Page 73 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

58 AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS

example, the photograph on the applicant’s driver’s license may not be valid,
or the driver’s license itself may not be valid. As the example above showed, it
is relatively easy to obtain a fraudulent driver’s license.
Fraudulent passports come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes even from fic-
tional countries or authorities. These are known as phantom passports. One
company recently advertised that it would, with the proper credentials and fees,
provide applicants with passports from places such as the Soviet Union and
Czechoslovakia. A passport from the Soviet Union? Applicants, perhaps, are
making a few assumptions, such as that the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia
still exist as countries. They do not. The passport was issued “for entertainment
purposes only.”
Another “entertainment-only” passport is issued by the Conch Republic,
located in the Florida Keys, which considers itself the world’s first “Fifth World”
nation. According to its Secretary General, The Honorable Sir Peter Anderson,
“The Conch Republic is a sovereign state . . . of mind. We seek to bring more
humor, warmth and respect into a world in need of all three.” The Office of
the Secretary General will provide a passport (Fig. 3.1) for the citizens of this
“sovereign state” for a small fee. 4

Figure 3.1
Conch Republic Passport

4 For an application, see http://www.conchrepublic.com/passports1.htm.