Comments on: U.S. moves closer to e-passports

The State Department will begin issuing electronic passports with microchips that store biometric and other data by early next year.

RFID in passports = dumb

This is another dumb idea foisted upon U.S. citizens by FedGov. Did anyone at the State Department consider the fact that a terrorist could rig a RFID reader to a bomb? Then, when an American walks through a doorway their passport would trigger the detonation. Just what we need; taxpayer-funded smart weapons for terrorists.

[volterwd]

thats so dumb...

you have to get a bomb in there in the first place why bother setting it up to a rfid to explode when you can use conventional means... getting it in is the hard part blowing it up is easy

Need counter measure right away

It would be a lot easier for the terrorists to find Americans where they are at any moment. They will be able to pick Americans up from a crowd of people, very easy to kidnap them. They can even send a guided missile that seeks out Americans using RFID.

If the government wishes to do this, they must provide some countermeasures like for example a special cover on the passport so that the RFID chip can never be activated and read if the passport is folded or is closed. This will be like requiring an active action on the holder, just like needing you to swipe your card at at ATM machine in order to read it. So this defeat the purpose and convenience of RFID, however, greater is the risk if no such counter measures to remote reading of RFID's are in place. It will truly make the job of terrorists and kidnappers very easy to get an American in other places. The cost of a remote RFID viewer can be more than paid for by kidnapping for ransom any American tourist. It is like the US spending 5 billion dollars of infrastructure only to be defeated by a 5 dollar RFID reader made in China. The terrorists will surely have a field day identifying and killing Americans.