Sponsor's Message

The old "dumb" passport, which used to be valid for 10 years and cost around $70 has now been replaced by a new "smart" version that costs over twice as much and is good for just five years.

In theory, this new RFID-enabled passport should make it easier and faster to negotiate your way in and out of various countries so that's probably a good thing - but there are downsides too.

For a start, is there not some blatant profiteering going on here?

We all know that RFID chips themselves are worth less than a dollar a pop, and the cost of loading them with a JPEG of your pretty face and other identifying features can't be more than the cost of printing up the same page on the old passport and laminating your picture in place.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination. 7

Indeed, the truth about the real costs is easily demonstrated by the fact that a child's "smart" passport is some $70 cheaper than an adults -- why?

It costs no less to produce the child's passport than their parent's so the difference must be pure profit for the government coffers.

Putting aside the issues of how this represents a new tax on travellers, I would also like to know if our Kiwi versions are as vulnerable to abuse as the US RFID-enabled passport.

I suggest you read the very interesting story from Wired (in the headline links below) which shows how, despite strong encryption, your passport *can* be used to track you because it still returns a unique (encrypted) identifier when energised by any reader.

Now, you may not be worried about the NZ authorities using your RFID passport to track your activities -- but can you be equally sure that the paranoid enforcement officials in the USA or even Australia won't engage in such things?

At the moment, most hotels effectively keep a record of those foreigners who stay with them -- and showing your passport when checking in is often mandatory, in many overseas countries. What happens when authorities decide that it's easier to simply put RFID readers on the entrance doors to hotels -- thus tracking not only paying guests, but any other passport-carrying person who visits the hotel?

Imagine you're overseas and visit friends in a hotel that is thus-equipped -- at the same time as (coincidentally) a terrorist suspect also visits. Will the records from the reader automatically result in you being added to a watch list for possibly fraternising with terrorists?

Probably not -- but the world has gotten so crazy these days that I would not totally discount it. After all, they detained world famous 1970's pop-star Cat Stevens for 24 hours because he now has an arab-sounding name.

I predict a huge market for faraday folders for travellers with half a brain.

By shielding your RFID passport you can eliminate the chance of your identifier being read by anyone other than authorised persons -- although other readers can still eavesdrop even then.

Personally I've got nothing against smart passports -- except that I think we're once again being subjected to yet another covert and grossly unfair tax-hike.

What about you?

Will you be screening your RFID passport when travelling?

Should the NZ government come clean about whether our documents will have the same vulnerabilities as the US ones?

Do you think the 4 x price-hike (twice the price, half the lifetime) is justifiable for these new passports?

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!