The federal government will soon offer passport cards equipped with electronic data chips to US citizens who travel frequently between the United States and Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean, according to Washington Post.
The cards can be read wirelessly from 20 feet, offering convenience to travellers, but raising security and privacy concerns about the possibility of data being intercepted.
The goal of the passport card, an alternative to the traditional passport, is to reduce the wait at land and sea border checkpoints by using an electronic device that can simultaneously read multiple cards' radio frequency identification (RFID) signals from a distance, checking travellers against terrorist and criminal watch-lists while they wait.
Airline trials phone bar codes
Following on the IATA's approval of a global digital bar code standard, Continental Airlines has kicked off trials of the US's first cellphone-based digital boarding passes, says IntoMobile.
The bar codes will be issued to air-travellers at Houston's Intercontinental Airport, and will be scanned at the gate to verify ID.
The trial will run for three months, during which paper boarding-passes will be issued to travellers wary of the move to an all-digital system.
Electronic system shipments grow
Worldwide shipments of electronics systems grew 5% in 2007 to $1.21 trillion from $1.15 trillion in 2006, according to market research firm IC Insights, says i-connect2007.
With electronic systems sales expected to grow 6% in 2008 to $1.29 trillion, IC markets are forecast to increase 10% to $243.4 billion next year, the firm continued.
The fastest-growing electronics systems markets in 2007 were video game consoles (58%), cellphone handsets (9%), portable digital audio (13%), RFID (35%), smart cards (11%), wireless personal and local area networks (26%), high-definition DVD players (96%), and digital video surveillance systems (20%).
Share