I applied to renew my passport a couple of weeks ago and the replacement arrived by courier on Friday afternoon.

Although the new passport looks very similar to the old one, it's got a chip inside it that holds some basic personal information together with biometric data that will apparently allow automated immigration checks at some point in the future.

A leaflet enclosed with the passport explains that the chip does not contain any information that is not already printed on the passport, but obviously this is rather difficult to check.

However, yesterday while I was sorting out the mound of paperwork that has been building up at home and I happened to put the passport, together with various bills and letters, on top of my computer and was very surprised when a dialog box popped up asking:

Would you like to add Bluetooth Device "GBR/Passport/38033" to this computer?

Out of curiosity I clicked "Okay" and sure enough a new icon appeared on the desktop; it seems that the chip in the passport uses the same Bluetooth technology as mobile phones and PDAs.

When I tried to browse the device, everything seemed to be encrypted, but I soon found a program on the internet called PassportHacker, which was able to read the full contents.

In addition to duplicating the basic data printed on the passport, it turns out that there is actually a whole raft of other information that must have been gathered over the years by tracking the usage of my previous passport. I can only imagine it was previously held on some central immigration computer but can now be stored on the passport itself.

Here's an extract from the "Travel Statistics" section of a report generated from PassportHacker:

TOTAL FLIGHTS MADE: 37
TOTAL DUTY FREE SPEND: £1347.82
AVG BAGGAGE WEIGHT: 12.7kg
UPGRADE REQUESTS MADE: 28
UPGRADE REQUESTS DENIED: 28

There's also a slightly more sinister "Security Information" section:

% PROBABILITY [TERRORIST]: 3%
% PROBABILITY [SEX TOURIST]: 27%
% PROBABILITY [DRUG MULE]: 16%

I'm assuming that my surprisingly high score for sex tourist is simply based on the fact that I took a couple of flights within SE Asia last year. Certainly, I've never had any problem at immigration so I guess my score is safely under any danger threshold.

(NOTE: It would be interesting to find out how this new rating maps to the old Glitter rating, whereby suspects were assigned a fraction between 0 and 1, where 0 is no threat, and 1 — a full Glitter — is a absolute, guaranteed threat to minors.)

There also an interesting "Immigration Official Comments" section, which presumably allows for notes to be added each time you pass through an immigration desk.

Here's an extract from mine:

LHR 30/11/03 11:23 THE CAP'S FOOLING NO-ONE YOU SLAPHEAD
LAX 15/03/05 15:33 EVER HEARD OF SUNSCREEN BUDDY?
LGW 22/04/07 17:02 WORST ATTEMPT AT SMALL TALK I'VE HEARD TODAY

As well as all of the textual and numeric data, there were also numerous modified versions of my passport photo, presumably making it easier for immigration staff to recognise me if my appearance were to change over the ten year lifetime of the passport.

So there are versions of my photo with various different (and I assume computer-generated) configurations of facial hair — moustache, goatee, full beard, etc. Also there are versions of me with various styles of glasses and sunglasses, degrees of tan and even a selection of headgear.

For completeness there are also versions with every conceivable combination of these various new features. The version where I'm sporting mirrored shades, a fat face, a handlebar moustache, a very dark tan and a turban is truly something to behold.

Although PassportHacker is free, there's also a paid version called PassportHacker Pro which lets you change as well as just view the data stored on the chip.

So as a fun practical joke you can get hold of your friend or partner's passport and bump their drug mule rating up to 99% for a guaranteed cavity search, or even change their stored picture to any of a selection of provided alternatives, including: Marilyn Monroe, George Clooney, Yoda, Homer Simpson or Osama Bin Laden.

Well worth the asking price of $29.99 I would have thought.