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RFID In Government Issued ID?
RFID! writes, "The Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee published a draft report that poured cold water on using RFID in government-mandated identity cards and documents (PDF link). But this met with some consternation among the DHS bureaus that plan to use RFID in this way and the businesses eager to sell the technology to the government, and now a vote on the report has been delayed until December."
Personally I don't like the idea of RFID tags in much of anything. Too many things being tracked. When you see just how much information Corporate America has on it's customers, it makes you shudder thinking about how much the Government must have on you. It is odd, however, to note that occasionally the Industrial Espionage works better than the US Government's does.
They did a study to support their decision, they didn't get the result they wanted, so they are delaying the vote (can't have it now right before the election) and then will decide to do exactly what they want to do in spite of the study. Nothing to see here, business as usual, move on, don't protest or risk arrest.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
The Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee published a draft report that poured cold water on RFID
That sounds like it would have shocking results.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
So what? All the reports came back "DON'T INVADE IRAQ" and "DON'T MESS WITH TERRY SCHIAVO'S ANIMATED CORPSE" and "THE LEVEES WILL BREAK" and "FOLEY IS A CHILD MOLESTER" and...
Our Republican government is visionary. They're not distracted by polls or mere facts from government agencies... Republicans know government doesn't work, and they'll prove it to you every chance they get.
So welcome our Republican overlords, and their shiny new RFID IDs. Why should identity theft be limited to a few thousand wired Americans each day, when Republicans can bring us a Pwnership society?
--
make install -not war
Boy, what will win, businesses pushing an underdeveloped technology or the sense of rights and privacy we as human beings have come to know and love.
Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
He's saying it isn't any better than other card systems, and it doesn't solve the principal security problem - that of identifying the owner. I bet, however, that if one were to somehow solve the confirmation of identity issue - such as by injecting or surgically implanting and RFID chip - he might change his mind.
I think one could argue that Mr. Harper doesn't oppose RFID as much as he finds it impotent.
Here it is. There's only one way to stop the madness- a clean sweep! So mark Nov 7th on your calendar and make sure to read the manual for the automated voting machine and of course, bring your ID. For your safety and convenience there's no need to stick it a slot or show it to the attendent; just pass it it by this handy reader.... We know who you are.
Didn't the guys at Defcon read RFID from like, 60 feet away? And isn't it easy to clone RFID?
Replace !include with #include...
Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
This report does more than just "pour cold water" on RFIDs
From the Executive Summary:
"There appear to be specific, narrowly defined situations in which RFID is appropriate for human identification. Miners or firefighters might be appropriately identified using RFID because speed of identification is at a premium in dangerous situations and the need to verify the connection between a card and bearer is low.
But for other applications related to human beings, RFID appears to offer little benefit when compared to the consequences it brings for privacy and data integrity. Instead, it increases risks to personal privacy and security, with no commensurate benefit for performance or national security."
"no commensurate benefit for national security"
Translation: This will not protect you from the terrorists.
And really, isn't that
A) the big goal of all these changes?
B) how everyone is justifying their budget?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Obviously, questioning the government will help the terrorists much more than lies and stupidity inside the government.
I like you, do you like me!?
RFID is a great technology in its place.
I've seen some automated warehouse and inventory-management systems that depend on RFID tags, and (if you're into this kind of stuff) they're the slickest thing you've ever seen. If your full supply chain uses tags, then there's no manual inventorying; as stuff gets unloaded from the trucks at a loading dock (by the pallet-full -- scanners can 'talk' to tens or hundreds of tags at once), it gets noted. When it gets put on a shelf, it gets noted. When an order comes in, the system knows whether it's in stock, and where's it's located. The picker (guys who pull individual items from warehouse shelves) can follow a wrist-mounted computer right to the location, and scan it as they pick it up. As orders get loaded on a truck to go out, they get scanned again at the dock doors. At every step in your supply chain, you can do this.
It's not quite a fully-automated warehouse, but it's pretty close. If you've ever worked in industry or retail, you can appreciate the beauty of such a system. All that real-time data; I won't say there's "no limit" to what you can do, because I don't want to start sounding like an ad, but there's a lot.
So really, don't blame the technology here. The gear is really good. The problem is that a lot of contractors, who want to make a few bucks from Uncle Sam, have convinced some govvies that this sort of data flow -- which is great when you're talking about cases of Rice Krispies or DVD players -- would be nice to have on all of us. The problem with "RFID" as people have come to think of it, is totally a social one. If you could somehow 'uninvent' RFID, put the genie back in the bottle, it wouldn't fix the real issue: that our government is currently obsessed with reaching down into the personal lives of individual citizens, either by accident or by design. A government which took more of an interest in privacy concerns, probably wouldn't think that embedding RFID tags in passports and drivers licenses would be a good idea. That they do, is indicative of a problem in government, not in the tags.
An apt analogy would be Hollerith card sorters and other indexing machines, in the early part of last century. They let people do all sorts of rapid data analysis and were indispensable to industry and government for countless projects. Yet they were also used by the Nazis, to greater or lesser effect depending on who you choose to believe. That a particular technology was used reprehensibly isn't necessarily a valid criticism of the technology itself; virtually anything can be perverted for ill uses.
So in short, don't blame RFID in general. It's a great technology, when used correctly, and its potential for abuse isn't any greater than similarly revolutionary systems were in their day.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
1. This will probably make it through in a horribly mangled revision of the original proposal. Most likely it will take ten years to implement, will cost ten times as much as was proposed, and will be ten times less effective as a security measure than it already isn't.
