[extropy-chat] RFID smartcard passports and driver's licenses

Dustin Wish with INDCO Networks dwish at indco.net
Thu Apr 7 18:09:25 UTC 2005


I think we are a long way off for that anyway. There are no real standards
set in place yet. If is at least a 20 year circle to TTM on these products
to be mass used. You are also taking into account or assume that the
financial databases (very closely guarded) will be opened to the government
or hackers for use to screen. Most companies will not share information like
that with the government. They don't really want them knowing how much
business they are doing and to whom, because you can't trust the government
to keep that info confidential. Companies use demographics currently to help
understand what their customers needs are, but that is a far cry from big
brother tracking everyone's movements nationwide. That is to assume that the
government can develop and effectively use this technology which anyone who
was dealt with big brother knows is full of bureaucracy BS and people that
couldn't make it in the private sector. I don't know if I should be more
scared of the technology or the unaccountable government employee using it.

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Mike Lorrey
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 12:09 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: RE: [extropy-chat] RFID smartcard passports and driver's licenses


--- Dustin Wish with INDCO Networks <dwish at indco.net> wrote:

> 
> They didn't use just Exxon's speed pass it the hack. I am a
> wireless/RF
> engineer. Wireless is WAY MORE mojo than science. If you read the
> white
> papers on the encryption schemes for the RFID from TI then you'd
> understand
> the key was only a 40-bit key. That is just plain weak. The key that
> others
> will use is more like 128-bit AES with a propriety algorithm from the
> manufacturer. The issue here is that do you care if someone scans you
> to see
> if you have a Gillette razor in your bag? Personally I think that
> privacy
> was over about the time JFK got shot and computers became mass used.
> You can
> use encryption methods to hide data that you don't want others to
> see, that
> is about it. The feds and NSA use GPS to track persons that they
> want, but
> the key is that they want them. Trust me, if they want you, they just
> come
> get you. If youre a spy or something then maybe you have something
> to worry
> about, otherwise keep buying at Wal-Mart, they are an Arkansas
> company. 

I work for a licensed PI firm and do background checks on people on a
regular basis. Official documents/credit privacy disappeared actually
about the time in the 1980's when the Privacy Act of 1974 was altered,
but not to the extent that RFIDs enable. Being able to get someone's
SSN on a database, find everyplace they've ever lived and every phone
number, drivers license, car, deed, pilots license, hunting/fishing
license, criminal conviction, corporate filing, employer, etc is one
level of loss of privacy. There are legal requirements that someone
must meet to obtain that information on another person legally.

This is a far cry from what RFIDs allow, because RFIDs are not official
public records and thus are not subject to the same regulatory
oversight. 

Because each and every product sold has its own unique serial number
encoded on its RFID, not only can a scanner determine that you have a
package of razor blades in your pocket, they can tell how much you paid
for them, what credit/debit card you used to pay for them (if you used
cash, that is a flag in the databases as well, and reason to cause
suspicion), and when you bought them at what store. 

RFIDs allow universal surveillance without a camera network because
they create a record of every economic transaction you engage in. Even
the ones you try to do anonymously with cash, the store can read RFID
enabled ID cards in your pocket and see that Joe Blow, SSN XXX-XX-XXXX
is making a cash purchase. They log when Joe Blow entered and exited
the store through the anti-shoplifting gates. You will see these gates
in more and more places where it is essentially impossible for you to
shoplift anything, and are also be built into airport-style metal
detectors.

If you travel with RFIDs that correlate with more than one person, you
will be seen as a suspect for investigation at airports and
customs/border locations, on the probable cause not that you received
those items as gifts, but that you got them through credit card fraud.
They may exclude gifts from family members. But that tie you got from
your mistress that you told your wife one of your employees gave you is
an automatic flag for a cavity inspection.

> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
> [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Mike
> Lorrey
> Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 8:15 AM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: RE: [extropy-chat] RFID smartcard passports and driver's
> licences
> 
> The Exxon speed pass is quite different, so you don't know what you
> are
> talking about. Modern RFID tags can be read up to 17 feet away,
> according to the manufacturers own propaganda.
> 
> Doesn't Dustins post count as ad hominem?
> 
> --- Dustin Wish with INDCO Networks <dwish at indco.net> wrote:
> > 
> > Hey,
> > 
> > Chicken little, it is not that easy to hack RFID or read the info.
> I
> > think
> > you need to chill and take off the tin-foil hat. You have to be
> VERY
> > close
> > to read the id and there is very little info on the chip anyway. I
> > think if
> > they can read your wearing NIKE's from your RFID tag then I'm sure
> > they are
> > close enough to look at your feet and see it. My advise, stay off
> the
> > dope,
> > move out of your mom's trailer, and worry more about the economic
> > impact of
> > the loss of jobs to China. 
> > 
> > I will cite a proven crack of the Exxon speedpass as an example:
> > 
> > http://www.craveonline.com/garage/stories.php?sid=1346
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
> > [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of "Hal
> > Finney"
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 8:49 PM
> > To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> > Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] RFID smartcard passports and driver's
> > licences
> > 
> > Mike Lorrey writes:
> > > Virtually ANY customer loyalty program card today has an RFID in
> > it. We
> > > need wallets made from steel mesh cloth to provide shielding for
> > our
> > > cards from casual scanners. War-walking will be the new form of
> > > identity theft in the near future, walking past people on  a busy
> > > street with your card-scanner enabled PDA ripping peoples
> > identities
> > > without their knowledge...
> > >
> > > Furthermore, most shoes sold today have an RFID in the heel. All
> > NIKE
> > > sneakers do. More and more clothes have them in the seams, to
> > comply
> > > with Walmart vendor requirements. Most stores already have the
> > > equipment (not the software) to scan everyone coming into the
> store
> > to
> > > see what RFIDs they have on them to make a judgement as to
> whether
> > that
> > > person is someone the store wants for a customer.
> > 
> > I did not think that RFID had progressed so far, so fast.  Do you
> > have
> > any citations to prove any of this?  I only found references to one
> > loyalty program card at a German store that was testing
> experimental
> > RFID technology.  And I couldn't find anything about Nikes having
> > RFIDs,
> > or clothing.
> > 
> > www.spychips.com is a product of the consumer group CASPIAN which
> > opposes loyalty cards and other privacy-invasive programs.  They
> had
> > a
> > lot of information on the Metro Future store loyalty cards, which
> > were
> > discontinued after protest.  But nothing about shoes or clothes. 
> I'm
> > sure
> > they'd go ballistic if these practices were actually as widespread
> as
> > you say.
> > 
> > Hal
> > _______________________________________________
> > extropy-chat mailing list
> > extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> > http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat
> > 
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> > 
> 
> Mike Lorrey
> Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
> "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
> It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
>                                       -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
> Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com
> 
> 
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Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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