Slashdot Mirror
Tin Foil Passports?
Daedala writes "The debate over contactless chips with biometric information in passports continues. Vendors have been chosen for testing in the U.S. and Australia. Privacy advocates are still arguing about the measure, as are security reporters and bloggers. The specs themselves are interesting, to say the least. The EETimes says that in interoperability tests, the potential chips could be read from 30 feet away. However, both they and the New York Times have published articles reporting vendors' low-cost solution: '[I]incorporate a layer of metal foil into the cover of the passport so it could be read only when opened.' Don't they know that the whole tinfoil hat thing is supposed to be a joke?"
They laughed when I wore my tinfoil hat.
They tried to have me committed when I said the government was tracking me.
Now they all want to buy my sporty Faraday Cagewear (TM) line of geek clothing, made of fine woven nylon and copper wire.
Bwahahaha!
Mod me down and I shall become more trollish than you can possibly imagine!
A much better idea than my tinfoil condom turned out to be.
Christ, what was I thinking?
The new passport is smaller, lighter, more durable and contains more information than any previous passports, however the lead carrying case kind of makes it a wash.
Bit off topic, but I wouldn't say professional shoplifters use this technique. It's more of something an amateur would do, that they probably saw on TV or read on the internet. The professionals are the ones who get the managers to walk out with it and help them to their cars ;).
Try actually thinking for yourself. It's quite refreshing.