It won’t be long before that old passport just won’t do. In a few years, the sophisticated international traveler will have a high-tech passport, complete with a computer chip embedded in its cover. By the end of 2005, all passports issued by the U.S. are expected to have this chip that will contain the passport holder’s name, date of birth and the name of the office that issued it.
New passports will also feature a biometric identifier, that is, an electronic photograph of the holder’s face.
But the new passports are in keeping with international passport standards and increased security concerns. They are an intelligent and necessary application of technology. If the country is to “never again” allow such carnage on U.S. soil as the 9-11 terrorist attack, we cannot be shy about employing high-tech innovations to defend ourselves.
Critics oppose the chip-studded passports on grounds of privacy concerns. And they have a point – to a point. The chips could be vulnerable to electronic snooping. Identity theft is a real problem. What if the information on them was stolen and used?
But technological progress always creates new challenges, even as it solves old problems. The invention of the credit card made us vulnerable to new kinds of theft (along with other problems such as excessive consumption), but it also improved the ease with which we make financial transactions. Would anyone really want to return to a cash-only society because of the difficulties that come with credit cards?
The solution for passports is encryption and special readers that allow only those who need the information on the passports to access it. Or a passport chip that contains only an alpha-numerical identification code that corresponds to information on a secure database which only federal agents can access at the point where the passport is presented.
New technology both solves problems and creates them. However, gauging by the explosion of high-tech products and services, it appears that most people are willing to accept those problems, secure in the belief that still newer technology will fix them.