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Technology Exploration Project – M591

Passports and Licence Plates



This article is about two different methods for identification and their ways of being authenticated. Both methods are related to travelling.
The passport on the one hand is mainly used to identify a person and to authenticate that this person is of a certain nationality.
In Germany there is also the ID card which contains the same information about the holder as the passport. Contrary to the United Kingdom, in Germany it is compulsory from the age of 16 to have an identification either in the form of a passport or an ID card. Inside the EU the ID card is also accepted as a travel document, hence Germans can travel to the UK using only their ID card.
German Passport
Licence plates on the other hand are indirectly related to travelling. They are used to identify cars and other vehicles (which are used for travelling). Their main purpose is to claim that the vehicle is registered and taxes are paid for as well as to identify indirectly the holder of the vehicle in case of violations to the highway code.
German Licence Plate
Both methods will be compared on the basis of their German implementation with additional references to their British counterparts.

The attributes used for identification and the methods used to verify identity

The format of a passport is nowadays mostly regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as part of Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTD). Although it is an international agreement, it is not mandatory for the participating countries to implement these regulations and often the passports differ between countries. Nevertheless, a MRTD conforming passport must contain a machine readable zone which presents the following information:
Apart from these attributes the passport must contain a picture of the holder.
The examination of a British and a German passport showed that they also contain the following information:
only German passport:

To authenticate the identity of the passport holder his/her appearance is compared with the template on the passport, the picture. The German passport also contains the biometric attributes height and eye colour which can be measured and then compared to the given templates. Additionally the sex, date of birth and signature can be used for authentication, too. With the introduction of the electronic passport, the digitized image is stored on an RFID IC (Radio Frequency Identification) inside the passport. It can be used as a template to automate the authentication with digital cameras. In the future, also the fingerprint will be stored on the chip, which can then be compared to the fingerprint of the passport holder. These procedures are used to authenticate the person as the legitimate passport holder and his/her identity.
There are also various ways to authenticate the passport itself. Especially the German passport which has several features to prevent it from forgery. It uses watermarks, structured surfaces, micro print and holographic images and symbols which are hard to copy, even with sophisticated equipment. A full list of these features can be found here. Most of these features can be examined without special equipment, which should guarantee an easy way of authenticating the document. The numbers in the machine readable zone are authenticated with the help of checksums. Nevertheless the best way of authenticating the validity of a passport is to check the registration number against its stored counterpart, which can, according to the German law, only be done by the German police and the passport issuing authorities (§16 BGBl I).

Licence plates are different between countries but they usually show a unique registration number (unique for that country). In Germany, licence plates are issued by the local authorities. They consist of up to 8 digits which are ordered in 3 groups. The first group of 1-3 characters states the county where the vehicle is registered. The other two groups (1-2 characters and 1-4 numbers) have usually no special meaning and can also be chosen by the car holder for a certain fee if the combination is still available. There are also special licence plates for various groups of vehicles like governmental, police, military, agricultural, etc. as well as temporary licence plates. The registration number is stored in a database which is accessible by the police and other authorities to enforce laws. It is also stated in the papers of the car which are issued to the holder on registration of the vehicle and which have to be carried by the driver of the car.
There are various levels and methods of authentication. The first one is the mere presence of the plate in the described format. This will authenticate that the vehicle is registered, which is compulsory in Germany. Even though this is not a very secure way of doing so, it is enough for this purpose. The next step is the comparison of the registration number with the one stated in the papers. The papers contain more information about the car and the name and address of the owner. This is done for example on police checkpoints. A comparison with the database is usually done if it comes to law enforcement, either because the papers are not available (speed cameras, parking tickets, etc.) or in case of suspicion that the vehicle might be stolen.

The historical context of passports and licence plates

One of the earliest references to passports was made in about 450 B.C. Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes of ancient Persia, asked permission to travel to Judah. The King agreed and gave Nehemiah a letter "to the governors of the province beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he travelled through their lands. (Passport Canada, 2006)
Some countries still state this kind of request in their passports. The historical origin of the passport in Europe has also a different aspect.

