U.S. to Begin Rollout of E - Passports

[cal04]

Despite ongoing privacy concerns and legal disputes involving companies bidding on the project, the U.S. State Department plans to begin issuing smart chip-embedded passports to Americans as planned Monday.

Not even the foiled terror plot that heightened security checks at airports nationwide threatens to delay the rollout, the agency said. Any hitches in getting the technology to work properly could add even longer waits to travelers already facing lengthy security lines at airports.

The new U.S. passports will include a chip that contains all the data contained in the paper version -- name, birthdate, gender, for example -- and can be read by electronic scanners at equipped airports. The State Department says they will speed up going through customs and help enhance border security.

Privacy groups continue to raise concerns about the security of the electronic information and a German computer security expert earlier this month demonstrated in Las Vegas how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Electronic-Passports.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[sarcasmo]

1. How quickly will this information be stolen. No chip for me, Thanks.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Somehow I don't think we have a choice n.t.

[AlamoDemoc]

3. "Flaw could allow criminals to clone embedded secret code"

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14218149/

[BrokenBeyondRepair]

4. i'm more concerned w/ what the (s)elected criminals..

could do w/ the data

[wakeme2008]

5. I just got my 10 year Passport without chip thank you very much

:)