Various news outlets in Germany, for the past two weeks, have been discussing odd topic, and I decided to essay the basic discussion.
The German government (mostly the Interior Ministry and their boss, Seehofer), have put out the discussion that passport photos are going to be changed.
The suggestion? There would be a law passed by the Bundestag which says that the photos can ONLY be taken at the local county office, by governmental workers, via an official photo-system. The cost? Probably several hundred million to get this up and operational.
Why? Well, there's been suggestion of manipulation of passport photos by commercial photographers, and the German government wants to prevent that. Proof? It appears very isolated and mostly due to new technology tools being used by the commercial crowd.
An example could be that you have a big mole on your cheek, and the photographer could go and enhance the photo, erasing the mole. So the passport photo is not considered a valid photo....with no mole appearing. Another example would be you showing up (as an idiot) with some tiny tattoo over your left eye, and the photographer finds a method to diminish the tattoo or erase that tattoo. In simple terms, the photo is not a correct photo.
The commercial photographer 'union'? Oh.....they've gotten real pissed over the suggestion and you could be talking about a serious 'hurt' on their profitability.
Cost of these photos these days? I paid near 16 Euro for four passport photos the last time that I did this via a local Wiesbaden shop. Probably half of that amount was pure profit for the studio.
Oddly enough, this went to a page two type news situation, and triggered heat on the Interior Ministry.
Their comeback this week? They are suggesting that they could certify photographers about the rules, allowing them to continue on with their business, and start a secure transmission method....having the pictures sent from point X, to some governmental depository for images.
The fact that no depository exists today? Oh yeah...that starts up a second discussion. You can imagine the privacy data people getting all hyped-up. The secure method of transmission? Another discussion added as well. The training and certification process for the commercial photographers? That's another discussion added.
The cost of these stupid rules on the system? I would take a guess that the 16 Euro I spent on the last batch....would go up to around 24 Euro easily.
The fact that people already walk in with a thick amount of makeup already, for their photo-shoot? That hasn't been brought up....yet. But I'm guessing it'll be the next topic.
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