Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 23, 2020 19:18 UTC (Thu) by jem (subscriber, #24231)
Parent article: Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

This bites yourself in the arse if you have a cloaked image of yourself in your passport, and the unaltered image of you is one taken by a camera at an automated border check booth.

Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 23, 2020 19:28 UTC (Thu) by nilsmeyer (guest, #122604) [Link] (5 responses)

Yeah you might get into a lot of trouble with that too. In that case you would just go to the booth with a person behind it (and spend a lot of time in a queue) - if available.

Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 23, 2020 19:56 UTC (Thu) by sjj (guest, #2020) [Link] (4 responses)

Why and how would you get in trouble?

Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 24, 2020 3:44 UTC (Fri) by gdt (subscriber, #6284) [Link] (1 responses)

Typically when you supply a digital photo for use on your passport you state that the image is a "true likeness". Whereas the image has in fact been altered. Obviously the detail varies by jurisdiction but a "false declaration on the passport application" would be the approach.

Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 24, 2020 9:56 UTC (Fri) by nilsmeyer (guest, #122604) [Link]

I remember people using microwaves to fry the RFID in their passports or ID cards. I don't necessarily mean by "trouble" that you'll be convicted of a criminal offence, but you may be severely inconvenienced, perhaps even arrested or detained.

We already know this happens to people based on other criteria. It also happens a lot where facial recognition is used, especially if you have a darker skin tone where facial recognition causes a lot more false positives.

Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 24, 2020 9:44 UTC (Fri) by nilsmeyer (guest, #122604) [Link] (1 responses)

The situation I had in my head was trying to enter another country through an airport for example. If the facial recognition doesn't work someone may suspect that the passport is fake. "Trouble" doesn't necessarily mean that you end up in prison, but at the very least you could be detained and harassed at the airport.

Image "Cloaking" for Personal Privacy

Posted Jul 24, 2020 19:08 UTC (Fri) by NYKevin (subscriber, #129325) [Link]

It is important to remember that, when you are entering a country other than your own, you (usually) do not have the legal right of entry, even if you are fully compliant with all of the legal requirements (and depending on the country, possibly even if you already have a visa, although that is admittedly a rare outcome). If they decide they don't trust you, most countries will simply put you back on the plane and turn it around. If you're inadmissible in the departure country too (e.g. you entered on a single-entry visa, the border officials don't like you, etc.), then things get messy (but you will *probably* make it back to your home country, eventually, and the airline will certainly bill you for their trouble). If you have multiple citizenships, this can get really fun, since you might get sent to the wrong "home country" and have to arrange further transportation yourself. Even when you are entering your home country, you may have difficulty asserting your right to entry. If they don't believe you're a citizen, proving it is generally your problem.

So, in my opinion, doing anything that makes a passport look less valid in the eyes of border officials is a really bad idea, regardless of whether doing so is technically legal or not.