The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

US gets RFID passports

  • alert
  • print

Freedom fried

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Media, 15th August 2006 11:34 GMT

Watch Now : Virtual Machine Movement with Hyper-V

The US Department of State has started issuing passports containing RFID chips and remains confident the technology "will take security and travel facilitation to a new level".

Despite the problems with the chips - that they can be read from a distance, potentially identifying US citizens, and that they can be copied - the Department of State is confident it has done enough to make them safe.

The passport includes "metallic anti-skimming material" - tin foil, presumably. It also uses Basic Access Control technology to protect it from skimming or eavesdropping.

The chip will hold the same information as the biographic page of the actual passport - name, date of birth, gender, place of birth, date of issue and expiry, passport number, and a digital image of the holder's picture.

More details from the US Department of State here. ®

Watch Now : Virtual Machine Movement with Hyper-V

Hands on with Hyper-V 3.0 and virtual machine movement

Our award-winning Regcasts have teamed up with training provider QA for the deepest of deep dives into Hyper-V, including a live demo.

Understand VM movement - just click to play, or go here for a bigger version.