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CC Companies Scotch Mythbusters Show On RFID Security

Posted by kdawson on from the next-comes-guns-and-money dept.

mathfeel passes along a video in which Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage recounts how credit card companies lawyered up to make sure the Discovery channel never, ever airs a segment on the flaws in RFID security. "Texas Instruments comes on [a scheduled conference call] along with chief legal counsel for American Express, Visa, Discover, and everybody else... They [Mythbusters producers] were way, way outgunned and they [lawyers] absolutely made it really clear to Discovery that they were not going to air this episode talking about how hackable this stuff was, and Discovery backed way down being a large corporation that depends upon the revenue of the advertisers. Now it's on Discovery's radar and they won't let us go near it."

5 of 466 comments (clear)

  1. In other words: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Myth Confirmed.

  2. Yeah, well... by VValdo · · Score: 5, Informative

    They weren't able to stop this one, which, if you haven't seen yet, is pretty amazing.

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    This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  3. Re:I can just see the courtroom in 2010 by gbh1935 · · Score: 5, Informative

    not true... You are not required to be a lawyer to be on the supreme court of the united states

  4. RFID info by sfm · · Score: 5, Informative

    For a good reference describing some of the problems with RFID technology, check out the book "Spy Chips" by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre http://www.amazon.com/Spychips-Major-Corporations-Government-Track/dp/1595550208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220142206&sr=8-1 This has been our for over 2 years now, but the general public has no idea on the capabilities or consequences of RFID systems. Give it a look.

  5. Ancient secrets. by Ostracus · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Texas Instruments comes on [a scheduled conference call] along with chief legal counsel for American Express, Visa, Discover, and everybody else... "

    After discovering a flaw in one of Texas Instruments' RFID tags, researchers from RSA Labs and Johns Hopkins University say they plan to continue their testing with exploits against other RFID equipment.

    Doesn't look like the secret everyone thinks it is. Note the date. And this just from a few seconds with Google.

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