From an article in Wired about the new RFID chips in US passports:
4) The best approach? Hammer time. Hitting the chip with a blunt, hard object should disable it. A nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate the passport, so you can still use it.
I guess that’s what I’ll be doing if I don’t get my passport this week. I need it to get married in Canada. 🙂
via Richard