Before the end of the year, the first U.S. biometric passport will be issued with a tiny computer chip and antenna embedded inside it. The chip will contain a digital image of the person's face, along with other information such as name, birth date and birthplace. The data on the chip can be picked up wirelessly using a radio signal.
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The problem, security and privacy experts say, is that the technical standard chosen for the system leaves passport data unprotected. The technology allows data on the chip to be read remotely using radio frequency identification, or RFID.
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As the standard was being decided this year, privacy and security experts argued it should include features to protect the data, such as encryption or the addition of a printed bar code inside the passport to "unlock" the data.
Such features would let passport holders know who was reading their data and when. But the State Department so far has rejected proposals for encryption and other security measures.
Department officials said encryption would hinder interoperability of the system among the different countries using it and slow down already tedious border crossings.
