Blockchain passport - genius right? Passports need to guarantee no fraud, they have regular transactions that should be visible, and we want to encode some information such as biometrics into this. I was very proud of myself last night when I thought of this idea.
Okay, so a quick Google search this morning revealed, it isn't an original idea as some clever people beat me to it. But lets have a look at this blockchain solution to a real world problem.
So much of our life is digital and has moved onto pieces of plastic or into NFC (Near Field Communication). Yet the passport has lagged behind. Granted some passports now have NFC, but the lag has been in part due to the fear of introducing digital fraud and hacking into the system. A physical paper book with various signatures, watermarks, etc is quite hard to reproduce a fake of and requires much skill.
Yet, the passport is in reality quite a limited technology. It is slow to analyse at airports, staff require extensive training to ID real and fakes, it can be lost easily, it is expensive to create, it has a finite number of pages and after one book is full you get a clean fresh book with no history. These are a lot of limitations that can easily be solved with the correct technology.
Imagine what we can encrypt into this now. Biometrics, a lifetimes history of travel, no fear of it being lost or stolen and increased control over personal information.
Yes, increased control, not less. The increased control over data comes as various border agencies and stakeholders will no longer need to store passengers details, such as governments, airlines, airports, etc. Now this data is in one location not 20. All the airlines and borders need to do is verify the encrypted information to check its validity.
The travel experience would be much smoother and much quicker with a digital passport. Borders could become gateless or certainly require less human verification, which is time consuming.
Dubai is already exploring this technology in its borders and with its citizens. This could be a great forward step for the blockchain. At the same time Estonia already uses a blockchain solution for its Estonia ID, which is an ID card granting holders access to public, medical and financial services. The Estonia ID replaces many cards into 1 simple card.
Here is to blockchain revolutionising our world!
