RFID Chips in Passports are Fine

Rivalry Side A | Other | Travel

Invasion of Personal Privacy and Risk

Rivalry Side B | Other | Travel

In 2005 the Office the Department of State issued a change in regulation that mandated all US passports issued after October 2006 be implanted with an RFID chip. Are you okay with this or is this an invasion of privacy and unneeded risk?

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Posted by in Other / Travel on 7/07/10
Debate Leaders
  1. The Boss (4 votes) Validated Ego

Side A fans: (2)

Neutral Fans: (0)


Side B Comment

cutie122403 - 7/12/10 @ 2:00 PM:
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Just another way for the government to control us.

Side B Comment

mama kaz - 7/12/10 @ 1:34 PM:
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I think they are working on a plan to embed a chip in all of us. I'm very curious about the new ads for whooping cough vaccinations. I worked in pediatrics for 20 years and only saw two cases of whooping cough, both mexican children with no vaccines at all. Why in the world they are talking about vaccinating everyone for this? I am afraid that they could be thinking about trying to inject chips into us because they already have the technology to do this. I thought they would do it by saying identity theft is out of control and we need a different way to buy stuff but now I think they may try to be sneaky about it. I used to think this was crazy talk but not anymore.

Side A Comment

Jeff - 7/7/10 @ 5:12 PM:
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Oh I agree with the 2 much power but its just one more step to everyone having some kind of tracking device embeded.

Side B Comment

The Boss - 7/7/10 @ 11:32 AM: Validated Ego
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Let this be submitted as evidence that I was asleep while the Bush Administration was stealing our freedom and liberty for the sake of security.
Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

I have never had a need for a passport until recently as my wife and I are going on a cruise later this year. I was honestly unaware of the RFID chips that were mandated in 2005 and when I told my wife about them she didn’t believe me. I only caught wind of the chips in passports after hearing a news story on the radio about the main component of the US passports being manufactured in a Thai factory where security risks are likely.

“Last month, a gunman opened fire on an insurance building in the ancient Thai city of Ayutthaya, piercing the glass windows of the People’s Alliance for Democracy headquarters with 11 millimeter caliber bullets.

A few weeks earlier, bombs made from powerful plastic explosives were detonated near transmission towers in the same city in an unsuccessful effort by terrorists to darken the manufacturing district.

The violent episodes hardly registered in the United States. Few Americans have heard of Ayutthaya, after all, or know of a reason to pay attention to it.

But there is a reason, one directly connected to America’s security. The key electronic components for millions of American e-Passports, the crown jewel of a new U.S. border security system, have been put together inside a little-known factory in Ayutthaya for the past four years.(Source listed below)“

Read about it here: http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2153/

These chips basically broadcast your pertinent information such as name, age, date of birth, address, and a digital image. Only after thousands of people expressed their outrage did the government implement a material in the passport cover that supposedly blocks your RFID chip from the readers that grab the information off of your passport. However this has proven to be a modest fix at best and as you can see in this video your information is not safe from prying eyes.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9isKnDiJNPk&feature=player_embedded

I for one am disgusted that I am forced to acquire a passport with this technology embedded. I find it hard to believe that anyone can say with a straight face …The US government doesn’t have too much power over the people.
The Boss - 7/7/10 @ 11:37 AM: Ally | Side B
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