00:01Europe is basically doing what Australia has done for years and anybody who's been to America will
00:08know that when you arrive you're required to present your digits and your and your irises
00:14to be scanned what Europe is doing is basically collecting biometric data on everybody who enters
00:21the country this is much more reliable than paper documentation obviously what's new is that this
00:29data is going to be shared across the Schengen countries that's a collective of countries that
00:36make up the European Union yeah I guess that's a pretty significant you know evolution in the way
00:44these sorts of things work and it's the big difference between schemes that exist already
00:49and this one some people might be concerned Mary about this increased level of surveillance especially
00:54given 30 countries are sharing this this data well I think this is just part of modern life
01:00um there's nothing much we can do about that uh in some ways Europe is just trying to catch up
01:05with
01:05the rest of the world it's been a little bit more complex for Europe because unlike America Australia
01:11Canada these are big countries that they're federations but uh you can have one system that
01:18applies across the country across Europe you've got a coalition of of countries uh with very different
01:25standards of living and and technological uh expertise so that's why it's been a bit slower I think and
01:33more difficult for them uh is it is it something that we need to be concerned about I I don't
01:40think
01:40so uh it's just part of modern life and it's something we have to live with um Mary can ask
01:47you
01:47about the practicalities a lot of people would have an experience of arriving in a European port and
01:51waiting for a very long time in an immigration line at an airport could this speed things up or will
01:56it slow things down at the actual you know point of entry into Europe look it could have both effects
02:02um we everybody's seen the smart gates in Australia um that they can work or they cannot work um people
02:10with disabilities my husband for example is blind and so his irises don't scan so we always have to
02:17bypass the the electronics and go to go to a booth and get admitted uh manually and I think that
02:24will
02:24continue to be the case certainly when you introduce new technologies like this uh there can be delays
02:30as people struggle and the system struggle to operate but um yeah as I say I think it's just part
02:37of life
02:37and um Europe is catching up with the rest of the world um Mary there might be some people watching
02:43that are sad that they're going to lose you know a kind of classic experience of travel and a classic
02:48souvenir that you get those stamps in your passport come on it is a bit of it like this is
02:53the way the
02:53world's moving but it is a bit of a shame to lose you know that sort of iconic uh piece
02:58of travel
02:58that that moment of of stamping in and getting that kind of collection of stamps in your passport
03:03isn't it are you going to miss that um well it's been gone for a long time in uh in
03:09in many instances
03:10and uh yeah I think it is a bit sad but all of our data is online nowadays and you
03:17know the movement
03:18alert systems that countries have uh when you go to apply for any sort of visa in Australia um the
03:26officials will know exactly what the movements have been over the years so the paper is it's not where
03:34it's all happening anymore sadly I guess you can't stop progress Professor Mary Crockett the University
03:40of Sydney thanks so much thank you very much
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