#PASSPORT CARD FOR MEXICO PLUS#

He said any number could be linked to other personal data within a computer system, including Social Security numbers.Īnother expert, Daniel Bailey, co-author of a 2006 study of RFID technology, said the passport card’s chip lacked security features on the passport version that could prevent cloning. He also said it was “idiotic” to think that limiting data on the card chip to one number would prevent identity theft. “I’m not impressed,” said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of the BT Counterpane security company in Santa Clara, Calif.Īlthough the protective sleeve “seems like a plus,” Schneier said, the chip is potentially readable from farther away than the one on a passport. Some experts are skeptical about the security for the passport card’s data. (The cover of the passport book contains a metallic material designed to prevent the chip from being read when the book is closed.) Neither chip contains your Social Security number.

#PASSPORT CARD FOR MEXICO PLUS#

That’s less information than appears on a passport’s chip, which contains a digital version of your photo plus information from your main passport page. “There will be no biographical data on it,” she said. She said a protective sleeve would be issued with the passport card to block electronic skimming by unauthorized users and that, in any event, the chip contains only one number. “We’ve addressed the privacy concerns,” Barrett said. Q: Can someone use the RFID chip to steal your identity?Ī: The answer depends on whom you talk to. (Some critics contend that, with powerful enough equipment, the passport-booklet chip also can also be read from many feet away.) Unlike the chip on a passport booklet, which officials say has a range of 4 inches, the chip on a passport card will be readable from about 20 feet, said the State Department’s Barrett. Q: What will be on the computer chip, and how will it work?Ī: The chip will contain only one piece of data: what the State Department calls “a unique identifying number that has meaning only inside the secure CBP computer system.” Border officials will use radio frequency identification, or RFID, scanners to “read” the chip at checkpoints, just as they do with chips on new passports. It will have a photo of you and printed information similar to what is on a passport: name, date and place of birth, gender and the card’s issuance and expiration dates.

Then you must apply to renew it.Ī : Much like a driver’s license. New passports, by comparison, cost $97 for adults and $82 for children renewals cost $67 for adults and $52 for children.Ī: Like a passport, the card will be valid for 10 years for adults and five years for minors. A : The card will cost $45 for adults and $35 for children younger than 16 renewals will costs $20 for adults and $10 for children.

Passport card for mexico