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Passport Chip Could Attract High-Tech Muggers
Orangez writes "Wired.com reports that 'business travel groups, security experts and privacy advocates are looking to derail a government plan to insert remotely readable chips in American passports, calling the chips homing devices for high-tech muggers, identity thieves and even terrorists.' and that 'The 64-KB chips will include the information from the photo page of the passport, including name, date of birth and a digitized form of the passport picture.'"
Someone is going to need a faraday cage.
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
...means just that?
If they government can read it for legitimate purposes, other people can read it for illegitimate purposes.
DBA? Software Engineer? My company is hiring! Click
If they're not terrorists, and have nothing to hide, why are they so worried about being tracked? If anything, if your passport is stolen, wouldn't you rather have the chip in there to track it?
Enjoy an e-piphany
the article states having a barcode or some other form of security that must actually be read, how about encrypting the data on the rfid and putting the key on the barcode?
just a thought
The Answer
Now they don't even have to steal my passport before they can use all my info. That's an improvement. If I get a new passport, I think I'll carry it in an aluminum foil pouch.
No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
I don't get it. I mean, they State Dept. could easily have a reader connected to a network which passes along some hash which is stored on the card, to a server which would verify what passport they should be looking at. Slow? Wtf kind of technology are they using where 64K of stuff would take any time?
"Only contractors who sign up to our foreign policy will be allowed to bid -- We welcome your bid, Halliburton Vacuum Tube Company!"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Burglar goes down to airport and watches family get on a plane to Europe. He grabs your name, and from that gets your home address. Then he can go rob your house while you and family are out of town. Certainly makes scoping out houses much easier; your house could be cleaned out before you even reach your destination.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
From the folks that brought us the hacked SideKicks of Fred Durst and Paris Hilton...
Not that I have any naked pictures on my passport chip... yet.
How comes that everyone trying to make a point has to include terrorist threat? Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit cheap?
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
"All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
like someone would benefit from stealing my Identity. They would just inherit my debt.
I guess that's one more reason to get a passport
It should be combined with a biometric measurement. I understand the privacy people don't like it but identity is becoming increasingly important and a "peice of paper" just isn't going to cut it for much longer.
Well folks, it's a dupe.
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.. can anyone find Sex for me?
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/28/1
Or is it a trip?
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/23/2
A quad? (Quap?)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/27/0
Quint? Penta?
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/22/0
So
Posted today at the BBC
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
However, all of the legitimate uses of the passport involve a human being handling the passport anyway - and using a non-RFID smart chip will suffice.
Tinfoil hats aside, the primary response of the RFID proponents to the question of why RFID tags are needed is "Why not?". This is a preposterous approach to implementing a system that handles sensitive personal data that could cause severe distress to the owners of that data, if compromised. Sensitive data belonging to thousands or even millions of people! Assuming the government still considers an individual as the rightful owner of their own personal data.
Some of the conspiracy theories regarding RFID in passports are a little over the top. But there is no denying the fact that the potential for abuse is definitely enhanced by using this technology in this way. Today the scope is for Americans to be targeted using this - either by their own government, or by criminals, or by other governments, or by terrorists. Tomorrow, when more countries follow suit, that scope expands, giving birth to a rich and varied mix of uses - all of which with the legitimate exception of border control are extra-legal or downright criminal. I hate to sound like a troll but the RFID chip in your little blue book could well become the new star of david sewn into your shirt.
See that long UID - that's what you get for lurking too long
Can you imagine debating with foreign officials whether your CD is fake or it's just scratched?
-insert a witty something-
What are the implications of disabling the chip? A huge dose of ESD would probably do the job without harming paper and ink. You could just claim ignorance.
Because it would be illegal to export encryption of that strength. It does not matter if the other nation already has the technology.
Keeping people from stealing your identity is important. The governments of the world being able to track you and being able to verify your identity is not as important as your right to not be tracked or identified.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to not want people to be able to identify you. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to circumvent the system as well.
At what point did the unwilling martyrs at the twin towers win the balance against the millions of lives willing sacrificed so that we could taste freedom? It wouldn't matter if planes were crashed into building every day, it is no reason to take away freedom.
I don't get it. I mean, they State Dept. could easily have a reader connected to a network which passes along some hash which is stored on the card, to a server which would verify what passport they should be looking at. Slow? Wtf kind of technology are they using where 64K of stuff would take any time?
Think "Windows ME".
Remember, this is the U.S. Gov.
