(Don't) Smile please!

[b:52da219512]Kiwis learn to put faces in neutral [/b:52da219512]
17 February 2006

A smile, or even a grin, in your passport photo may make you look friendly, but it distorts your face and plays havoc with new facial recognition technology. Internal Affairs Department officers have had to reject dozens of travel document applications by New Zealanders because the photos do not meet new international standards.

"It's all based on what is going to enable people to get through borders. If we have a standard that is lower than what is ideal, then we risk that the person may now, or in the future, not get across a border," said Internal Affairs spokesman Tony Wallace. He said there had been a steady decline in the numbers of photos rejected since the new requirement was introduced in June last year. In the first six months under the new rules, one in 14 passport applications were rejected compared with one in 23 before.

Since the September 11 attacks there has been a stronger international focus on travel document security. One of the key measures to stay ahead of fraud has been to shorten the period in which a New Zealand passport is valid ? from 10 years to five years.

Then there is the photo. In the shadowy world of spies, terrorists and criminal gangs, a poker face has long been key to crossing borders. Now the same is true for ordinary Kiwis, in the interests of increased security. Passport applicants are now told to adopt "a neutral expression with the mouth closed" in their photos. Part of the reason for this is that new photographic software maps the coordinates of your eyes on the image. There are even special requirements for baby photos ("A crumpled sheet as a background is not acceptable").

"It is about quite sophisticated software that reads the photograph," Mr Wallace said. "The purpose of it is to increase security, to ensure the right person is presenting the document."

Cameras at airport immigration counters compare your face with the image on an electronic chip that has been put in all newly issued Kiwi passports since November last year. Joint trials of the biometric chips are under way at New Zealand, American, Australian and Singaporean airports.[b:52da219512][/b:52da219512]