http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/005993.html
Caroline Craig
"Homeland Security is promoting the use of travel documents embedded with an RFID chip that is readable at distances of up to 30 feet. As reported by cNet, Jim Williams, director of the Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT program, said Tuesday at a smart card conference that 'tracking chips could be inserted into the new generation of wallet-size identity cards used to ease travel by Americans to Canada and Mexico starting in 2008.'
(As previously reported by InfoWorld, the Bush administration has already declared that RFID chips containing personal identification information will begin appearing in U.S. passports starting in October 2006.)
Homeland Security envisions the travel document, called PASS (People Access Security Service), as a 'vicinity-read' wallet-size card that allows the cardholder's picture and other biographic information to be captured from a distance and automatically displayed on border agents' computer screens.
In an RFID procurement notice, the government requires that 'IDs be read under circumstances that include the device being carried in a pocket, purse, wallet, in traveler's clothes, or elsewhere on the person of the traveler.' Elsewhere the requirements state: 'The solution presented must sense all tokens carried by travelers seated in a single automobile, truck, or bus at a distance up to 25 ft while moving at speeds up to 55 mph.'
All this raises the question, what's to prevent these tags from being read and personal information stolen by hidden sensors in the hands of criminals or terrorists? The EEF has weighed in on the issue, declaring the new U.S. passports will serve as terrorist beacons. " [Snippet]
