jetsetter

 Maybe you already know this, maybe not. But if you got your passport after 2005 or so, you’re probably walking around with an RFID chip. RFID stands for “radio-frequency identification.” Passports with RFID chips store an electronic copy of the passport information: your name, a digitized picture, etc. And in the future, the chip might store fingerprints or digital visas from various countries. By itself, this is no problem. But RFID chips don’t have to be plugged in to a reader to operate. Like the chips used for automatic toll collection on roads or automatic fare collection on subways, these chips operate via proximity. The risk to you is the possibility of unwarranted access: Your passport information might be read without your knowledge or consent by a government official trying to track your movements, a criminal trying to steal your identity or someone just curious about your citizenship. 

  Any way it goes, if you have a passport with an RFID chip you are at risk. Although popping your passport in the microwave will disable the chip, the shielding will cause all kinds of sparking. And although the United States has said that a nonworking chip will not invalidate a passport, it is unclear if one with a deliberately damaged chip will be honored. And get this–its called the “e-Passport.” Everybody knows that all you have to do for generation X is put an “e” or “i” in front of anything and we gobble it up without question. “e”mail, “e” tickets, “i”phone, “i”mac, etc.  I guess getting this Passport is going to be a necessary evil. I don’t have to get mine until 2014. Maybe when I do finally get it in 2014, I’ll microwave it or something. Or maybe I’ll land on it with my flying Maserati (I’m serious). Until next time,Sirius -C- 

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