An article is up on the eprint archive, http://eprint.iacr.org/2005/095. "Security and Privacy Issues in E-passports" by Ari Juels and David Molnar and David Wagner. It analyzes the new contactless chips which will be in U.S. passports in a few months. Among the risks it identifies are that terrorists could eavesdrop on chip transactions and recover digital photographs of what people look like - when they are not smiling. The mind boggles at what a creative terrorist could do with such sensitive information. CP