RFID in passports

Wired News reports that new U.S. passports will start carrying embedded RFID chips that will broadcast the holder's personal information at border crossings and other security checkpoints.

The story uses an interesting metaphor to explain how RFID works:

The RFID passport works like a high-tech version of the children's game "Marco Polo." A reader speaks out the equivalent of "Marco" on a designated frequency. The chip then channels that radio energy and echoes back with an answer.

But instead of simply saying "Polo," the 64 Kb chip will say the passport holder's name, address, date and place of birth, and send along a digital photograph.

None of that data will be encrypted because of "the risks involved in sharing the method of decryption with other countries." A lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation tells Wired News that encryption might not boost security much anyway since the readers would be so commonplace.

As expected, pro-privacy forces are already painting horror stories about potential abuses of chipped passports.