Crooked Timber has an entry on the new requirement that foreigners visiting the United States without a visa have to have a machine readable passport. For a lot of people, this means they either have to get a new passport or apply for a visa. The discussion in the comments section is well worth a read. I particularly like Maria's reply to Doug.
Doug: But America has a terrorist problem, and it has that problem in a way that no other country has. [...] Given these facts, what should be done?
Maria: Right now, US border control seems to be all inconvenience and no increased security. Seems to me like everyone’s a loser.
I am in the U.S. on H1-B status and I will need a visa stamp in my passport to re-enter the U.S. My next trip outside the U.S. will be to Ireland and will be at a time when I can make an appointment with the U.S. embassy there. (Somebody in Ireland has to call the premium phone line to make the arrangements for me.) I also look forward to filling out the DS-157 form also mentioned in the discussion.
For myself, I don't think things are much worse now than they was before the U.S. Patriot Act came into force. The INS (may it rest in peace) was notorious for its poor treatment of foreigners and applying for a visa always meant filling out some nasty forms. If you're a foreigner in the U.S., you've had strangers running their grubby fingers through your life and you can deal with a bit of bureaucratic humiliation.
Short-term visitors from visa-waiver countries will really notice the difference. How much is someone thinking of a tourist trip to Florida willing to go through?
Fortunately, the machine-readable passport requirement has been shelved for a year. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they are still planning to take the fingerprints of all visitors in future.