Microchip Passports Draws Reactions
January 9, 2008. In the near future, U.S. travelers headed by land or sea to luxury vacation rentals in some countries may use a special passport card embedded with a computer chip in lieu of a traditional passport.
That has some privacy advocates worried.
This would be an exception to a new rule requiring American travelers returning from the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico to provide a passport upon reentry to the country. The exception would not apply to air travelers.
According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, the State Department gave the new initiative the green light last week. It's ostensibly an effort to appease critics of the new U.S. passport rule, officially called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The passport requirement that originally took place in January 2007 caused such a backlog at passport offices across the nation that it was temporarily lifted, and is currently the subject of legislation in Congress.
Now, critics are saying the computer chip alternative is a violation of privacy rights because the cards can be read from 20 feet away. This raises fears of identity theft, some say.
The State Department says the cards will not contain biographical information that could be used by thieves.
