# Should I smash my passport with a hammer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584 "2007-01-11T17:48:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakeline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@jakeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakeline)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/1 "2007-01-11T17:48:48Z")
I’m going to be travelling abroad this summer, and I’m starting the process of renewing my passport. I found out that all new US passports now have an RFID chip imbedded in them. I have very little faith in the government’s ability to keep my personal data safe, despite their claims [here](http://travel.state.gov/passport/eppt/eppt_2788.html) that everything is hunky dory. I don’t like the idea of travelling and having an electronic beacon on me that can identify me as a US citizen from a distance. So, I think I have three options: [ol] [li]I can buy a wallet with a built-in faraday cage. This has the advantage of being more legal (seeing as how you’re not supposed to tamper with your passport).[/li][li]I can smash the chip with a hammer and claim it was an accident. This has the advantage of being WAY more satisfying.[/li][li]I can let someone convince me that I’m just being paranoid and the government is doing fine with this. The disadvantage of this one is that it’s really unlikely to happen.[/li][/ol] Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/2 "2007-01-11T17:54:57Z")
Meh, they’ll get ya with coins or your cellphone or something else that isn’t public yet. Kind of inescapable in this day and age. The hammer does sound wonderfully satisfying tho… ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/3 "2007-01-11T18:01:54Z")
As I understand it, the only substantive data stored on the chip is a digital image of your passport’s photograph. It’s unlcear to me what you’re worried about. The link above indictaes the skimming countermeasures; even if defeated, it seems to me the bad guys are capturing… a pic of your face. Which they can get by taking a picture of you. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/4 "2007-01-11T18:03:08Z")
Just to clarify: The RFID chip makes its presence known when it passes within a few feet of a scanner. Chances are overwhelming that the only place you will go through that sort of scanner, they’ll also ask to look at your passport. It will be a few years before they start installing them on every street corner so they can track the moment-to-moment movement of the citizenry. However, in the meantime, I find myself wondering the same questions I wonder when they ask to scan my driver’s license at the liquor store: 1. Why? 2. What information is on there? 3. Is any of that information confidential? 4. Are you copying any of the confidential information? 5. Where is the data stored? 6. How securely is it transmitted and stored? 7. For how long? 8. Is the data purged after a certain amount of time, or is it kept (even in archival storage) permanently? 9. Again, why? I haven’t met a liquor store clerk yet who knew the answer to any of the above perfectly reasonable questions, so I have yet to purchase anything from a store that requires it. Given that it’s your passport, your options are (a) don’t travel, (b) break it, which is a crime, © wrap it in aluminum foil, which will cause some raised eyebrows at Customs, or (d) trust that they have your best interests at heart and won’t cause your data to go astray. Good luck with that, whichever you choose. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/5 "2007-01-11T18:04:47Z")
Place it next to a high-energy RF source, maybe. Do you have access to a microwave tower and a pat of unsweetened butter? ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/6 "2007-01-11T18:13:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] As I understand it, the only substantive data stored on the chip is a digital image of your passport’s photograph. [/QUOTE] That doesn’t seem to be the case. On the website linked, it indicates it stores : > [@](#): > > Securely stored biographical information and digital image… I’m not sure entirely what biographical information is, but I’m guessing it includes name, birth date, passport #, and country of citizenship at the least. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/7 "2007-01-11T18:21:33Z")
And now U.S. citizens are going to be required to have passports for any excursions outside the U.S. [tinfoil]Coincidence, I think not?[/tinfoil] ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/8 "2007-01-11T18:41:13Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] Just to clarify: The RFID chip makes its presence known when it passes within a few feet of a scanner. Chances are overwhelming that the only place you will go through that sort of scanner, they’ll also ask to look at your passport. [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. Many warehouses and such have RFID scanners. They’re used for non-contact inventory control: for example, a warehouse will want to check the contents of crates on a moving conveyor, and they don’t want to open the box. The RFID scanner picks up the RFID ‘tag’ on the pallet, the one on the crate, the ones on the boxes inside the crate, and all the ones on the products inside the boxes. Sorting these out is a major software headache. Do the passport tags conform to the international RFID tag standards? If so, there’s probably a wide range of equipment that can read them, even if they can’t do anything with the raw data they obtain. I would hope that the passport RFID tags use a completely-separate standard (radio frequency, data format, etc) that only governments use. Canadian passport sdo not have an RFID chip. Yet. I should ask one of the Americans or Australians here at my work whether our scanners can read their passport tags. (I work in a place that sells RFID gear and laser scanners.) “Non-copntact inventory control”. How Orwellian. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/9 "2007-01-11T18:42:13Z")