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
If the government can read it for legitimate purposes, then the government and other people can read it for illegitimate purposes.
I make a reasonable middle-class wage by going to work and not spamming blogs with scams.
My question at that point is: why not use another technology? The whole point of RFID is that it is readable from a distance without jumping through any hoops. If TFA is correct they are negating the whole point of RFID and fighting it's inherent nature to do so. It seems that some kind of optical technology would be perfectly suited to do exactly what they want to do with RFID.
According to the ICAO standard states can chose to add an authentication scheme to the RFID-tag. This is what Sweden is dong, this is probably what the US is doing.
The authentication is based on the MRZ (Machine Readable Zone) in the passport (this is text that is read through OCR and not visible unless you open the passports photo page). The MRZ-data is hashed by SHA-1 and the high 32 bits of the hash is taken (this reduce the risk of someone computing the MRZ-data backwards (actually guessing) which MIGHT be possible if you have the hash and the basic structure of the MRZ-data). The hash is sent as an authentication code to the RFID-chip in the passport, if the hash is wrong the RFID responds with a "no valid authentication" message and refuse to send any data.
A state may decide to ignore such measures in their passports (but this is unlikely for the EU and the US). And such states have the option to include metallic jackets for the passport.
The range of the RFID transmission will be around 10 cm. IIRC it weakens with the power of 6 to the distance.
Further, it is not practical to have contact chips in a book-formed passport. It is more practical in ID-cards.
While I dislike this in general and would prefer a passport free world, try to avoid spreading untrue FUD about the technology being used, the data is secure and no person is going to get within 10 cm from your passport, and try an average of 2^31 different hashes without you noticing it. Of course, if the person manage to "borrow" your passport, he will use the MRZ to obtain the key, but in that case, he can take the passport to a photocopier as well (and that is probably cheaper).
"Civis Europaeus sum!"
The passport sniffer needn't hide the gear under a bulky coat. Any shoulder strap carry on type bag will do. They will blend in perfectly in the air port. They can then stand next to you in line, or perhaps brush past you walking in the hallways.
In 60 minutes of sniffing they could easily collect a dozen or more candidate "known gone" families, then use that as a short list of houses to check.
Maybe the regular readers will have a range in inches, and 802.11 has a range of 100ft. With the right antenna 802.11 can be extended by a factor of 50. I would not count on tags being unreadable from 24", a nice polite personal space distance.
I'm not saying this will ever happen, but it certainly is a lot easier than your deliberately ridiculous example.
What it really comes down to is...
If the passport issuing officials want a system that keeps a secondary reference copy of your information in a difficult to forge format, that is only readable with a special reader and is encrypted to prevent unauthorized use, then there is no reason to use a remotely readable device. A high resolution two dimensional barcode of encrypted data will do a nice job of it without exposing people's data to risk additional risk.
Authorized custom agents could then pass a reader over that chip, which would take the number, connect to a US government's computer, input the number which would return photo, fingerprints, etc. etc.
There seems NO need to put all the sensitive information on a chip, when all you need is a number. Keep the sensitive information on more secure computers, accesible only by valid custom agents.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
In WWII, Nazi's required jews to wear armbands distinctly identifying themselves as jewish at a distance.
This system worked very well. It insured that second class citizens could properly receive the proper treatment as such. i.e.: forced to walk in the gutter, rather than a side walk etc. Attend at labour and death camps etc.
Now the american government wants americans to only travel abroad on the condition that they effectively wear electronic armbands identifying them as "AMERICAN" to anyone with a simple detector.
America is at war, and the American government wants its citizens to be required to advertize their status to all possible enemies.
At least the NAZI's were fairly transparent about their desire to oppress and harm jews.
How is electronically broadcasting american citizenship for all to see, going to help americans be safer.
Why not just make a law requiring all american citizens to wear armbands with the Star of David.
Would that be obvious enough for the morons in the whitehouse to wake the fuck up!
No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.
There will be a session about RFID chipped passports at the 2005 Computers, Freedman, and Privacy conference on Wed. April 13th in Seattle, WA. Bruce Schneier, who has spoken frequently on this issue, and Bill Scannell, who is quoted in the article, will both be keynote speakers at the conference. Right after the panel, there will likely be a demo of RFID technology as it relates to passports.
If you really loved America, you would know that only terrorists fear having their freedoms taken away. Real, law-abiding, god-fearing, red state Americans have nothing to hide!!!!!!!!one one
Yeah, right.