Germany Adds Digital Fingerprints to Passports

Germany will store digital fingerprints in addition to digital photos in passports as one of several biometric security measures planned to fight organised crime and international terrorism. All new passports issued from November will store two digital fingerprints in an embedded chip, which, since 2005, includes a digital photo, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior said Friday. While fingerprints will be stored exclusively in passport chips, photos will continue to be saved additionally in databases of local authorities. A new amendment gives police and other authorized government officials online access to these databases