Originally Posted by Abby
I just don't understand why we can't have 10 year passports.
Because it's all about the integrity of the document. If you have 10 year passports, then it takes a full ten years before the last issued ones are removed from usage.
Let's say a country introduces a passport A at year 0. At year 3, it makes a few security enhancements to it. Now you have two versions of your passport out there. Let's say in year 6, more enhancements are made. Now you have three. In year 9, you decide to further secure the document. Now you have four versions of the document. It won't be until year 10 before the last passport A has expired.
So, if you're a border officer of a foreign country, how do you know what is legitimate or not when you know that the country question has four different versions out there? It's pretty confusing...
That's why five year passports are better.
Originally Posted by Abby
Who needs to forge a Canadian passport anyway? Just steal one. It will probably be at least a month (35 days) before anyone will even know. And a few years ago, it would have been two months. But at least now they share the information with the Canada Border Services Agency and sometimes, with INTERPOL.
Sometimes? Don't twist the words. It IS being done as it has begun. Not sometimes shared.
Originally Posted by Abby
And if stealing a passport is too much trouble, just submit fraudulent or fake ID, since the Passport Office is a bit weak in this area (and to be fair, some of the accepted ID is just easier to get access to). That's why we have guarantors though, right? Oh, wait, that info wasn't being scrutinized much until recently, either.
To be fair, PPT's systems must be compatible with 12/13 different provincial/territorial systems. That's quite a challenge.
Originally Posted by Abby
So, despite these security issues being highlighted in 2004 and 2005, much of it remains weak or ineffective right up until 2007.
Weak and ineffective are not the same thing. I do not believe the OAG said the changes have been ineffective; they are weak, ie. not strong enough. (But I could be wrong.)