> The reason I think that it's still difficult is because even immigration 
> officials get duped all the time.   

Cites, please.  Show me studies showing how often immigration officials get 
duped, and how often they correctly flag false passports.

When verifying an identity document, the null hypothesis is "this document is 
invalid."  Rejecting a good passport is a Type I error; accepting a bad 
passport is a Type II error.  Please show me published estimates of Type I and 
Type II errors by immigration officials.  When you say "all the time," it seems 
that you mean the Type II error rate is through the roof, and I'm going to need 
evidence before I accept that claim.

Even then — so what?  Let's say the Type II rate is 25%.  That's a very high 
Type II rate; most people would think that failing to recognize one set of fake 
IDs per four is a really bad error rate.  Yet, if you're at a keysigning party 
where there are five people independently applying a 25%-faulty test, the 
likelihood of accepting a fake ID is under 1%.  

> Okay. What weakness(es) do I need to be wary of? 

See previous message.

> Pardon me for being skeptical about all of that. I realize that this is a 
> controversial issue and I'm respectful of what you believe.

There is a difference between being skeptical and being cynical.  I am all in 
favor of skepticism, but modern cynicism is a puerile philosophy and I'll have 
none of it.  Skepticism insists on evidence at each step and follows that 
evidence wherever it leads.  Modern cynicism believes it already knows where 
that evidence must lead, and thus there's no need to discover evidence and 
reason concretely about one's discoveries.


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