There’s a limit to these know-all passports

IF the old mugshot passports (in truth, mere silhouettes of our identity) were worth a small fortune to wealthy businessmen from Hong Kong (‘thank you, Albert’), the new biometric ones, carrying much more sensitive and comprehensive profiling, will be priceless documents in the wrong hands.

The more levels of information encrypted on these passports, the more likely they are to be the target of identity robbers and profiling forgers, as well as hitherto unknown terrorist groups.

But it’s pointless blaming democratic governments for the sins of the villains, any more than it is productive to blame airlines for introducing other counter-terrorist measures like sky marshals or baggage tracking.

The new security precautions are as necessary as the restricted tolerances of mechanical certification, seatbelts or sobriety checks, all of which we now take for granted. But no-one should be officially allowed access to a level of information on our passports or ID cards beyond their area of competence or authorisation.

That is, busy-bodies and low-level functionaries should be statute-barred from becoming the gossips or procurers in this new era of vital information technology. It would be a simple enough procedure to make it a criminal offence to try to access encrypted data without specific clearance.

We deserve that much protection, at least, from Big Brothers’ little brothers.

Richard Dowling,

Coote Street,

Mountrath,

Co Laois.