Port IDs adrift at sea

The Washington Times ^ | 3-10-06 | Ed

[JZelle]

Here's a question no one has asked since the Dubai ports deal erupted as a major election-year terrorism issue: Whatever happened to biometric identification cards for dockworkers and other transportation-industry employees? Congress mandated them over three years ago in the Maritime Transportation Security Act. They were supposed to start rolling out in 2004. It's now 2006, and the system, now barely a pilot project, might not be ready until late 2007, early 2008 or possibly even later.

[mugs99]

Congress mandated them over three years ago

Congress mandated something that is still in the R&D stage.
Here's just one of the many security problems with biometric IDs:
"Experts from Riscure security lab in Delft, the Netherlands, claim to have been able to "skim" the data from a passport at a distance of 11 yards using a hi-tech gadget. They then decrypted it on a computer within two hours, accessing personal information including fingerprints, a digital photograph of the passport-holder’s face and date of birth."

Identity theives love biometric IDs!
.

[Codeograph]

This may be one reason :

Company Working for China Secret Police to Issue Passports to Americans