When volunteers presented passport applications containing photographs of other people, the officials did not recognize the discrepancy fourteen per cent of the time. One might attribute this alarming statistic to reckless inattention. Yet the system for hiring passport officers likely rests on the faulty premise that applicants have essentially equal skill in recognizing faces.
The obvious low-tech solution to this problem is disallowing bringing your own photo, and having a photo booth at the passport application site, where you have to take the photo in front of the officer. Why do many countries still permit bringing your own photo?