Does automated border control make Europe less safer? (life, 2014, people)

[croftylot24]

I'm a dual citizen of the UK and Canada but recently received my British passport a few weeks ago and thus haven't traveled with it in Europe.

Going through airports in Paris, Lisbon, and here at home in London, I see these e-gates around the airports but have never gotten to use them seeing as I never had an EU/EEA passport. I distinctly remember an American man with his friend splitting up and him remarking that "these gates are why you guys are getting hit all the time by terrorists. Just steal a passport and walk right through. Us Americans would never sacrifice security for convenience"

Okay maybe he was a bit insane and or having a laugh (not exactly mutually exclusive among people in the States), however does he have a point? Nevermind the gates, it seems that Europe in general has much laxer immigration officers in regards to passport control. So long as you don't look too shabby, act normally, are white-ish, speak the language and have adequate funds, European officers won't look twice at your passport even with some concerns. That's what some of my friends have told me anyway. America has something called Global Entry but it's nothing like this; whether that's good or bad is another story.

I did read an online article that said the most stolen passports (fraudulent identity) along with the most manufactured fake passports (fraudulent documents) are European because of laxer border controls compared to their American counterparts. I think if someone can pass through the CBP in the United States with a false document stolen from an American citizen and subject themselves to all those rigorous interrogating questions along with the intimidating faces and cameras everywhere, then hat's off to you.

So what do you think?

[Brave New World]

Europe needs to put proper national borders back in place, no one minds having to get have a document stamped if it makes them safer and indeed makes life more difficult for criminals and terrorists.

The Schengen Argreement was yet another terrible EU idea, and they still wonder why the British people voted for Brexit.

Schengen: Controversial EU free movement deal explained - BBC News

Schengen Agreement - Wikipedia

The EU even advertises Schengen in English despite the UK and Ireland not being part of the Schengen Agreement.

I suggest they change the character in the EU advert from Thomas to Mohammed - 'Mohammed enjoys terrorism, it's his thing, but he's hampered by those pesky customs officers stamping his passport and keeping an eye on him, so just for Mohammed we got rid of them and now he's free to travel unrestricted across most of Europe'.

[Minato ku]

Originally Posted by croftylot24

I'm a dual citizen of the UK and Canada but recently received my British passport a few weeks ago and thus haven't traveled with it in Europe.

Going through airports in Paris, Lisbon, and here at home in London, I see these e-gates around the airports but have never gotten to use them seeing as I never had an EU/EEA passport. I distinctly remember an American man with his friend splitting up and him remarking that "these gates are why you guys are getting hit all the time by terrorists. Just steal a passport and walk right through. Us Americans would never sacrifice security for convenience"

Okay maybe he was a bit insane and or having a laugh (not exactly mutually exclusive among people in the States), however does he have a point? Nevermind the gates, it seems that Europe in general has much laxer immigration officers in regards to passport control. So long as you don't look too shabby, act normally, are white-ish, speak the language and have adequate funds, European officers won't look twice at your passport even with some concerns. That's what some of my friends have told me anyway. America has something called Global Entry but it's nothing like this; whether that's good or bad is another story.

I did read an online article that said the most stolen passports (fraudulent identity) along with the most manufactured fake passports (fraudulent documents) are European because of laxer border controls compared to their American counterparts. I think if someone can pass through the CBP in the United States with a false document stolen from an American citizen and subject themselves to all those rigorous interrogating questions along with the intimidating faces and cameras everywhere, then hat's off to you.

So what do you think?

Except that those gates work with fingerprint. You need to scan both your passport and your fingerprints.
Those gates will detect a fake passport and you could not pass with a stolen passport because you need to scan your finger.

...
Passengers are required to present their electronic passport, then their finger at the e-gate.
The fingerprint is matched against biometric data stored in the document to verify the passenger’s identity.
The information will be monitored by border protection officers in real-time.
Over time, the technology is expected to evolve to enable facial recognition.
...

http://www.airport-technology.com/ne...rports-5685020

[cmptrwlt]

The airport security in the US is just a charade:

"A report leaked out of the Transportation Security Administration reveals that a team of investigators from the Department of Homeland Security managed to sneak weapons and fake bombs past airport screeners in 95% of their attempts to beat the system. That means what many of us suspected all along has now been confirmed."

TSA's 95% failure rate shows airport security is a charade - LA Times