Passport Privacy Provocation

According to a report from news.com, new State Department regulations will require that passports issued after October of next year will have tiny radio frequency ID (RFID) chips that can transmit personal information including the name, nationality, sex, date of birth, place of birth and digitized photograph of the passport holder. Eventually, the government contemplates adding additional digitized data such as "fingerprints or iris scans." Norway already has begun to issue RFID passports. The benefits are clear--faster processing at immigration and more difficultly for those trying to create fake passports. However, privacy concerns related to identity theft and misuse of personal information have privacy advocates up in arms. Check out the home page for SpyChips, a new book about RFID and privacy issues. Of course we already carry around personal electronic information that we willingly offer up to retail employees. They're called credit cards and shopping discount cards.

But this trend is also related to the concept of wearable computers...devices embedded in clothing, jewelry, or other personal items that communicate with computers in your immediate surroundings. It may be as simple as a security clearance code to allow entry to a secure area in your workplace. A more bizarre application is an encoded chip that would allow you to locate compatible dates at a party or social gathering. As you cruise the room your RFID bracelet or necklace detects a potential date whose RFID profile matches yours. Okay, perhaps not your idea of working a room. How about an RFID implant for Fido?