IPad passport scan gets man across U.S. border

[The Straight Story]

IPad passport scan gets man across U.S. border

A Montreal man who crossed the U.S. border using a scan of his passport saved on his iPad says he hopes the practice will become commonplace in the near future.

But federal critics say border officers failed their duty by allowing Martin Reisch into the United States with only digital proof of identity.

Reisch drove to Vermont to visit friends for the holidays and realized as he approached the border that he forgot his passport. He had a scan of it saved on his iPad and showed it to the border officer.

"There was a slight hesitation, he didn't really seem like he was impressed," Reisch said, but after a few minutes' wait, he was allowed through the border checkpoint.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/01/03/ipad-passport-scan-gets-montreal-man-into-united-states.html

[DJ13]

1. A passport between the US and Canada is stupid

The immigration official must think so too.

[libinnyandia]

2. CBP is afraid of all those radical Canadians with their socialized medicine and such

[RC]

3. Canada does not have socialized medicine.

They have private health care with Single Payer. Private insurance companies are forbidden by law to cover non-elective health care.

[libinnyandia]

5. Right wingers would call that socialized medicine.

[RC]

6. Right dingers saying so is just more proof it ain't so.

[Javaman]

4. +1000 nt

[hunter]

7. That's nothing...

...I once drank a lot of Tequila in Tijuana, passed out, and woke up in San Diego.

[Fool Count]

8. If his passport was in a secure database to which US border control agents

had access, what does it matter if he had a hardcopy on his body or not? What do you think they
do when they put your passport through an optical scanner, check for authenticity? No, they do
a database search on you. In fact, it should probably be sufficient to just remember your passport's
number and recite it to the agent and he could take it from there.