Passport, Please. Now Look at the Camera: Crossing Borders in the Digital Age
International travel used to mean standing in front of an immigration officer, handing over a passport, answering a few questions, perhaps getting a stamp, and waiting for that moment when you were officially waved through. On this trip, both France and the United States showed me just how much that process has changed. Leaving France: Passport First, Face Second At Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, I encountered France’s automated border-control system. The process was remarkably straightforward. First, I placed my passport on the scanner. The machine read it, and the first glass door opened. I stepped into the small enclosed area between the two gates. Then I simply looked into the camera. Apparently, my face and my passport agreed that I was, indeed, me. The second door opened, and I walked through. That was it. No lengthy conversation. No complicated series of questions. No hunting around for another document. The system used the biometric information in my passpo...