IT Work - US Passports and RFID

Task -



The US Department of Homeland Security has decided that 1 million US passports will contain radio frequency ID chips in 2005, moving to a universal system from 2006. These RFID tags will allow customs officials to scan passports using special radio recievers. They will not have to approach the travellers directly but can scan them from nearby. The passports will contain biometric and other information. (Source: "We don't need to see your ID", New Scientist, 23 October 2004.)

It will be faster and more convenient for customs but what are the dangers?



Dangers: Some people believe that radio waves can cause cancer and other nasty diseases and so there will be wide spread panic throughout the US because a lot of people will think that it will kill them slowly. Another thing is they must have some form of back up plan because there are ways that you can block radio transmissions, for example, scrambling or some kind of device that can take over the frequency. It must be a hidden frequency that can only be accessed through certain devices and it should not be disclosed to the general public. However there are devices that are able to pick up the frequencies and output what they are. You will have to have counter measures against scrambling such as the military style stuff in an aircraft.