State Department approves new passport technology

For those traveling from America to Mexico, Bermuda, Canada and the Caribbean, passport cards will be enabled so that your information on the card can be read from a distance.

Approved Monday by the State Department, the technology allows cards to be read from up to twenty feet away. The process would only take about one to two seconds, said a deputy assistant secretary for passport services. The card would not have to be swiped through a reader, similar to the current process with passports.

Critics, however, argue that the technology poses a threat to privacy and is extremely problematic in terms of identity theft. A spokesman from the Center for Democracy and Technology said this specific passport reader is better suited to track inventory and not people. Conversely, the State Department said privacy protections will be implemented onto the card. The card will not contain personal, biographical information. Sleeves will also be provided so information on the card cannot be deciphered from a distance.

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