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South Africa Rolls Out Biometric Passports
volume4 writes "The South African Department of Home Affairs has begun rolling out security enhanced passports to new applicants from this week. A facility in Pretoria which prints the new passports was officially opened last week by the minister of home affairs, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. The new passports have an embedded RFID chip which stores the owner's biometric information, including personal details, a high-resolution colour photograph and fingerprint information."
Props to being ahead of the curve on technology. Jeers for the technology they chose...
which stores the owner's biometric information, including personal details
By definition, any biometric information will be personal. We can only assume that "personal details" is actually a euphemism for something specific, although I do not believe that that is appropriate for a passport.
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Talk about overkill. So: once it is figured out how to forge these "unforgeable" passports (as has ALWAYS happened so far), then the forgers will just be that more secure, won't they? Because they will be unquestioned.
I believe there is some soft of international standard on this.
For the sake of humanity, I hope not.
Fun fact: RFID chips cause cancer.
Its still possible to counterfeit new fancy passports with biometric data. But RFID is ideal for accurate accounting. Its like a credit card, and its a wonderful tool for preparing accurate inventories and logs. I think that governments want this so its easier to CHARGE FEES AND TAXES. Also, as a master key reference for an individual and all relative data, address, gps, cell, drivers license, credit cards, mortgage, etc. I honestly believe that its an attempt to authoritatively get an iron grip on to all commerce and financial transactions, down to the monetary system itself. Its virtual wallet and ID and without it you are a prisoner locked out of an identity, civil rights, public access, social services, communications, or monetary transactions. Since its data on a chip that can be scanned without a holders knowledge, it almost makes the individual less necessary to the entire process. Basically, you can just let Big Brother treat you like you are a cell phone, and you'll just get an outrageous billing statement at the end of the month.
The UK has just revoked South Africa's short term 'no visa' entry rights because of the sheer number of dodgy passports being issued by the DHA.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&set_id=1&art_id=nw20090224132638974C233056
The problem is not forgery. It's corrupt officials. I fail to see how making the passports 'high tech' is going to stop a bent official from issuing one with phoney details anyway.
This is just (expensive) security theatre.
That's about implanted RFID chips causing cancer, which sounds quite plausible - putting a foreign object in your body usually isn't a good idea. There's no evidence to suggest that an RFID chip in your passport has any effect on you (except for psychological implications).
That's about implanted RFID chips causing cancer, which sounds quite plausible - putting a foreign object in your body usually isn't a good idea. There's no evidence to suggest that an RFID chip in your passport has any effect on you (except for psychological implications).
Passive RFID works by getting radio waves powerful enough to power a chip. You think that's a good idea if it's only near your crotch, not in it?
Also privacy, financial and freedom implications.
Then there are terrorist possibilities. They will get RFID readers too...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
The main reason for this rollout is that the UK recently rescinded the reciprocal visa arrangements for South Africans visiting the UK.
Previously, many SA citizens visited and did business in the UK and no visa was required - They could stay for up to 3 months.
In early Feb this year, the UK govt announced that visas would be required from 3 March onwards due to concerns about the amount of illegitimate SA passports in circulation.
This gave thousands of people who had already bought plane tickets only a few weeks to make the appointment, travel across the country and apply for a visa. If they were unable to do this due to time constraints of financial constraints, they lost the cost of their flights as the airlines pushed back and said that they had sold non-refundable tickets, so it was not their problem.
The SA government really had no choice but to implement these as the UK is a major business partner for many SA companies, and stemming this travel would have been very damaging. And elections are coming up.
You can mod off topic. Look on badscience.net (Mathias Rath / South Africa state on AIDS)). It needs to be repeated that a real tragedy happenned in south Africa. Thankfully Mbeki' resigned and hopefully the new one will be a bit better. So when the ultra corrupt south African govt make up new biometric passport... I would say this is the smallest of the problem of south Africa.
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Doesn't anyone else see this as just a system for tracking ordinary citizens?
Tracking citizens: the hallmark of the totalitarian state.
The field is around anyway, whether there is a chip or not. It's not like the chip attracts the field or anything. If you're worried about the increase in the background EMF strength in general, that's perfectly reasonable, but blaming RFID is not so much.
Languages aren't inherently fast -- implementations are efficient
Except that as you said, the chip is passive, and completely unpowered unless it is being scanned, because it gets its power from the scanner. And because of that, they can't transmit with more power than they are getting from the scanning field.
Which makes them entirely non-dangerous normally, and less dangerous than the field that scans them when they are being scanned.
I'd stop worrying, especially as the (official) scanners are so short range that you have to take your passport out of your pocket (and away from your genitals) for it to be read, so your genitals would never actually be exposed to the RFID chip's radio broadcast.
Except that as you said, the chip is passive, and completely unpowered unless it is being scanned, because it gets its power from the scanner. And because of that, they can't transmit with more power than they are getting from the scanning field.
Except that as you said, the chip is passive, and completely unpowered, so the scanner emits a signal enough to power up an integrated fucking circuit and make it transmit back. Microwave ovens should be closed for a reason.
Oh, you thought the chip itself was harmful?
I'd stop worrying, especially as the (official) scanners are so short range that you have to take your passport out of your pocket (and away from your genitals) for it to be read, so your genitals would never actually be (officially) exposed to the RFID chip's radio broadcast.
Fixed that for you.
It's not like the chip attracts the field or anything.
So what are the scanners for and why can't they scan it from a mile away?
Except that as you said, the chip is passive, and completely unpowered, so the scanner emits a signal enough to power up an integrated fucking circuit and make it transmit back. Microwave ovens should be closed for a reason.
Oh, you thought the chip itself was harmful?</quote>
Who mentioned microwaves? RFID isn't a microwave technology, it's a radio technology. Hence the frickin name.
A microwave oven is closed because a standing wave is required to get the power level needed to cook, not because a loose magnetron (aka microwave generator) is particularly harmful.
The complaints about RFID passports near genitals suggest that people think that the chips are harmful. I disagree.
The RFID chips need milliwatts of power (if not less), they are TINY after all. RFID readers need little enough power that they can be battery powered. See: vet's handheld animal id tag scanners. And THOSE are powerful enough to penetrate flesh. A scanner for a passport chip wouldn't need to be as powerful, so would most likely be even weaker.
Your car keys (if you have radio button ones) are more powerful than an ordinary RFID tag or reader. They can go through metal from tens of feet away, passive RFID tags aren't read from more than two feet and not through metal. I can't remember people worrying about the radio waves from them. Or how about Wii controllers? Or wireless keyboards and mice? Especially the keyboards, placed on your lap/genitals to use!
It's all bullcrap media scaring people about crap they know nothing about.
The scanners create the field I was talking about. Either they are stationary and have (relatively) high power antennae to reach the tag or they are hand-held and have (relatively) low power antennae which have to be held closer to the tag for it to work. Only in the second case is there a benefit from not having a tag yourself, as you could direct the scanner away from you. In the first case (as in walking through a doorway-style scanner) there is no benefit in not having a tag on your person, you get subjected to the same field strength everyone else does.
The reason the scanners have limited range is because of the way that field strength declines over distance.
Languages aren't inherently fast -- implementations are efficient