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Thief Nabs 3,000 Blank British Passports Worth $5 Million - Via Threat Level:
A van filled with boxes of new British passports was hi-jacked by a thief when the driver stepped out for a minute to buy a newspaper. The thief made off with the van and 24 boxes containing about 3,000 passports and visa documents worth an estimated $5 million, according to an AFP story.
Authorities say the micro-chipped passports can't be used as travel documents now, but someone can still use them for identification purposes at banks or anywhere else someone wants to pass himself off as a British citizen. read more »
Involuntary Endogenous RFID Compliance Monitoring as a Condition of Federal Supervised Release--Chips Ahoy? - Via YJOLT | Yale Journal of Law & Technology - Volume 10, 2007-2008 Spring Issue :
By Isaac B. Rosenberg
Among the many cutting edge technologies law enforcement agencies increasingly covet is radio frequency identification (“RFID”). Researchers predict RFID will become the most pervasive computer technology in history. Among the more extraordinary and controversial government uses of RFID—and the focus of this Paper—include implantation of subdermal RFID transmitters. Privacy concerns abound. Not surprisingly, critics and privacy advocates are wary of subdermal RFID implants, fearful that only a fine line separates relatively innocuous, voluntary implantation from arbitrary government-mandated implantation. But for involuntary implantation of RFID chips to take root, government implantation programs would have to start on the small scale, targeting the most unsavory and repugnant members of society: convicted sex offenders. Sex offenders are the foremost targets of our nation’s “punitive zeal.” Some states have moved to chemically castrating certain types of sex offenders, while others have considered implementing lifetime GPS monitoring. read more »
Hackers to Track Visitors at The Last HOPE || The Last HOPE :
This summer, hackers from around the world will track the movements of thousands of visitors to New York City.
As part of a social experiment, attendees at a hacker conference in July will be issued badges with electronic tracking devices. Large displays will show in real-time where people go, with whom they associate, for how long and how often.
The tracking technology, known as RFID, is fast becoming an unseen part of everyday life. This July, for the very first time, the general public will be able to participate in the transparent operation of a major RFID tracking program. read more »
CDT Testimony: DHS, State Using Insecure RFID Technology - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
The long-range or "vicinity" Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology chosen by the Departments of Homeland Security and State for government-issued ID documents poses serious risks to personal privacy and security, CDT testified today before a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee. CDT recommended that DHS and State abandon the technology, which was originally developed to track things, not people, and that encryption be used to protect a citizen's unique ID number. CDT also urged Congress to support legislation or regulations banning unauthorized "skimming" of RFID chips and prohibiting use of the passport card and Enhanced Driver's License beyond border security.
# CDT Prepared Statement [PDF] April 29, 2008
# CDT Written Testimony [PDF] April 29, 2008
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
E-Passport Hacker Designs RFID Security Tool - Via Threat Level:
Editor: Interesting graphic removed. Go to original site for that [...]
The team that produced the RFDump research/hacker tool for cloning and altering data stored on radio-frequency ID tags has now come out with a product to thwart RFID hackers.
German security researcher Lukas Grunwald, who made headlines two years ago for uncovering security vulnerabilities in new electronic passports being adopted by the U.S. and other countries, created RFDump with colleague Boris Wolf in 2004.
Now the two have created RF-Wall (shown on the lower shelf in the picture at right) to help thwart RFID fraud and attacks against e-passports, electronic access cards and payment cards -- such as the Mifare Classic card that is used in the London Underground and which security researchers recently cracked. read more »
Tracking device on bins ensures residents chip in - Via The Sydney Morning Herald:
Bin Brother is watching you.
When Randwick City Council began replacing its 78,000 residential garbage and recycling bins last month, a resident, Dan Himbrechts, scratched his head. Why get rid of old ones that seemed to work perfectly well?
His suspicions grew further when he noticed a small, flat, circular object hidden under the rim of his new bin. About the size of a 10-cent coin, it had the letters "TI-RFid" embossed on it.
A quick Google search and Mr Himbrechts realised what he was looking at - an electronic tracking device known as a radio frequency identification tag. read more »
Chertoff’s Defense of REAL ID is “Dead Wrong” - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has a hard job. Among other things, it’s his responsibility to make sure that our country isn’t attacked by terrorists and that undocumented immigrants don’t cross our borders. So it’s understandable when he vociferously defends his Department’s efforts at “protecting the homeland.” But it’s inexcusable when the guy is simply factually (and vociferously) wrong on an important policy issue.
On April 2, Chertoff, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on DHS oversight, had the gall to say that public interests groups have been putting out “misinformation” and are “dead wrong” about the privacy and civil liberties risks of REAL ID. Yet it was the Secretary who put out misinformation and was dead wrong about the risk of the wrong people gaining access to personal information stored in the REAL ID card’s “machine-readable zone” (MRZ). read more »
CDT Corrects the Record About Security of Personal Data on REAL ID Cards - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:
Today CDT sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee highlighting Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff’s recent testimony in which he wrongly asserted that the personal information stored on REAL ID cards will be safe from unauthorized access, and accused privacy advocates of spreading “misinformation.” In fact, the REAL ID Act and regulations mandate that Americans’ personal data be stored in an unsecured barcode, which can be easily scanned with widely available readers.
