The End Times?

New-look passports to carry new ID numbers

Straits Times Article on the 4 March
come Oct this year will see the birth of a new passport
lengthy article so i've summarised
read on..

in summary:

• no longer have their NRIC number in their passports but a number that will be changed whenever they lose their documents
• This was among a range of moves outlined in Parliament to tighten Singapore's border security and to crack down on stolen passports in the face of the continuing global terrorist threat.
• the new passport will have a computer chip embedded in it, containing all the passport holder's unique facial features and fingerprints
• Called biometrics, this technology allows immigration authorities to compare the traveller's features with the information contained in the passport chip
• The new passport ID number will be called an invetory control number

Inventory Control Number?

• This unique inventory number will make it easier to share information on lost and stolen Singaporean passports as part of the global effort to curb passport abuse
• When passports with NRIC numbers are lost or replaced, the NRIC number is retained.
  This poses a problem when lost passports are tracked as there will be many passports with the same NRIC number. With the control number, the authorities will know that only that number is missing

Lastly...

• The halving of the validity period to 5 years is to ensure that any other new technology can be incorporated into the Singapore passport swiftly

is this the direction technology is heading? justifiable it may seem.. will the time come soon whereby that microchip be embedded in our hand / head?

call me a paranoid.. but this certainly doesnt bode well..
*disturbed*