US to launch RFID passports on Monday

Despite the various privacy concerns that have been repeatedly raised in regards to e-passports, the US is going ahead with their plans to launch the system this Monday. Not all newly-issued passports will be RFID-enabled, since mass production has been held up by the ongoing legal dispute over the technology. The first passports to be issued will be those produced during the pilot run of the project, but the full roll-out should be completed in about a year. Including the extra $12 security surcharge slapped onto passports last year, the new and "improved" models will cost $97, the same as they do currently. If you're overly concerned about the security implications or potential apocalypse causation, you might want to nab a passport now, since traditional passports will be valid until their listed expiration date. We'll manage like usual: hills, tin-foil, condensed milk, etc.

[Titanas @ Aug 12th 2006 2:57PM]

It's going to be a security nightmare with thousands of people carrying RFID enabled passports and it will cost a fortune. Do you guys in the states pay to get your passports or are given for free by the gov?

[brandon_r87 @ Aug 12th 2006 3:03PM]

Better headline: US RFID Passports to be hacked Monday, Tuesday at latest

[trev @ Aug 12th 2006 3:34PM]

Rohit Kapur - so he didnt read the article, theres no need to use language like that.

[Bryan W @ Aug 12th 2006 5:30PM]

Don't forget your www.emvelope.com passport cases (:

Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UMjnhIW9sk

[I,Robot @ Aug 12th 2006 5:43PM]

So… Even after that robbery crap in Brittan last week, the US is still, stupidly going to go a head with this? OMFG! …Some times… there are just, no words…

[Jeff @ Aug 12th 2006 5:46PM]

This is why I renewed my passport last year. No replacement until 2015, baby. By then I imagine we'll have either ditched this idiotic system, or we'll have ceased to exist as a nation, having been nuked repeatedly by terrorists who have entered the country on hacked false RFID passports.

[The Venture Bros. @ Aug 12th 2006 5:46PM]

Dam… Rohit Kapur, it's an RFID tag, he didn't shoot your mom. Why are you so bitter?

[David Lazarus @ Aug 12th 2006 5:49PM]

Well they have already cracked the German and UK versions of the RFID passports, so I guess that these will be just as useless. So if they can be cracked so easily what was the purpose just to raise money in passport fees? or slip through some other stupid security law?

If they can be cracked then they can be faked. so the only if they notice a passport for a pack of razor blades. then odds are good that it is a terrorist! :-)

[Titanas @ Aug 12th 2006 5:51PM]

@Rohit Kapur: I read the Freaking article and it wasn't clear if the "extra $12 security surcharge" or "new and "improved" models will cost $97" cost relates to the government or the citizens.

[Paranoid @ Aug 12th 2006 8:23PM]

Very simple solution: microwave it. You will be left with a perfectly valid; RFID-Disabled passport.

[Pat @ Aug 12th 2006 8:34PM]

Got my first passport in the mail on Wednesday last week. Thank goodness. 10 years for people to wise up and trash this terrible idea.

[AsNd16 @ Aug 12th 2006 8:59PM]

Just put it in the microwave when your recive it to deavtivate or ruin the RFID. . .

[Kramer @ Aug 12th 2006 10:15PM]

"Just put it in the microwave when your recive it to deavtivate or ruin the RFID. . ."

I will be getting my new passport within 2 weeks. This will be the first thing i do!

[Julian Bond @ Aug 13th 2006 2:42PM]

So what if you zap the RFID chip with a microwave and then turn up to a border? What's the fall back plan when they can't read the RFID?

[Perrey Z. @ Aug 13th 2006 5:49PM]

Oh Goody! more privacy invasion cortesy of the Bush regimn.

[Ron Larson @ Aug 13th 2006 10:26PM]

"Professional" theives use metal-lined booster bags to defeat the RFID antenna placed at store exits from reading the RFID signal transmitted by the anti-theft device.
Article: http://www.alertmetalguard.com/Default.asp?ID=6

From what I have read, these booster bag can be made from something as simple as an aluminum foil lined purse.

