Bush Resists Passport Change

We have to keep all our citizens inventoried and
catagorized. [/sarcasm]

I expect Orwell is having fits of laughter in his
grave.

But the change The Shrub resisted is the change
of his change.

The Bush administration opposed security
measures for new microchip-equipped passports
that privacy advocates contended were needed to
prevent identity theft, government snooping or a
terror attack, according to State Department
documents released Friday. The passports,
scheduled to be issued by the end of 2005, could
be read electronically from as far away as 30
feet, according to the American Civil Liberties
Union, which obtained the documents under a
Freedom of Information Act request. The ability
to read remotely, or "skim," personal data raises
the possibility that passport holders would be
vulnerable to identity theft and government
spying, the ACLU said.

That is the entire story.

Here's the link.