E-Passports: It's What's Inside

Passports, mandatory for U.S. citizens reentering from abroad since 1915, are about to get a high-tech makeover. Starting later this year, American passports will include an embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in the back cover. The chip will duplicate the information printed inside

the passport and contain security measures to prevent unauthorized access. A digital photograph included on the chip will make it easier for border inspectors to ensure the bearer is the genuine passport holder. But RFID tags create security concerns of their own-fears the federal government says should be laid to rest by the features included in the final e-passport design.

Tracking Risk

Travelers using their passports as a form of dayto-day identification could expose the RFID chip in potentially insecure settings. Cryptographic protection prevents the data from being accessed by clandestine scanners, but RFID chips still emit a unique identification number (UID). Americans could conceivably be tracked through their UID, which would be exposed every time they opened their passports. The State Department says it's heading off that possibility by ensuring the chip emits random UIDs.