Passport Proxy: Good Idea or Bad Idea?

Going along with our recent post about keeping valuables safe while traveling, here’s an interesting idea. According to Kevin Kelly — who may be the luckiest, coolest, most interesting-sounding person on the planet — he has a friend who has made a high-quality, color copy of his passport, including the covers. By aligning the inside sheets of the passport with the outside cover sheet, laminating the important bits, and scoring carefully, he’s made an official-looking identification document. Obviously, this isn’t going to get you across (most) borders, but for “other” purposes (think: changing money at a bank, car rentals, hotel check-ins, etc.), this passport clone is sufficient.

According to the US Passport Agency, it’s both legal and recommended for you to make a copy of your passport. However, do you think the risk of having to explain why you’re changing money in a foreign country with a copied passport outweighs the benefits of the few quick money-changes you might enjoy?