Ten years ago, the e-passport was a concept circulating among forward thinking individuals and small groups of associated industry, government and non-government agencies. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and the subsequent transit attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, the e-passport idea rapidly transformed into a foundation for global security. Today, e-passports have not only become mainstream but have also created a multi-billion dollar industry poised to fundamentally change the global travel and border control infrastructure.

Italian citizens will be allowed to apply for their next generation passports at the end of this month (June 2010). The ePassports have embedded chips containing a digital facial image, a digital signature and two fingerprints. As only the police department is allowed to fingerprint citizens in Italy, the Italian government is also making year-long temporary passports available to those that are unable to get the necessary information for the new passports in time.