It's easy enough to think about how any technology that lets passports be read at range could be abused. How easy would it be, say, for a suicide bomber to use a portable RFID scanner to ensure that they choose a 'target rich' area in which to detonate themself? Even if the personal information was encrypted, the format of that information would probably betray the nationality of the bearer, which is certainly a characteristic plenty of unsavoury characters would want to know. Weight those risks against the complete lack of benefits and this seems a pretty dumb idea indeed.
This photo pretty much sums up the experience of walking from Greenwich Village to 103rd and Amsterday (basically, the Columbia University Campus) through New York City at night.
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It's easy enough to think about how any technology that lets passports be read at range could be abused. How easy would it be, say, for a suicide bomber to use a portable RFID scanner to ensure that they choose a 'target rich' area in which to detonate themself? Even if the personal information was encrypted, the format of that information would probably betray the nationality of the bearer, which is certainly a characteristic plenty of unsavoury characters would want to know. Weight those risks against the complete lack of benefits and this seems a pretty dumb idea indeed.
This photo pretty much sums up the experience of walking from Greenwich Village to 103rd and Amsterday (basically, the Columbia University Campus) through New York City at night.