Traveling extensively the past year I have noticed the following which are probably all coming into our lives soon. (a) In many countries border entry is accompanied by a fingerprint scan which will be either a left and right index finger scan or a scan of the whole left hand. The scans are done at inbound border crossings in conjunction with the passport check. (b) In many countries both border exit and entry are paired with the taking of a photograph. In some places it appears the exit photograph is validated automatically by software. (c) In some cities, the subways have security checks at entry and in those places photographs are taken, non obviously, by the security equipment. I am not sure how effective these systems are at tracking. I guessing ideally governments would like to pair these photos with a passive probe of something carried on the body like a phone or official id, something that could link the photo to an already verified identity. (d) On country entry, purchases like SIM cards for local telephone service or public transportation pass cards can only be acquired if one presents an official id. Manual computer entry usually links the card to the presented id.

And here is a prediction, getting a record of faces and fingerprints, and tracking movement is on the agenda right now. In the future there will be a equally focused agenda to acquire records of peoples DNA. In countries where there is nationalized health service, it will eventually be required. Aquisition will begin when the cost of storing, acquiring, and searching that DNA information becomes cheap enough.

Same in Europe. You arrive at Frankfurt Airport. None EU citizens are questioned as if they are terrorists. I go to electronic doors. I put my EU passport to the gate. The camera scans my face and then computer compares it with the photo in my EU passport (there is HD photo within the passport chip). And the door opens. I'm back home in EU. No police, no border control other than that few seconds camera check.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.innovalor.n...

This is only for going through customs, and controlled by the government, not a private company.

Note that is only for international travel.

In Australia, you don't need an ID for a domestic flight; and non-flyers are permitted to walk to the gate, no boarding pass is required to go through security.

There's some talk about changing this but I hope they don't. It's really convenient to just walk on and fly - you can do Sydney to Melbourne door to door in 2 hours.

I recently flew into Australia (typing this from there). I was so irritated when the scanner wouldn't read my passport for some reason, and I had to stand in the hour-long line at 6 am because of it.

Not sure if my passport chip is broken or the system isn't full proof?

This new system does not require you to present your passport or ticket. It just takes a photo.

Even better, many foreign visitors can use the same system to enter Australia. Lots of countries have fully automated entry for citizens but by doing it for foreigners, Oz is ahead of the game.