2. To the conspiracy know-it-all types that are sure to flood this one, if you've ever worked in government intelligence for any length of time, you'd realize how much time you're wasting with the big brother fantasies. Google's the one to watch out for. Or, rather, they're the ones watching you.
If it ain't made of shiny plastic building bricks, I'm only partially interested.
For those who didn't want to read it, it says that too many senators objected to being RFID'ed. Particularly Mr.Foley, who is trying to turn a new page in his life.
As someone who works with RFID regularly the report does not surprise me.
The biggest problem with RFID is that too many industries (government included) are implementing it because it is a neat technology. In reality it is great for some things but not so good for others.
I do think that RFID will eventually be good for adding more information and for use as human id's but only with a supplementatl verification system like BioMetrics.
But even just RFID alone is in no way less secure than printing a number on your passport that uniquely identifies you. I think that your passport number is a much easier counterfeit target than a chip in your passport.
If you just clone the chip it is very unlikely that customs will only want to check your chip and not the rest of your passport or your picture.
Software Defined RFID - The Rifidi Emulator
...before leaving the hospital. I foresee this happening in the next 20 years, if not sooner.
It's a girl!
... but will they run Linux?
OK so surely I'm not the only one who saw "RFID In Government Issued IDs?" then had my eyes skip to "poured cold water on using RFID in government-mandated identity cards and documents" and figured they discovered covert RFID tags in paper IDs by getting them wet?
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Business, of course. Money always wins. Any other questions?
Wouldn't it be quicker to just replace ! with #?
I don't like this idea, as I don't like many ideas that popped up and slowly turn into reality during the last few years. But if they will introduce this, then I would demand full and total use, with no exceptions. What I mean is, no government official, no agency member, no police people, no soldiers, etc. without such IDs. And if they record, then record everything. If they want us/you followed and tracked, they also shall be followed and tracked, and more so, since they have much more power to eventually misuse than the people which they try to shackle. When they introduce such measures, they should be the first to experience it.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
a wallet or purse is easy to make/modify so that no rfid signals could pass through them... then no one can read them unless you want them to
This is why you need to EMP your newborn as soon as possible, just to be sure...
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
Yeah, good grief 0200 in the morning is NOT good to me...
Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
You can't but admire the serious amount of effort that is being put into helping terrorists specifically target US citizens. All they need to buy now is (increasingly cheaper) RFID readers and then design bombs that only go off if sufficiently large quantities of US passports have gathered in the proximity. Extra bonus for an extra pile of RFID enabled documents because someone carrying, say, high level Gov document must be worth extra points.
/rant
RFID's ONLY benefit over a stupid 2D barcode (which is easy to print and cheap to read) is the ability to be read from a distance, and that's also it's big risk. It's got NIL value in passports when it comes to safety over a barcode (as you can clone RFIDs) but because it's sexy everyone suddenly has to have it.
And, of course, once the bad-guys-du-jour (terrorists, commies, child molesters, people that do strange things with furry animals etc) narrow their focus you will need to hand over a new chunk of privacy to make sure the Government can keep you 'safe' again. Not that there's much of it left anyway..
Doesn't anyone in those departments actually THINK anymore? Has that been outlawed when I wasn't looking? Was that too slipped in as an amendment to an entirely unrelated act?
Sjeez.
Other RFID stories right here. And let's not forget RFID Passports in the USA a Reality Now:
"Following this previous story, we learn from the Washington Post RFID chips in US passports are now confirmed. From the article: "Passports will come with a shielded cover, making it much harder to read the chip when the passport is closed. And there are now access-control and encryption mechanisms, making it much harder for an unauthorized reader to collect, understand and alter the data. [...] The Colorado passport office is already issuing RFID passports, and the State Department expects all U.S. passport offices to be doing so by the end of the year.""
Animoog.org
I win!
Not strictly on topic here, but I want to pose a question. I realise that many /.ers dislike the privacy issues (as I do to), but I also like the idea of RFID-supported checkout-less shopping. Y'know, where people pick up their goods and just walk out the door, with the money charged to your account. Would you go for a RFID prepaid card that stores nothing but the account number and possibly balance? Would you trust a company who claimed something like this to store only this information, and not shopping habits, etc? Is there something I'm missing that could turn this into a very bad idea?
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
... but i think that may change soon. A friend of mine wrote an essay that says that maybe public pressure will force the government to adopt RFID at least for passports.
The reason? To make easier to obtain visa to the US.
an RFID chip is still a small, easily removed item that could be swapped between individuals. It's probably easier to change out an implanted RFID chip than your social security number.
The main thrust of the article (if you ignore the privacy discussions as anybody reading the article to decide whether it should affect the upcoming government ID cards) is that posession of an RFID stinks as an identification method because it's easily swapped among individuals no matter how you implement it whereas biometrics are far better precisely because if you follow best practices in implementing their use for identification they're extremely hard to change much less fake.
That's exactly the same reason that use of biometrics for identification should raise much larger privacy concerns.
I think you posted that on the wrong forum; but it was not only appropos but deep!
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Hey, if you start two days early you get to use knives and fancy kar-ah-tee.
I'd really like to see someone build a (portable!) device that can erase a mag-stripe card at more than a foot or so of distance. The kind of magnetic field that you'd have to generate to wipe a mag-stripe card from a distance would probably violently attract every piece of loose iron in the vicinity, as well.
As far as the phone goes, I'd be pretty peeved if someone fried it with microwaves, but there's probably at least some protection built into the phone - otherwise, walking directly by a cell tower might damage your phone. Additionally, I don't depend on my phone to identify myself.
-Mark