Personally, I don’t mind being plugged into the system. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/10 "2007-01-11T18:51:01Z")
aluminium foil is the way to go. It sends a clear signal that you don’t trust your government. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/11 "2007-01-11T18:53:10Z")
I only put foil on my head, earing it like a hat. That way, the aliens can’t control my thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/12 "2007-01-11T18:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Not necessarily. Many warehouses and such have RFID scanners. They’re used for non-contact inventory control: for example, a warehouse will want to check the contents of crates on a moving conveyor, and they don’t want to open the box. The RFID scanner picks up the RFID ‘tag’ on the pallet, the one on the crate, the ones on the boxes inside the crate, and all the ones on the products inside the boxes. Sorting these out is a major software headache. [/QUOTE] Right, so, if you happen to find yourself being chased by Bolivian thugs through a warehouse, make sure to ditch your passport before you throw yourself on the conveyor belt, because otherwise the government will be able to track your whereabouts. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/13 "2007-01-11T18:58:39Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] Right, so, if you happen to find yourself being chased by Bolivian thugs through a warehouse, make sure to ditch your passport before you throw yourself on the conveyor belt, because otherwise the government will be able to track your whereabouts. [/QUOTE] What about the people who work in warehouses, many of whom are wide-travelling business and techie types? If I was an Evil Spy trying to lift info from passports, I’d do an inside job and try to get access to the info stream inventory-control scanners. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/14 "2007-01-11T18:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] I only put foil on my head, earing it like a hat. That way, the aliens can’t control my thoughts. [/QUOTE] Actually a foil hat acts like a dish, gathering signals that are reflected up from the ground and bouncing them back in a concentrated fashion into your brain. See the tin foil rumour was started by the government, man. All jokes aside, yes it’s smash it with a hammer or get one of those special wallets. Can a passport fit in a wallet? I guess I’m picturing those little blue books, are they smaller now? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/15 "2007-01-11T19:02:13Z")
Embedding RFID chips in passports is a perversion of what RFID technology is supposed to be about. That being tagging cards for on-screen display in televised poker. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/16 "2007-01-11T20:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] Right, so, if you happen to find yourself being chased by Bolivian thugs through a warehouse, make sure to ditch your passport before you throw yourself on the conveyor belt, because otherwise the government will be able to track your whereabouts. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Your whereabouts are pretty obvious even without RFID. You are on the conveyor belt. Can’t take off from there. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/17 "2007-01-11T20:14:53Z")
How big would that faraday cage be? Would it fit in the overhead bin, even those extra-small ones? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/18 "2007-01-11T20:45:15Z")
This is the first I’ve heard of this; I got my passport renewed in 2006, happily. I think I would go for the hammer. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/19 "2007-01-11T21:46:13Z")
So what happens when you reach the inspection station, they fail to scan your passport’s RFID, inspect the passport, then find out it got smashed? Do they take you to the room in the back, or just ship you off to Gitmo? ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584/20 "2007-01-11T21:52:19Z")
The book [Spychips](http://www.amazon.com/Spychips-Major-Corporations-Government-Purchase/dp/0452287669/sr=8-1/qid=1168552200/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4400047-1807125?ie=UTF8&s=books) says that a microwave oven will effectively destroy a chip - so maybe 20 seconds in m-wave oven would be useful. Very scary read, by the way - I recommend this book to privacy advocates. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-smash-my-passport-with-a-hammer/387584.md?page=2)