# CDT REAL ID Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee [PDF] April 08, 2008
(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)
University of Washington Tracking the Edge of Privacy - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Roland Piquepaille writes "We've been told for several years that RFID tags would eventually be everywhere. This isn't the case yet, but researchers at the University of Washington would like to know if the future of social networking could be affected by these tags and check the balance between privacy and utility. They've deployed 200 antennas in one UW building and a dozen researchers are carrying RFID tags on them. According to the Seattle Times, all their moves are tracked every second in the building. Of course, it can be practical to know if a colleague is available for a cup of coffee but this kind of system (if in widespread use) has some serious implications. As the lead researcher said, 'what we want to understand is what makes it useful, what makes it threatening and how to balance the two.'"
Three National Privacy Experts to Address Arizona Legislators on Privacy Issues Related to REAL ID, RFID Tags - Via ACLU - Privacy:
PHOENIX – Three nationally-recognized privacy experts will be in Phoenix on Thursday, March 13 to speak to legislators and members of the public about the privacy implications of everything from REAL ID and national identity cards to radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and enhanced driver’s licenses.
Katherine Albrecht, RFID and Consumer Privacy Expert, Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and Noam Biale, Advocacy Coordinator for the National ACLU Technology and Liberty Program, will address legislators at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 13 during the Public Safety and Human Services Committee hearing at the Arizona State Senate, 1700 W. Washington. read more »
MI5 seeks powers to trawl records in new terror hunt - Via UK news | The Observer:
Millions of commuters could have their private movements around cities secretly monitored under new counter-terrorism powers being sought by the security services.
Records of journeys made by people using smart cards that allow 17 million Britons to travel by underground, bus and train with a single swipe at the ticket barrier are among a welter of private information held by the state to which MI5 and police counter-terrorism officers want access in order to help identify patterns of suspicious behaviour.
The request by the security services, described by shadow Home Secretary David Davis last night as 'extraordinary', forms part of a fierce Whitehall debate over how much access the state should have to people's private lives in its efforts to combat terrorism. read more »
UK's MI5 Wants Oyster Card Travel Data - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Boiled Frog from a Nation of Suspects writes "The Oyster card, an RFID single-swipe card (which was recently cracked), was introduced to London's public transport users purportedly to make their lives easier. Now, British Intelligence services want some of the benefits by trawling through the travel data amassed by the card to spy on the 17 million Britons who use it. read more »
Computers, Freedom, and Privacy 2008. CFP2008 - May 20-23, 2008, in New Haven, CT at the Omni Hotel.
This election year will be the first to address US technology policy in the information age as part of our national debate. Candidates have put forth positions about technology policy and have recognized that it has its own set of economic, political, and social concerns. In the areas of privacy, intellectual property, cybersecurity, telecommunications, and freedom of speech, an increasing number of issues once confined to experts now penetrate public conversation. Our decisions about technology policy are being made at a time when the architectures of our information and communication technologies are still being built. Debate about these issues needs to be better-informed in order for us to make policy choices in the public interest. read more »
Electronic Vehicle Registration Picks Up Speeds - Via RFID Journal:
A number of nations are using passive RFID tags to automatically verify cars are properly registered, as well as to monitor traffic levels.
Feb. 28, 2008—In South Africa, at least 500,000 RFID tags are now being affixed to metal license plates to automatically identify vehicles and verify they are properly registered. Within the next two years, 10 million cars in that country are expected to sport electronic license plates. read more »
RFID to keep a watch on your reading habits in public waiting rooms - Via The RFID Weblog:
So the next time you visit your doctor for your appointment and flip through the pages of the magazines kept in the reception room unknowingly to kill time you might not be aware of the fact that a watch is being kept on your reading habits using RFID.
Mediamark Research & Intelligence and DJG Marketing have come together to use RFID for measuring magazine readership in public waiting rooms. Here the Passive Print Measuring System keeps a track of the activity of the reader and each time a person goes through then pages of the magazine the tag attached to the magazine sends signal to the RFID reader and a record is maintained with respect to their reading habits. read more »
Congress Must Act Soon to Address the Privacy Disaster That is REAL ID - Via CDT - PolicyBeta:
Last month, after almost three years, the Department of Homeland Security released its much-anticipated final regulations to implement the controversial REAL ID Act of 2005.
In light of DHS’ final rules, CDT released an analysis of the REAL ID program, concluding that REAL ID will do little to make the driver’s license a more reliable identity document, but will create huge privacy and civil liberties risks for hundreds of millions of Americans.
We listed five main criticisms of REAL ID: read more »
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