As the result of tougher post-Sept. 11 security requirements, all new US passports issued by the end of this year will have an embedded microchip containing the holder’s name, nationality, sex, birth date, place of birth, issuing office and a biometric identifier â€â€? a digital photograph. Remote reading devices will be able to read the data on the chip with the tiny antenna, also embedded, in the passport cover.

Due to many converns among citizen regarding the possibility of terrorists would be able to identify and target them as US citizens by skimming the data on the passports, the State Department on Tuesday said that it’s adding two security features to the new electronic passports.

First, it will have an anti-skimming material on the front covers and spines. This material is able to block the radio waves that could pick up the data.

Second, it will also use Basic Access Control technology, which utilizes a kind of personal identification number that must be touched physically to unlock the data on the chip.

“It will not permit tracking of individuals,” the State Department said in making the announcement. “It will only permit governmental authorities to know that an individual has arrived at a port of entry, which governmental authorities already know from presentation of nonelectronic passports.”

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