[Infowarrior] - Chipped US Passports Coming Monday

[Richard Forno]

Chipped Passports Coming Monday

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/1,71583-0.html
Associated Press 16:30 PM Aug, 11, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Despite ongoing privacy concerns and legal disputes involving
companies bidding on the project, the U.S. State Department plans to begin
issuing smart chip-embedded passports to Americans as planned Monday.

Not even the foiled terror plot that heightened security checks at airports
nationwide threatens to delay the rollout, the agency said. Any hitches in
getting the technology to work properly could add even longer waits to
travelers already facing lengthy security lines at airports.

The new U.S. passports will include a chip that contains all the data
contained in the paper version -- name, birth date, gender, for example --
and can be read by electronic scanners at equipped airports. The State
Department says they will speed up going through customs and help enhance
border security.

Privacy groups continue to raise concerns about the security of the
electronic information and a German computer security expert earlier this
month demonstrated in Las Vegas how personal information stored on the
documents could be copied and transferred to another device.

But electronic cloning does not constitute a threat because the information
on the chips, including the photograph, is encrypted and cannot be changed,
according to the Smart Card Alliance, a New Jersey-based nonprofit group
made up of government agencies and industry players.

"It's no different than someone stealing your passport and trying to use
it," Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the alliance, said in a
statement. "No one else can use it because your photo is on the chip and
they're not you."

Yet the ability to clone the information on the chips may not be the sole
threat, privacy advocates argue. A major concern is that hackers could pick
up the electronic signal when the passport is being scanned, said Sherwin
Siy, staff counsel at the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information
Center, a leading privacy group.

"Many of the advantages the industry is touting are eliminated by security
concerns," Siy said.

After testing the passports in a pilot project over the past year, the
government insists they're safe.

Numerous companies competed the last two years to provide the technology.
One winner was San Jose, California-based Infineon Technologies North
America, a subsidiary of Germany's Infineon AG. Another was French firm
Gemalto, which earlier this month announced that it had received its first
production order from the Government Printing Office. It is producing the
passports for the State Department, using the Infineon technology.

Another company, On Track Innovations, was notified July 31 that it had been
eliminated from consideration and is appealing the decision, a spokeswoman
for the Fort Lee, New Jersey, company said this week. On Track previously
had been eliminated but appealed that decision in the U.S. Court of Federal
Claims in Washington, D.C., which found in favor of the company and ordered
it be reinstated.

Infineon has been approved for production-quantity orders but hasn't
received any because of the unresolved legal dispute, said Veronica Meter, a
spokeswoman for the Government Printing Office. The rollout that begins
Monday will use technology built up during the pilot project.

Neville Pattinson, director of technology and government affairs for Gemalto
in Austin, Texas, would not discuss financial terms of the contract. He
acknowledged the economic potential is massive, noting that the State
Department issued 10 million passports in 2005 and expects that to increase
to 13 million this year.

Citizens who get new passports can expect to pay a lot more. New ones issued
under this program will cost $97, which includes a $12 security surcharge
added last year. Not all new passports will contain the technology until
it's fully rolled out -- a process expected to take a year. Existing
passports without the electronic chips will remain valid until their normal
expiration date.

American Depository Shares of Infineon fell 12 cents to $10.65 Friday on the
New York Stock Exchange.