I just read this article that says that starting early next year, all new U.S. passports will contain an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip which will broadcast the name, nationality, gender, date of birth, and place of birth of the passport holder, as well as a digitized photograph of that person.
According to this website, the data on RFID chips can be read up to a distance of 20 meters (65 feet)!
In my opinion, I think a magnetic barcode would be a much better alternative, since barcodes can’t be read from a distance.
I think RFID chips are a terrible mistake because they will make it very easy for identity theft in the future. Someone could easily find out all of your personal information from a safe distance and then use that information to make a fake passport with your name and your picture in it. They wouldn’t have to create a new RFID chip to put in the fake passport because the U.S. State Department has stated that:
I think this is a flawed policy because it means that anyone could easily create a fake passport without having to duplicate the RFID chip. And isn’t the purpose of the RFID chip supposed to be to prevent passports from being easily duplicated in the first place? But in fact, RFID chips will make it much easier for passports to be duplicated!
In addition, the idea of being able to read someone’s personal information from 20 meters away seems very “Orwellian” to me. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing I would expect in a democratic society.
I think anyone who has a U.S. passport should renew it as soon as possible, while you can still get a passport without an RFID chip. The new passport will be good for 10 years, so then you won’t have to worry about RFID chips for another 10 years. (You can get a new passport any time. You don’t have to wait until your old passport almost expires.)
The author of that article is either being deliberately misleading, or doesn’t know what they’re talking about. The maximum distance for passive RFID tags (i.e. unpowered) is about 1 metre in perfect conditions (in practice less) - this requires a reader about as large as a grown man.
However, most likely the US government is using a technology similar to the Taipei MRT cards - which have a maximum range of ~10cm.
The distance a barcode can be read from is an order of magnitude (at least) larger than an RFID chip. The range of a magnetic strip is slightly less - but it’s a hell of a lot easier to read and duplicate.
Easily? The information on the chip is encrypted (I believe - it’s a bit hard to tell from the article. If it isn’t, then it should be.) Encryption systems available on modern RFID chips have been certified by people like VISA as safe for secure financial transactions. While no system is unbreakable, it means it is very hard to hack.
Incidentally, ‘all your personal information’? The only thing that is particularly sensitive is your passport number (unless you’re really sensitive about your age). While I wouldn’t give that number out to strangers, it’s hardly the most sensitive piece of information in the world.
But presumably customs officials will look a lot more closely at the 1% of passports without a working RFID chip.
Adding an RFID chip to your passport won’t make it impossible to steal your info or forge a passport, but it’ll make it harder
They are being introduced in Australian passports specifically so that Australians can get into the US from next month - I understand that new tougher US regulations come into force.
I’m not sure if this means any old passports with current visas will now no longer be valid?
From what I heard, there is no encryption planned in the U.S. passports RFID’s. It is planned to use a special material in the cover to prevent unauthorized readouts. I would keep my passport shut at all times, and maybe wrap it in alumnium foil.
About encryption: I have read conflicting information about this.
In this article, written in March 2005, it says that the data on RFID chips will not be encrypted:
However, in this article, written on October 26th (just a few days ago), it says:
So I guess the State Department changed their mind within the last 7 months. But anyway, any encryption can be hacked, and I’m sure that the encryption used in RFID chips won’t be too complicated or else the chips would need to be very large and heavy.
As for wrapping your passport in aluminum foil: That won’t be necessary because this article says:
I don’t mind RFID chips in passorts, but I DO mind my personal data being recorded on it. If the purpose is simply to make passports harder to counterfeit, why not have some kind of dummy info on the RFID chip, like a strong PIN or something? Why does it have to be personal information?
Hmm … the State Department is talking bollocks. Encryption technology is completely standard in modern RFID tags - and as for taking longer to read, we’re talking less than 0.5secs … how does that affect anything? MRT cards use encryption - and they can handle way more card reads per second than your average immigration queue at JFK.
Digital signing just ensures that the information hasn’t been tampered with - it doesn’t stop anyone from reading. So it seems they’re not hiding your data at all … :loco:
Not true. It’s as secure as most encrypted stuff on your PC - hacking it would require finding a weakness in the algorithm used, or (more likely) stealing a decryption key from the State Dept.
From the article you link to, it says prices of passports are going up by $12. Not bad for adding a chip which costs less than a dollar. Somebody is doing well out of this deal …
[quote=“david”]From the article you link to, it says prices of passports are going up by $12. Not bad for adding a chip which costs less than a dollar. Somebody is doing well out of this deal …[/quote]They have to make us pay for the R&D and the machines to read the chips as well as the training to use the machines for the dumbasses that work at immigration, not to mention the media blitz and PR to spin to make sure there is no backlash. Did you think you get something for nothing in this world? Passports are like usuary taxes, only those that get one should pay for the service. You didn’t think they could get away with raising other peoples taxes to pay for the RFID tags, machines, R&D and so on?
There is a lot in the article on the issues and comments raised in this thread.
Also about the possible range for RFID, I found this interesting
As noted in the Wired article though, the passport will have a thin radio shield added to protect it when it is closed and there looks to be plans for encryption to be added.
I always thought all passports these days have RFID chip… there should be a symbol of a chip on the passport to indicate that its RFID readable… I know my TW passport has it…