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| | About the Open Letter to the ICAO |
 | | In this sense, the ICAO is setting domestic policy, implementing ID systems where previously none may have existed, or enhancing ID documentation through using biometrics, and increasing the data sets in national databases, or creating them when none previously existed. |
 | | Although the use of a single biometric technology by all States is preferred by the ICAO to ensure interoperability, "[h]owever, it is also recognized that some States may conclude it desirable to deploy two biometrics on the same document." Already the EU is discussing requiring fingerprints in passports. |
 | | The ICAO is aware, however, that there are contentious legal issues involved with the infrastructure for these passports, including the collisions between the goals of centralizing citizens' biometrics and protecting privacy laws, and with 'cultural practices'. |
| www.privacyinternational.org /issues/terrorism/rpt/icaobackground.html (1196 words) |
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