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by ajdlinux 2844 days ago
In the Anglosphere we've traditionally been quite wary of national ID databases for our own citizens, for better or worse.

Most governments of foreign countries I have visited (US, many parts of Asia) have my fingerprints. The Australian government doesn't (to my knowledge, anyway).
1 comments
A2017U1 2844 days ago
Any Australian with a driver's license or passport most definitely has their facial biometrics stored. Any visitor to the country also is subject to it.

This has been in existence for over a decade and I'm astonished people aren't aware of that.

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ajdlinux 2844 days ago
Right, I do know that (The Capability(tm)!) and for some reason I just mentally exclude facial recognition from the term "biometrics". OP specifically said "at least fingerprints" - it's good to have a reminder that facial biometrics still count as biometrics too, and they're lower on the hierarchy than fingerprints.
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A2017U1 2842 days ago
From my experience going from clean shaven to a small beard can throw the whole system off and requires manual intervention rather than going through the automatic gates. Fingerprints surely would be more accurate.

Have no idea whether foreigners have to give fingerprint scans at Australian customs, it's common practice throughout Asia.

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