RFID tags for US passports - what is the big deal?

I travel all the time, mostly for my job. Often, this takes me out of the U.S. I'm what the airlines call a "frequent", ostensibly for "frequent flyer". What this really means is, I get routinely abused by the travel industry. But that's another blog. This one is about RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) tags. These little buggers have been around (technologically) for decades, but only now are starting to become ubiquitous. Bottom line, these things will be everywhere.

First, what the heck is an "RFID tag"? Put simply, it's a small electrical circuit that gets stuck to an object that someone wants to track, identify, or otherwise hold descriptive information for. An example would be a package that is being shipped across the country. The shipper places a sticker containing an RFID tag on or in the package. That way, the shipper can easily track the package wherever it goes. It's much harder to lose something you can track this easily. These things can be incredibly small (like a postage stamp or smaller), and, lately, pretty cheap to make. How cheap? Literally cents.

Given these things WILL be everywhere, allowing the simple, cheap tracking of objects, the U.S. Government has decided that it might be a good thing to place one of these things inside all of our U.S. Passports. Therefore, starting early 2007, some if not all new or renewed U.S. Passports will contain RFID chips that mimic the information printed on the passport. Eventually, readers will be used at airports and in other places to verify the passports' contents.

Many people are not happy about this. Expect more media coverage and public discussion as the date for the first of these new passports to be issued draws nearer. The media simply has not noticed this issue yet, but they will. To prepare, read on, and check out these other sites:

This link will take you to the US Gov site and many links they provide to describe the new epassport. My take is that this is a good thing for our security, but not everybody agrees with me. Here is a general story from CNet. And here is a more technical site if you want more detail. You can read all the Orwellian horror predictions here.

For me, I simply do not understand why certain people are continually afraid of new technology like this. RFID tags will not reduce your security, they will increase it. Here's how:

1. Access to the digital info is more difficult. In order to read the digital info stored in the RFID tag in your passport, an unscrupulous person would have to: 1) illegally obtain a reader device, 2) get to within 12-24 INCHES of your passport, 3) circumvent any type of RF-shielding (I plan to get a new passport holder that incorporates a simple RF-shield (like alumium foil)) present, and 3) bypass all the data encryption inherent in the RFID tag. Compare this to simply stealing your passport by hitting you over the head in a dark alley...
2. The digital info simply encodes the analog info. There is not supposed to be anything encoded in the RFID tag that is different from what you could see and read if you opened the passport and simply looked at it. It's not like there is some additional, more sensitive info in there. Of course, it is the government ;)
3. If somebody does steal your passport, or if it is lost, it will be much easier to replace and re-validate. The government can simply "invalidate" the RFID tag in your stolen passport instantly, such that it will be flagged by every computer from here to Bangladesh. Then they can issue you a new one, including the picture, instantly.

I know it's scary to some folks when a government encodes data about you and stores it. But really this is no different from credit card companies issuing you a credit card with a magnetic stripe. What do you think is on that stripe? Are you sure it's protected? How easy is it to read? How many of those cards do you have in your wallet right now?

As a frequent, I'm happy to see anything that can be used to protect my security and enhance the efficiency of the travel industry. As long as the potential for abuse is constantly monitored and minimized, these technologies will make things better, not worse.