I finally received my new passport.
It is not chipped! The office that processed my renewal was not yet equipped to issue the new RFID passports. If you want a non-hackable passport, it seems that you can still get them. Also, the old passport design is much classier. Check out the State Department's flash animation of the new "e-Passport" and see if you agree. The NASA image inside the back cover is okay though.
After all that effort to get a good passport photo, I was kind of disappointed to see what they did to it. Nowadays, instead of laminating your photo to the cover, they scan your photo and print it directly on the cover. Or, rather, they scan your photo, shade it green, and then print it on the cover. Then they laminate everything with holographically watermarked plastic so that you have an arrow fletching on your nose.
Oh well. It's not the worst ID I've ever had.
161 words | May 21, 2007 03:36 PM | Real true story