Article today, Boston Globe about the Passport situation.

[yy4me]

Somehow this does not sit well with me. We are told that the system that failed last year will be revamped so that it will function more smoothly. The negative side of me says that new passports will have an embedded device to track you on your travels. This old lady is getting so afraid what the government is doing that something that may be just a simple system design brings up thoughts of some devious scheme. What have we come to when a non-threatening 65 year old Granny has to fear things like this?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/07/26/overhaul_of_passport_issuing_system_urged/

[liberalla]

1. They're already being put in US Passports

DU thread: Passports to get RFID chips


The ID Chip You Don't Want in Your Passport "...these chips operate via proximity. The risk to you is the possibility of surreptitious access: Your passport information might be read without your knowledge or consent by a government trying to track your movements, a criminal trying to steal your identity or someone just curious about your citizenship."

US Passport RFID flaws "The RFID chip on US passports can be read when the passport is even slightly open, a design flaw that needs to be fixed..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THIS is how you can take care of the risk:

How To: Disable Your Passport's RFID Chip

"All passports issued by the US State Department after January 1 will have always-on radio frequency identification chips, making it easy for officials – and hackers – to grab your personal stats. Getting paranoid about strangers slurping up your identity? Here’s what you can do about it. But be careful – tampering with a passport is punishable by 25 years in prison. Not to mention the “special” customs search, with rubber gloves. Bon voyage!

1) RFID-tagged passports have a distinctive logo on the front cover; the chip is embedded in the back.

2) Sorry, “accidentally” leaving your passport in the jeans you just put in the washer won’t work. You’re more likely to ruin the passport itself than the chip.

3) Forget about nuking it in the microwave – the chip could burst into flames, leaving telltale scorch marks. Besides, have you ever smelled burnt passport?

4) The best approach? Hammer time. Hitting the chip with a blunt, hard object should disable it. A nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate the passport, so you can still use it.

– Jenna Wortham

HAMMER time ! ... a great stress reducer! :P

[mmonk]

2. Free countries doen't close their borders.

Especially when they are designed to restrict both leaving and entry.

[RC]

3. The solution is simple,

Get one of those AOL metal containers that they used to send their join-up CD's in and store your passport in that. Problem solved. Or you can wrap in in aluminum foil. Be prepaired for the the tin foil hat jokes if you do that.

BTY the chips in them cannot be read from more than about 4 inches and most certainly less that a foot. The front cover acts as a shield when the passport is closed. The chip is in the back cover. The chips are passive devices and relies on modulated RF energy to activate them. There is encryption and electronic passwords involved. If someone tries to use too high an energy level so as to read them from a distance, then you run the risk of burning out the chips in any passport that get too close. Burned out chips require a new passport.