Passports in Time

from Gizmodo: "George Orwell is Crying"

Yesterday, I received my new passport.  I was starting to get a little worried what with the Government Shutdown and only a few more weeks until my trip.  But thankfully it came through and now the government can shutdown whenever it pleases.

I also received my expired passport back in the mail, for which I was very grateful, and couldn't help but notice the differences.  My old passport had an actual photo taken and laminated onto the inside of the front cover with all of my important information.  This passport, even though I sent actual photos, was printed digitally.  Both, I feel, are not accurate depictions of me.  The one from ten years ago is so washed out you can only make out my eyes and mouth.  This one is so pixelated that there are weird reddish splotches around the shadows on my face, not to mention it's blown up and stretched out so that it looks nothing like the original I sent in.

E-Passport Logo

This new passport, which was updated in 2007, includes "a small contactless integrated circuit" that contains a digital copy of everything on my informational page.   This computer chip, embedded in the back cover, uses a biometric identifier (mostly face recognition software).  These are added security features but, as with anything, there is the possibility for them to be exploited.
There are questions about possible "skimming" of the information on the chip and general identity theft.  According to the US Department of State, they've already taken this into consideration:

“Skimming.” We use an embedded metallic element in our passports. One of the simplest measures for preventing unauthorized reading of e-passports is to add RF blocking material to the cover of an e-passport. Before such a passport can be read, it has to be physically opened. It is a simple and effective method for reducing the opportunity for unauthorized reading of the passport at times when the holder does not expect it. 

Also:

“Skimming and Eavesdropping.” We have adopted Basic Access Control (BAC) to minimize the risk of “skimming” and “eavesdropping.” Basic Access Control requires that the initial interaction between the embedded microchip in the passport and the border control reader include protocols for setting up the secure communication channel. To ensure that only authorized RFID readers can read data, Basic Access Control stores a pair of secret cryptographic keys in the passport chip. When a reader attempts to scan the passport, it engages in a challenge-response protocol that proves knowledge of the pair of keys and derives a session key. If authentication is successful, the passport releases its data contents; otherwise, the reader is deemed unauthorized and the passport refuses read access. This control would require the receiving state to read the passport machine-readable zone (MRZ) to unlock and read the data on the chip. The MRZ information is used for computing the encryption and message authentication keys used for the “secure” exchange. BAC mollifies the possibility of both “skimming” and “eavesdropping.”

Overall, it provides a more complex passport that will be difficult to duplicate or counterfeit.  When I think about my old passport, which could have easily had the picture replaced, I can't help but think these are changes for the better.  Of course, with the advance of technology comes new obstacles and challenges to security.  With internet shopping and online profiles it's easier than ever to gain access to private information, but it's also easier to learn of fraud when it happens to you.  We're never going to live in a world where we don't have to worry about these things.  Someone will always try to find the easy way or feel like they're cleverer than other people and therefore above the rules and regulations by which other people live their lives.  There will always be dishonesty in this world.  The best we can do is to protect ourselves without holing up in a cave somewhere.

A few other articles you might like to check out:
Worldhum - "New US Passport: Like being given coloring book that your brother already colored in"
New York Times - "Stars and Stripes, Wrapped in the Same Old Blue"
Gizmodo - "New E-Passport Is Patriotic, High-Tech and Ugly"