Implementing Facial Recognition in Passport Photo Verification

Facial recognition is a biometric technique that can be used to identify someone.

In facial recognition, the features of a person's face are recorded biometrically. This allows determination of whether someone matches the stored features and thus whether the person is who they claim to be.

Most methods of facial recognition measure the ratios between the size and distance of the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. Other methods measure the temperature profile, which varies for each person due to differences in blood flow.

How Does Biometric Facial Recognition Work?

To identify a person by their face, the following automated procedure is followed:

• A computer equipped with sensors takes an image of the face.
• A number of characteristics of the face are extracted from the image.
• The computer compares these characteristics with a database.
• If the computer finds a person with the same characteristics, the computer has identified the person; if not, the person cannot be identified.

Facial Recognition and the Passport Photo

The rules for passport photos are made suitable for automated facial recognition. The photo must be taken directly from the front, no longer at a three-quarter angle. The personal registration digitizes passport photos for future use.

In politics, there is already discussion about digital facial recognition with passport photos. This should be possible in all cases, and therefore municipalities should be stricter in accepting passport photos.