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US Government To Release Electronic Passport
XueCast writes "The federal government has announced that they will release new electronic Passport cards in either April or May 2008. The cards could be read wirelessly from up to 20 feet away, which could reduce the waiting time at border checkpoints. Deputy Assistant Secretary Of State For Passport Services, Ann Barrett said, "As people are approaching a port of inspection, they can show the card to the reader, and by the time they get to the inspector, all the information will have been verified and they can be waved on through.""
$45 for an insecure card that can be read from 20 feet away and cannot be used for air travel? Thanks but no thanks, maybe when they have one permitted for air travel and with (at least) a method of enabling/disabling reading.
Every security measure I've seen for RFID involves some encryption, and a "Handshake" between the reader and card. In a packed situation like an airport, it would be really easy to have an electronic device sniff this handshake, and by pretending to be a reader, lift multiple passport ID's off of people while passing by. Sounds dangerous to me.
How do you check that the boimetrics on the card matches the biometrics of the person carrying it 20 feet away?
however, average joe blow is going to go to niagara falls in canada, he'll be scanned and scammed as he wanders around, and by the time he drives home to schenectady that evening, someone in russia will be selling his info to someone in china
at times like these, why root against incompetence? it always seems to win
so go with the flow i say
anyone want to rent a 3rd story apt in niagara falls canada with me and point an rfid reader out the window?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Encryption doesn't matter for a passport...if you are hunting Americans and Americans are the only ones who have RFIDs in their passports.
If you have a device that detects RFIDs and you find someone walking down the street in a country outside the USA with an RFID on their person, then that person is most likely to carrying an American passport. If you are looking to kidnap or kill an American because your God has given His OK to do so (the mullah told you so), well then chances are very high that you've found one.
So run up and do Allah's will. If it's a woman or child, so much the better because there is less likelyhood that they will fight back or resist.
This RFID in passports is such a bad idea that it is all but unimagineable that any other country will do it. Americans have become obsessed with techno-fascist stupidities since the Saudi Arabian massacre of their people in September 2001. They need to step back a little and give some serious thought to what is a good idea and what is only a technological fad with unwanted consequences.
What's really cool is that now terrorists can rig bombs that only kill people carrying American passports.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
It depends on where you are traveling. I go to Russia frequently, and you most assuredly must be carrying your passport on you at all times. The police routinely call out obvious foreigners and ask for them, at least in Moscow. Failure to produce a passport can result in several annoying hours in the lobby of a police station.
At least I work for the US government, so sooner or later some (really pissed off) minion of the embassy will come and get me out. Folks on private business may end up spending the night in jail.
Which is the funny thing about this article...in Russia my passport routinely disappears for hours as it's photocopied/registered/whatever by the government facilities that I visit. The basic information in my passport is already in a lot of files in eastern Europe, I doubt having it on available on RFID is going to be a whole lot worse.
I worked for a summer as an intern at a U.S. Embassy, so when it comes to your plan to run to the embassy if you're in trouble, consider the following:
1. If the trouble is criminal in nature, and you're accused of the crime, the embassy will probably just hand you over to local police. True, you can receive visits from your consular officer after you've been put in jail, but that's after the fact. Everything you've seen in Hollywood on this subject is 100% incorrect. An American Citizen Services officer I spoke with jokingly told me that his job consisted of calling parents and telling them, "yes, I know Johnny's a good boy, but he did something really stupid here, and now he's in jail. No, we can't actually do anything for him other than visit him. Sorry."
2. The consulate is used to dealing with American citizens without passports - it replaces lost/stolen ones all the time. A photocopy won't hurt you at all in that respect - just tell them your passport is lost, but present a photocopy. They may want to know more personal information, and you'll have to pay a fee, but you'll be fine.
3. If you believe the embassy will provide you great protection, think again. It's not like the movies - there is no company of Marines there to defend all the Americans in the gates. An embassy generally depends on local police for security and its small (quite small) contingent of Marine Security Guards (MSGs) for the last line of defense. Even then, their primary concern is the classified material. That said, there is nothing in this world like walking into your office and seeing a big MSG at the door. You know that, as an employee of the US Government, it'll take something approaching an army to get past that man so long as he's got breath in him and Rules of Engagement that allow him to fight. I've never been in the military, but God bless the USMC. That said, as a mere citizen, I wouldn't depend on the embassy to provide you any great protection and, if it comes down to that, do keep in mind that the embassy will likely be a big target for angry mobs.
Personally, I would recommend waiting out any big disturbance and, if things appear to only be getting worse, getting to the airport ASAP with your passport - and you'll have a much better chance of not getting your passport stolen if it was in a safe in a location you can access when everything hit the fan. And trust me, huge riots can pop up at any time, without much warning. I was in Argentina in December in 2001... what a month. I felt good knowing that my passport was in a safe, across town in a quiet part of the city, in a locked building, behind a gate, with a security guard, rather than on my person in the middle of a riot.
4. As far as hotels, at least in some European countries, it's my understanding that registering your location is a basic part of life. I believe that in Italy (could be totally off) that people are required to register (in theory) with the local police. Hotels register their clients with the police as well (I think... once again, don't take this as hard and fast truth). Your documents are generally held for this purpose. But, as this isn't too big a deal, most hotels don't push you on it.
Long story short, I'd think twice about keeping a passport on me 24/7 if I don't absolutely need to do so (as in the Russia example cited above).
People who want to enter the country for nefarious purposes will always have a variety of methods of entry that completely bypass these systems.
I recommend a fake ID with a birthdate of February 29. Customs systems reject this date so they can't look up any records.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.