WASHINGTON-The American Civil Liberties Union said it obtained State Department documents that show the Bush administration ignored security and privacy warnings by experts and foreign governments when it was promoting new passports using passive radio frequency identification technology, an action the group warned will make Americans vulnerable to violence and identification theft.
“What the documents show is that the U.S. government was repeatedly told that these passports would pose significant threats to our privacy and safety,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program. “Yet the U.S. chose to use all of its power to sweep aside the objections raised by our allies and force through a standard that leaves Americans vulnerable to identity thieves and terrorists.”
Privacy advocates have similar concerns regarding use of RFID tags for pallets, crates and products to improve inventory management. Wal-Mart as well as other large retailers, manufacturers and tech vendors have promised to safeguard consumer privacy. Meantime, federal regulators are studying policy implications of RFID systems.
The ACLU said U.S. passports, which are currently being bid out for contracts and will contain a face-recognition biometric as well as the RFID chips, are being designed in accordance with a standard developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. During the process of developing that standard the Bush administration successfully fought a battle to spurn security protections for these passports despite the warnings of security experts and the objections of other governments, according to the ACLU.
“It is shocking that the American government fought against basic security and privacy protections such as encryption for these wide-open passports,” said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU’s office here. “The U.S.-backed standard means that all the information on American passports can be read by anyone with an RFID reader, whether they are an identity thief, a terrorist trying to spot the Americans in a room or a government agent looking to vacuum up the identities of everyone at a political rally, gun show or mosque.”
The State Department was not immediately available for comment. RCR