So I wonder if buying one of those passport holders and lining it with aluminum foil will protect you from RFID eavesdropping?

[MIchael Barton II @ Aug 13th 2006 11:23PM]

It's not bad enough that the US gov't cages protestors, bans books like "America Deceived" from Amazon, wire-taps phones without warrants and conduct improper search and seizures.
Now, the gov't must track us full time with passports. These nazis will not stop until they force a revolution.
Be defiant, last link (before Google Books caves to pressure and drops the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0

[glenod @ Aug 14th 2006 12:31AM]

So how do they check its YOUR rfid chip in YOUR passport? Perhaps match it to the rfid chip in YOU?

[Murc @ Aug 14th 2006 1:06AM]

I figured I'd post to calm some people down.

The new passports have a range or mere inches, and on top of that, they case there in has a material wrapped in it that makes it so the radio frequency cant penetrate...SO as long as its closed...you have nothing to worry about...But if you leave it not in its original case of just leave it open...then someone standing next to you could do a little damage.

So as long as you have one iota of responsibility in you...you will be fine.

[David Burnett @ Aug 14th 2006 4:29AM]

A practical thought for these times. Make a wallet with a lining of several layers of aluminium foil and a fold-over top. Only when an authorised person needs to see your passport, or you want to use your plastic card, are they exposed to any sort of scanner.
Same thing for a shopping bag, but leave it empty while inside a store, or you may be accused of attempted theft.

[G. Snyder @ Aug 14th 2006 10:04AM]

None of you seem to understand how RFID works. It is not a rolling database of information. Stupid.

[ouch @ Aug 14th 2006 11:00AM]

Dear G. Snyder.

How does RFID work?

Very Truly Yours,
Stupid

[Universe Man @ Aug 14th 2006 12:15PM]

So I have a passport that will expire in a couple of years. I want to avoid the RFID as long as possible.

1) Can I renew as far as two years in advance of the expiration?

2) "If you're overly concerned... you might want to nab a passport now." Um, how do I know that I will get a non-RFID passport?

3) If I do end up with an RFID passport, can I still use my old one until it expires? Or will I have to surrender it in order to get a new one?

[Pat @ Aug 14th 2006 1:14PM]

@ Universe man:

1) Yes. Do it today.
2) You don't. But waiting will lower your odds every day.
3) No. The renewal process requires you to submit your current passport.

@ Paranoid, Kramer, & AsNd16:

US government regularly voids passports that are mutilated, altered, tampered with, etc. I read somewhere that this would extend onto the RFID chips once they were put in. Everything I've read indicates you can't disable the RFID without voiding your passport, which seems logical to assume when reading the regulations concerning altering your passport "in any way" that are written in new passports currently.

@ Murc:

Wrong. http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52270.html
Yes, it was actually a German passport. But its the same chip, same technology being implemented, presumably so that German passports can be scanned in the US, and US passports can be scanned in Germany, etc.

[JamesB @ Aug 14th 2006 1:45PM]

From the travel.go website:
To further protect against skimming, the U.S. e-passport will include a shielding material in the passport cover that will make unauthorized reading of the passport very difficult from any appreciable distance as long as the passport is closed.

[Neal Conner @ Aug 15th 2006 12:09PM]

A colleague of mine, the Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Sarasota County, is working with a company that is producing card sleeves and other materials which completely block the RFID signals. They've got corporations lined up that want to issue these to their employees... even the federal government is ordering them!

So yes, you will be able to easily block them from being read when you don't want them to.

If RFID technology was being used exclusively by private parties, then I'd have no problem with it. I don't have to do business with them if I don't wish to. Individuals and companies don't have the right to threaten me with physical force. Unfortunately, the government believes that it does.

Your papers, please!

[K C @ Aug 23rd 2006 8:27PM]

Neal Conner:
Another place you can get sleeves such as the ones you describe is http://www.rfid-shield.com/ . The company makes shielded cases for cards and for passports that will provide an extra layer of shielding to protect the data on the RFID chips.