November 02, 2006
RFID + Govt: Please Tell Us What We Want To Hear
Stop me if this sounds familiar. According to Wired, the US DHS (Dept of Homeland Security) requested a study on RFID privacy issues from an outside privacy and security committee. When the committee concluded that chips not be used in any documents that served as identification, especially if the chips could be read from a distance, the study got stuck in draft mode. It wasn't what the DHS and other government agencies wanted to hear, but they could at least pretend due diligence. (Though a DHS spokesman indicates that the draft report is on their website.)
And as you probably already know, e-Passports and other border-crossing documents and id cards that use radio frequency technology are already being issued. This is despite evidence from security experts from the USA and Europe showing that e-Passport data can be skimmed from a distance with unauthorized readers and potentially used for malicious purposes - sometimes after the data has been cloned onto another chip.
The US State Dept plans to issue ID cards for American citizens visiting Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda that can be read at 20 feet. That gives an area of Pi x 20 x 20 =~ 120 square feet within which an authorized reader can skim data.
All these sub-initiatives, such as PASS and WHTI, are all related to the REAL-ID act. If the government is going to press on with their initiatives, in the face of evidence of security flaws and privacy risks, then you should do what I've recommended before: invest in the appropriate RFID companies. Instead of complaining about it and then doing nothing, if you're concerned, go out and get voting shares of a few select companies. RF tech use is only going to increase, and that includes government use, good or bad.
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