Despite ongoing privacy
concerns and legal disputes involving companies bidding on the project,
the U.S. State Department plans to begin issuing smart chip-embedded
passports to Americans as planned Monday. Not even the foiled
terror plot that heightened security checks at airports nationwide
threatens to delay the rollout, the agency said. Any hitches in getting
the technology to work properly could add even longer waits to
travelers already facing lengthy security lines at airports. The
new U.S. passports will include a chip that contains all the data
contained in the paper version _ name, birthdate, gender, for example _
and can be read by electronic scanners at equipped airports. The State
Department says they will speed up going through customs and help
enhance border security. Privacy groups continue to raise concerns about the security of the electronic information and a German computer security
expert earlier this month demonstrated in Las Vegas how personal
information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to
another device. But electronic cloning does not constitute a
threat because the information on the chips, including the photograph,
is encrypted and cannot be changed, according to the Smart Card
Alliance, a New Jersey-based not-for-profit made up of government
agencies and industry players. 'It's no different than someone
stealing your passport and trying to use it,' Randy Vanderhoof,
executive director of the alliance, said in a statement. 'No one else
can use it because your photo is on the chip and they're not you.'
4:13:37 PM 
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