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.