See it as an improvement over paper passports. See it as automation taking over jobs. See it as a way to get through the airport quicker. See it as a measure of how much governments use and trust information and databases. Australia is replacing conventional passports with retinal scans. Instead of handing a little booklet to a person who checks it against you and their data, you’ll look into a device that will verify you by looking at your retina or checking other biometrics like fingerprints. Australia is doing so as a way to improve security and efficiency; but it also demonstrates trends that are seemingly inexorable. We’re trusting and using automated systems more than people.
