RFID Passports Raise Safety Concerns

CurtMonash writes "CNNMoney.com features a skeptical article about the US State Department's plans to soon issue RFID passports (currently being tested on State Department employees). One fear is that they can be hacked for information about you. And even if they can't, carrying around a little transmitter saying 'I'm an American! I'm an American!' isn't a fun and safe thing to do in all parts of the world." From the article: "Basically, you've given everybody a little radio-frequency doodad that silently declares 'Hey, I'm a foreigner,' says author and futurist Bruce Sterling, who lectures on the future of RFID technology. 'If nobody bothers to listen, great. If people figure out they can listen to passport IDs, there will be a lot of strange and inventive ways to exploit that for criminal purposes.'"

Comments

How to tell if a foreigner is American...

[T_ConX]

-Trys WAY too hard to look Canadian.

They almost like to pretend that Canadaians are as nuts about displaying the flag as an American Super Patriot... when most Canadian travellers just have a small flag stitched on their backback. Subtle, but commands respect.

-Wonders out loud why no-one here speaks English.

I love playing with tourists who pull me aside and ask me if I speak English. I normally reply in Japanese or French... Japanese is more likely to throw them off.

-They get first class treatment... NO QUESTION!

Goes straight to the front of the line, gets speedy service at a restraunt... they deserve it! Odds are their country liberated, or bombed the crap out off, or supplied arms to, or supplied arms to the enemy of, this nation, so they should be treated like the President of the United States. If they want to meet the mayor of this town... they will!

-Completely unfamiliar with local laws and customs.

If a cow stands in the middle of the road in India, the locals will just wait, patiently, for it to pass. Americans sometimes fail to get this...

Re:Even if it can be hacked?

[Shaper_pmp]

The only way to make any compter system perfectly hack-proof is to disconnect it from any external network, switch it off, lock it in a very secure room and then destroy the only key. And even then it's susceptible to lock-pickers and social engineering.

And you're right - if they can be hacked they will be. And then what're the government going to do - upgrade the security and re-issue every citizen's passport all at once? Pffft...