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E-Passport System Test This Week
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet has a story covering another Homeland Security test of the E-Passport system, a biometric program designed to stop counterfeit identification." From the article: "The passports contain biometric information such as a digital photo, as well as biographic information. The technology being tested promises to read and verify the electronic data when those carrying the e-passports attempt entry into the countries via participating airports. U.S. diplomats, Australian and New Zealand citizens and Singapore Airlines officials are among those who have been issued the e-passports. These people will also undergo normal screening procedures at the international airports."
I've had encounters with similar systems to this E-Passport just recently on my honeymoon cruise. My wife and I were each issued a "Sea Pass" card, which didn't have our picture on it, but had our names printed on it, and a magnetic swipe. Whenever we wanted to buy anything on the ship, we would swipe our card and it would identify us and no cash was needed throughout the entire cruise. For shore excursions, we swiped our cards as we left, and it noted that we no longer were on the boat, keeping track of everyone out on shore excursions and what not. On our return, we swiped our cards, it pulled up for the security guard our information as well as a picture, which he was able to verify our identity with, and let us back on the boat. I'm glad for this, as it stops people from trying to steal those cards, as they are useless if your not the same person, and since the data is stored in a central registry, can't be easily falsified, like a current passport could be. I like the idea of an E-Passport, as it can guarantee a person's identity a lot more easily then a traditional passport, which can be forged easily enough these days with all the technology out there, as well as making travel safer in foreign countries, as well as for our own country. I can't wait though for them to implement something such as an RFID tag inside of these, so we can just walk through customs, having it tally up all our items purchased, collecting duties as we walk, and have the whole ordeal be a lot less painless, instead of having to wait in long lines while you get questioned over and over... would be nice to just have the RFID tag identify you as you go through a turnstile, and have that be the end of customs... Either way, this is going to make travel a lot easier and safer...
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The biometric chip may be ultra-hard to forge, but the human element attached to it isn't. Remember the T-Mobile hacking incident with celeberties? It wasn't the hardware at fault, but the hardware's human masters. There will be a human making these passports, typing in the name, and writing the info to the chip. If the human is given bad information (Drivers License, Birth Cert, etc,) the information written to the chip will be bad, and voila - system failed: forged info on the chip. Even if the fingerprints and iris scans are correct, the name will be wrong and terror watch lists consist mosty of names and pictures - we all know how reliable that can be.
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
Exactly the reason why I would NOT want this!
Going from Ireland to the US you currently have to get a retina scan taken and recorded and a finger print done and also recorded. (of course no mention of how long this data will be retained for is given, most likely permanently (or atleast until the next revolution)). On top of that the assholes doing the privacy invasion charge you for the privilege.
Land of the free...
Me: is the transmitted information encrypted en route or is it sent in the clear?
DIA: When information is transmitted between the passport and the reader the information is transferred in the clear although physical shielding is employed to minimise the risk of eavesdropping.