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PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:45 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Location: Medellin, Colombia
Just a heads up for those of us concerned about privacy and independence from "Big Brother"... I'm not running from anything...but I definitely dont want ours or any government GPS tracking me anywhere on the globe for the rest of my life. Thats why I renewed my passport ahead of time last year when I saw this coming. Presonally I'd rather have my finger prints or retina scanned than have this following me around everywhere I went. Anybody feel the same? FYI...
From www.internationalliving.com

Quote:
Privacy Aside, E-Passports Are Being Issued


Privacy groups have been slamming the coming U.S. e-passports for everything from the possibility of cloning the passports' microchips to the possibility of nearby scanners stealing your passport information at the airport. And yet the U.S. government is still going to issue these passports anyway, despite these infinite number of privacy risks. The test phase of the new passports starts this week. So if you hurry, you could get a regular passport before all passports "get chipped" later this year.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:36 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Location: Medellin, Colombia
I just noticed this in todays AM Costa Rica as well. Not sure I buy all their general explanations...as I have been involved in security technology in my past life. Its not as simple as they make it sound...

Quote:
Electronic passports
being produced in U.S.


Special to A.M. Costa Rica


The U.S. Department of State has begun issuing electronic passports.

Production has started at the Colorado Passport Agency and will be expanded to other production facilities over the next few months, the agency said.

The new U.S. passport includes biometric technology. A contactless chip in the rear cover of the passport will contain the same data as that found on the biographic data page of the passport (name, date of birth, gender, place of birth, dates of passport issuance and expiration, passport number), and will also include a digital image of the bearer's photograph.

The Department of State has taken steps to lessen the chances of the electronic data being skimmed (unauthorized reading) or eavesdropped (intercepting
communication of the transmission of data between the chip and the reader by unintended recipients).

Metallic anti-skimming material incorporated into the front cover and spine of the e-passport book prevents the chip from being skimmed, or read, when the book is fully closed, said the department. Technology is used that requires that the data page be read electronically to generate a key that unlocks the chip. And a randomized unique identification feature will lessen the risk that an e-passport holder could be tracked, the department said.

To prevent alteration or modification of the data on the chip, and to allow authorities to validate and authenticate the data, the information on the chip will
include an electronic signature, said the State Department.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:52 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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RFID passports, not so secure?
August 06, 2006

http://www.textually.org/picturephoning ... 013131.htm

Electronic passports being introduced in the U.S. and other countries have a major vulnerability that could allow criminals to clone embedded secret code and enter countries illegally, an expert warned, repors the AP.

"A demonstration late Friday by German computer security expert Lukas Grunwald showed how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device.

It appeared to contradict assurances by officials in government and private industry that the electronic information stored in passports could not be duplicated.

... A State Department spokeswoman said late Saturday she did not have enough information on the matter to comment.

The presentation was one of dozens delivered at the Defcon conference being held through Sunday in Las Vegas."

Electronic Passport Cloning Claim Does Not Constitute Threat to Border Security and Citizen Privacy
August 8, 2006
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_ht ... _id=151799

Hackers Clone E-Passports
August 3, 2006
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71521-0.html

German E-Passports not secure
August 7, 2006
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,214 ... 98,00.html

Related: Passports to get RFID chip implants
October, 2005
http://www.textually.org/picturephoning ... 010386.htm

The U.S. Electronic Passport Frequently Asked Questions
http://travel.state.gov/passport/eppt/eppt_2788.html


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:08 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Thanks for the added research Wit. I used to do contract work with NIST, National Institute of Science and Technology, which is the federal arm of tech standards in the USA. They couldnt find their way through a well lit room when it came to programming and knowing technologies. They would spend a couple MILLION on a problem that we would then come in on contract and fix for 100k. So forgive me if I dont buy governments assurances that these technologies are totally secure and fool proof. The fools are on their side...and anyone who trusts them. sorry.


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 Post subject: Profit opportunity
PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:36 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Posts: 4993
Location: The Dark
If you're the garage tinkerer type, there's a huge opportunity here.

RFID only works if the the stuff on the chip can be read by a "probe" of electromagnetic radiation (radio frequency energy). Therefore, the first guy to make and market a Faraday cage passport wallet will make a million.

Thank me later with a huge check.

The scariest thing about all this "security" work is that the sheeple of the U.S. are not reacting at all to the deprivation of their rights, Constitutional and otherwise.

Since when has it been the Feds' responsibility to protect individual citizens' safety? national defense yes, but personal security? If they're responsible for individual security, then each individual is also presumed to be a threat to the security of another...hence, Big Brother with his eye on your bank and his gloved finger up your anus. :evil:

Anarchy is starting to look more attractive than ever. :roll: Oops...was this post too "political?" IMHO, any discussion of governmental action which detracts from our travel experience is worth discussing here, and since it's the government we're discussing I cannot see how one avoids discussion of politics.

I urge our membership to play the game, but to always hide a few cards up your sleeves. We're already seeing blatant violations of numerous rights, topped with shitty attitudes at TSA and Customs/Immigration/Letting in Illegals Freely departments.

_________________
Pura Vulva! Wandering through the dark, I am El Ciego.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:31 pm 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Tman,
Were you apologizing to me? I have no personal interest in this technology. The expert hackers have already cracked the chip. That was the point of the links.

Wit


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:32 am 
PHD From Del Rey University!
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Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 11:26 am
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Location: Medellin, Colombia
No, I was agreeing with you Wit. Safe and secure technology? The govt has been the biggest and easiest target for hackers and techno terrorists. I just think it is a mis representation by them on how secure and "non intrusive" this chip technology is. I can also see it now when chip "readers" start malfunctioning...or people find a way to swap out data on that chip. First...the immigration grunts wont know what to do when the reader fails. Will the legacy system still be inplace to fall back on? Someday, maybe not.

One last scenario that is scary...the chip data will be swiped and therefore copied into a dbase system. If that system is hacked...there goes all your personal info to the hackers or terrorists. Lovely thought... Just when I was trying to get my Soc Sec and Drivers License numbers out of all the systems so my identity cant be duplicated or hijacked. Now the feds come along with this ingenius info system. Cant win.


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