Comments on: Are you ready for the spychip driver's license?

Is it possible that soon, driver's licenses will have such sophisticated RFID technology that police will be able to walk through a crowd and identify everyone in it?

[itchief]

It's not the risk of compromising personal data. It is being tagged like cattle that I reject.

[karpenterskids]

Wowww...this is SO SCARY!!!
I'm completely 100% against this.

I don't like the thought of anyone knowing anything about me, without me even realizing that they're checking.

For instance, there are cop cars that drive by through my neighborhood on a regular basis, making sure that everything's safe or whatever.
I don't mind that, because I know that if I'm in trouble for something or if they're personally checking me out, they'll have to stop at my house and knock on my door.

If I had this technology in my driver's license, everytime I'd see a cop car pass by, I'd get paranoid, and cover up my license (or shield it with the stupid box thing...)

It's a complete invasion of privacy.
I don't like it one bit.

[man_w_balls]

Apparently you can make an RFID-blocking wallet with some duct tape and tinfoil:

http://www.rpi-polymath.com/ducttape/RFIDWallet.php

So now the crazy tinfoil hat crowd becomes the tinfoil ass crowd (?)
Ha ha. But seriously, I would do that if my id cards had RFID. It's not just cops that can scan those things - identity thieves might could even get your SSN and things...

Here's a commercially made RFID blocking wallet box:
http://www.flipsidewallet.com/

[umbrae]

This is very scary. I am still amazed that no one objected to their legislators when this was proposed 4 years ago. There are biblical references too. In many ways this is the beginning of the "mark of beast", if you are a religious type.

Basically, you can be tracked very reliably with this ID, and it is unlikely the sleeve will help you. Personally, I will be hacking the thing so it "malfunctions" when I get assigned one. Hopefully, you live in one of the 5 states that rejected the law; however, once the law is fully in affect you won't be able to fly if you live in those states.

[hassan_bin_sober]

If I want to fly I will steal an airplane!

[Dalkorian]

Hassan, you misspelled "hijack".
;-)

[Greg5A]

I've got one of these "shielded" carriers for my passport card. Add a "shielded" driver's license and the wallet gets bigger and bigger...And I wonder how durable these chips are? Anything in a wallet gets flexed as you sit on it.

We seem to going big time into the Surveillance Society, where we are being watched and tracked 24/7. In his book "1984", author George Orwell predicted that we would eventually be monitored in our own homes--to help "protect: us, of course, and to make sure that we were being good comrade citizens.

Scary stuff. You wonder if eventually we will have implanted computer chips so we become like versions of the "Borg" in Star Trek....

[Dalkorian]

I am dyslexic of Borg.
Fusistance is retile.
Your ass will be laminated.
LOL!

[farokh]

And the purpose of this is to accomplish what exactly? Specially if I can shield the information. Defeats the purpose of the RFID. Unless shielding makes me instantly suspicious.

You can see some good uses, for instance instances when you are involved in a car accident and are injured. But I don't think that is enough justification for doing what seems, ostensibly something that has little use.

Privacy? The average individual gives more away about themselves than they care to know through casual conversation. The question is who cares about you? No offense intended to anyone, but how important do we really think we are that others would be so interested in having all that data? And what do you do with all that data once you have it?

I would be more concerned with identity theft than whether the cop driving by is scanning me. We have police cars with scanners on their roof that look like speakers. They scan number plates of parked cars looking for stolen cars. Turns out the program has been very successful. So I guess they can scan drivers for suspended licenses.

Unless the driver is shielding his license.

[MrBoomshadow]

The whole "you must have something to hide if you protect yourself" argument is specious. The First Amendment guarantees us the right to express ourselves, and in part, I choose to do so by not broadcasting information about myself. Also, the Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, such as having driver licenses that broadcast our personal info to anyone with a reader.* Additionally, the Fifth Amendment guarantees us the right not to incriminate ourselves. Driver license requirements cannot supersede those rights, so I absolutely will shield RFID tags.

*The current RFID sniffing record is something like ONE MILE. Shield yourselves.

[Dalkorian]

I promise you that if this garbage comes to my state I won't shield it and hope for the best. I'll do everything in my power to defeat this obnoxious, illegal and unconstitutional invasion, THEN shield it anyway out of paranoia. Google will teach me how to hack it until it simply will never work again (maybe a short stint in a local microwave oven?).

There is no need for this technology. None whatsoever. It can accomplish no good, only evil and I don't care what some idiotic politician wants to tell us while selling it, I will NEVER accept it. Period.

[dredgerie]

what they will come back with is that driving is a privilege, not a right, and you'll have to give up your rights so that you can have the privilege of sitting in rush hour for 45 minutes at a time. same for flying, etc.

[ReigningChamp]

Land of the free indeed.

[Dylan_Wisor]

Wait, let me clear something up. You're all afraid that Big Brother is going to get information about you they shouldn't have... from an ID they issued?

I can understand the concern about identity theft and such. But if you shield the thing (or just, you know, leave it at home) all you're doing is preventing Mr. Smith from accessing the information on the spot. He wouldn't be learning anything that's not already on record.

I'll admit that when I read the tagline for this, I imagined a Robocop-esque HUD where someone's name and vital statistics appeared when you focused on them. That'd be sweet.

[altek85]

The holy grail of security would be a chip implanted in your neck with all informations needed, like health insurance, favourite dish, bank account. I mean everything you got a card for today could easily be sized to a chip. Lot of paperwork would left out then.

[vonStahl]

This technology has already been implemented in US passports since 2006 and has already been hacked (http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/6808). That's the reason why I carry my passport always in a "static bag" (the kind a computer card is shipped in). I have also registered the domain name "RFIDZappers.com" (no content) as I am sure that devices to "zap" RFID chips will become more common.

As a security consultant I own RFID reader devices and have my staff test all closets of our clients for RFID tags (retail applications etc). On average we find three (e.g. in high class shoes) which we disable with an high energy directional EMP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse) - you can accomplish the same thing by putting the object three seconds in the microwave on "high", but that can potentially damage the object (metal parts etc.) and will destroy any electronic device (i.e. a cell phone with an RFID chip), so try at your own risk.

The privacy implications are huge. Scenario: You, frequent the meat counter, or if you are female, the baby book section in Wal-Mart (or any other store) where the retailer has hidden RFID readers installed, then selling the data sets of customers passing by to health insurance companies... your premium skyrockets, because you are more prone to a heart attack (meat counter) or because you are very likely to become pregnant soon (baby books)... and that is just one very tiny example...

[WaltAugustinowicz]

Those shielded containers are actually Secure Sleeves from Identity Stronghold. They also come with the US Passport Card. They should come with the new contactless credit cards as well but the credit card companies don't send them. The credit cards actually give out your credit card number and expiration date.

You can get them at http://www.idstronghold.com

If you have any technical questions feel free to email me at walt at idstronghold.com I founded the company.

[CMatrix]

This is just one step. The next step will be voluntarily implanted RFID chips that allow you to pay without money. Then after enough manufactured terrorist attacks these chips will be mandatory. Now there is no money just credits. If they don't like you, say because you try to tell everyone what they are really doing, they turn the chip off and you are screwed. Aaron Russo explains it all. Google video "freedom to fascism".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173&hl=en

[altek85]

this comment definately misses something like:

"**** america, **** jewish world bank, etc. pp."

Have fun tracking my ip you ***********...