True.

Starting in 2006, passports in the United States started including RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) devices that transmit all of the personal information in the passport as well as a digital photo. Early wireless passports could even be read from up to 33 feet away! Since then, the government has added features and security measures to limit access to passport data more effectively. The RFID devices in passports are passive, meaning without a battery, so they are powered by the reader device (electromagnetic field radiation).

Starting as early as 1998, many countries started including electronics in passports that store personal information, which can be read wirelessly.

This was written on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 5:47 am.