Much has been written over the past year about the transition to electronic passports. Reasonably minded privacy advocates attack potential security loopholes in the technology, and the lunatic fringe makes absurd claims about a grand governmental scheme to invade the privacy of the citizenry. In reality, electronic passports will ease the lives of travelers passing through customs, stymie counterfeiters, and provide governments with no more information than they currently gather from travelers. Even before the recent addition of Basic Access Control technology to the plan, electronic passports could not, as some have claimed, have allowed terrorists to wirelessly scan crowds or cafes for targets from specific nations. Still, the additional security measure will make a good thing better. When we focus our Prying Eyes, it's not about privacy; it's about how the electronic passport works.
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