Our new RFID passports
I just read that the new US passports with the RFID chips are now happening (via gizmodo). Not only do they have to decrease our privacy and security (as Bruce Schneier explains in this post) they had to go and redesign it.
Now, I’ve been around people who are making design decisions. I also have been around committees making design decisions. Very often, it isn’t a pretty scene and it seems in this case there was no guiding hand from any good designers. From what I see on the state department’s site, this is more than a few step downs from what I think of as the nice, plain passport design we have now. The fun of a passport is watching it fill up with stamps - not any kind of civic pride/history lesson that some overzealous politicians want to impose on us. They remind me of those inspirational/motivational self-help posters you come across in mall card stores across the country.
Ah well, it’s sad. But fortunately even if you have to live with this awful design - if you are brave enough and concerned enough about your privacy, all it takes is a hammer to bring your passport back into a non-RFID state. Sweeeeet.
Hopefully you’ve recently renewed your passport and have another 10 years left before having to switch to this new one. Sadly, I think my renewal date is next year. So sad.
