The RFID Chip In Your Passport Is A Security Risk Foisted On You By Your Government

Friday, July 17th, 2009 | technology

RFID tags are tiny chips that can be embedded in a range of items and are activated by an electro-magnetic field which prompts the tag to divulge its information. Quite successfully used to manage retailers’ stock levels, the governments of the western world thought it would be a great idea to use these devices in passports.

The Economist features a report by one of its correspondents who has investigated how the claimed benefits of RFID chips in passports stack up against the reality.

Slightly open passports could leave holders vulnerable to physical attack. Each country encrypts data in a characteristic way that terrorists could use to identify the nationality of the person carrying the chipped passport. To demonstrate the point, a firm called Flexilis used a partially opened American e-passport tucked in the pocket of a dummy to trigger an explosion as it passed a dustbin containing a small charge.

These days, it seems that whenever a government decides to implement a large and new technologically based system, they fail miserably. What’s worse is that the shortcomings of RFID tags in passports were publicised years before their incorporation.

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