Travelin' light.Long immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. lines at the airport may soon be out of style, if Oberthur Card Systems has its way. The company won a three-year contract last month with the U.S. Government Printing Office to develop a new electronic passport, called the e-passport. Based in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Oberthur Card Systems is a subsidiary of the French smart-card giant Francois-Charles Oberthur Group. During the first phase of the e-passport project, eight companies are competing for the design. The GPO plans to launch the new passports in 2006. A microchip (1) Another term for a microminiaturized integrated circuit (a "chip"). (2) To insert an RFID tag beneath the skin of an animal. It is expected that some day, humans will be microchipped. will be imbedded imbedded, adj See embedded. in the cover, which will store biometric information, allowing comparisons of faces and maybe fingerprints Impressions or reproductions of the distinctive pattern of lines and grooves on the skin of human fingertips. Fingerprints are reproduced by pressing a person's fingertips into ink and then onto a piece of paper. or irises. But the passport will look the same as it does now. The "contactless chip" can be read up to a distance of 10 centimeters, said Philippe Tartavull, president and chief executive of Americas for Oberthur Card Systems, and is likely to speed up the process. The Department of Defense already contracted Oberthur to provide identification cards for military personnel. The company supplied the cards, the secure chips and the operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. , while Pentagon officials decided what applications and requirements to download onto the chip. "Basically this will tell you that you are who you say you am," Tartavull said. Another type of application could match that fingerprint to a larger database that could record your destination. Belgium already uses e-passports, and the 27 countries that have visa-waiver agreements with the U.S. are also moving toward using an electronic passport system, Tartuvull said. |
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