport, on which you just need to do OCR on the passport number, or read a chip via a magnetic loop which is 100% reliable.
This debate is basically whether this “biometric” stuff is likely to find its way to the various GA airports, some of which (particularly French ones) currently want to perform this function only with utmost reluctance…
Looking at it practically, I can see some countries adopting the tech because they want traffic, and I can see certain other countries not adopting it for obvious political reasons and closing the C+I option (except where Mr Macron has a house).
Peter wrote:
Is there a portable fingerprint sensor which can reliably positively identify a person among a million others?
I think so. Most I have seen are quite small actually, but part of a larger box which includes scanners for other stuff. I recall that in the US they had one sitting on a desk which seemed to be the size of a mousepath and which was connected to the laptop of the officer at the desk. Wasn’t in use when i passed but appears to exist.
Looking at some automated devices, I think they would be perfect for GA airfields as they do not require the presence of an officer. The question is what happens if someone triggers an alarm, e.g. with a non-recognized passport or mismatch. Would the cage then simply close until an officer arrives some 2 days later?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
The question is what happens if someone triggers an alarm, e.g. with a non-recognized passport or mismatch.
You lack imagination. What happens when the passport matches the one of a person on a “arrest on sight” list :)
Looking at it practically, I can see some countries adopting the tech because they want traffic, and I can see certain other countries not adopting it for obvious political reasons and closing the C+I option (except where Mr Macron has a house)
Which Schengen countries you think will have ETIAS+EES with finger/eye scanner in their small GA airfields?