Three medieval inventions made the current passport system possible. The invention of registers and files in the early 13th century in Italy, the introduction of lists with names of criminals and outlaws, and the exchange of descriptions about criminals with other cities, an early form of warrant posters. These techniques were also used by the inquisition to chase heretics. The first compulsory passports were used for returning soldiers around 1460, to distinguish them from deserters. In the early 15th century passports were a privilege which allowed the holder to travel through a country, state or city. It was usually issued for a certain fee by the destinations' authorities. Until the late 16th century the passport had become compulsory for travellers in most European countries. Their purpose was not only to identify the passport holder, but also everyone without a passport as a beggar or vagrant. It was a way of “dealing” with the poor and to prevent beggars from entering.
To authenticate the passport holder certain attributes were stated on the passport such as height, hair colour, eye colour, special attributes like scars, number of teeth etc. Because of their sometimes offensive nature the less attributes that were stated the more privileged a person was.
By the end of the 19th century, many European countries abolished the duty of carrying a passport because of the explosive increase of travellers due to the invention of the railway. Until then, many passports where issued by the destination country and not from the home authorities.
With the beginning of World War I, the need for compulsory passports came up again. This was also when the photograph was added as an attribute to identify the person holding a passport. Although the fingerprint was already accepted as an authenticating attribute for identifying criminals, this very fact prevented it to be part of any European passport. The other major change was that the passport was now issued by the home country and stated the nationality. (Gröbner, 2004)

The need to standardise the format of the passport first came up after World War I, when more and more people started travelling. The League of Nations had its first conference regarding travel documents in 1920 where the signatory States agreed on uniform provisions governing their layout, content, validity and issuing fees, which were endorsed in a second conference in 1926.
These attempts ended with the dissolution of the League of Nations. After World War II the ICAO was founded under the United Nations and continued the movement. (History – The League of Nations).

Licence plates were also used throughout history. The first known marking of vehicles was the numbering of Roman chariots. In the 17th century, coaches in England where labelled with coats of arms to distinguish them. Around 1870 some German authorities introduced licence plates for bicycles. In general licence plates for cars and other vehicles were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century throughout Europe. (Kennzeichen 2007)

The person or group who benefits the most from the use of current identification methods and related privacy issues

In the case of licence plates, the government benefits most from their use. Licence plates allow the authorities to track down the owner of any vehicle which violated against the highway code or took part in a crime. There are agreements about sharing the data between countries in certain cases, but if for example somebody from France got a speeding ticket while driving through Germany, they couldn't be forced to pay even if the identity of the owner of the car is known. In case of a crime other regulations take place. These regulations will not be discussed further.
In Germany there is also a toll for trucks on using the highways. To check if a truck has paid the necessary fee, there are cameras at certain points on the highways which recognise the plates of trucks which are then compared to the database of paid fees. Because the toll is dependent on the distance, this information can be used to reconstruct the routes of the trucks. Although only trucks have to pay toll it is also possible, to check cars. Currently the images taken by these cameras are first evaluated on whether it is a truck and then the licence plate is evaluated. If it is not a truck, the image is discarded immediately (Toll Collect, 2007). But the technique is available and might be used in the future. A system with the same purpose is used in London where it is necessary to pay a toll when using a vehicle inside a certain area of the city.
As said above, licence plates in Germany are issued by the local authorities which can be identified by the first group of characters. On the one hand this can be seen as a privacy risk because almost everybody can tell from which part of the country the car is from. On the other hand this information is sometimes useful for other drivers because it shows for example that the driver is from another area and might not be familiar with the directions. It might lead to a bit more caution by the other drivers around.

In general a passport allows individuals to travel to other countries and it provides an internationally accepted way of verifying someone's identity. But as Gröbner says in “A short history of the passport” it is also a way of governments to control and to monitor individuals. With the introduction of the electronic passport, more and more personal data is used, especially biometrics. There are controversial studies about the protection of the data stored on the RFID-IC of the new passports and if they can be read without notice of the passport holder. Even if read legally, how will this data be used in the future. At the moment the usage of this data is strictly ruled by laws and international treaties. In Germany the digitized image and the fingerprint are not stored centrally . They are only stored on the IC inside the passport and are only allowed to be used to verify the validity of the passport and the identity of the holder (§16 Passgesetz, 1986). But laws and treaties can change, especially under the threat of terrorism.

References

Page revised 2007-11-04 15:24 • ©2012 University of Portsmouth • This website uses wikkawiki.org software.