Mythbusters banned from talking about RFID chip by Visa and Mastercard, etc.

[1monster]

from 2012 (I've never heard of this story before)

[abelenkpe]

1. corporations run the world. nt

[cliffordu]

8. DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!

You are absolutely correct.

And if they could pad the bottom line with it, they would kill us all.

[PoliticalPothead]

22. They actually can pad their bottom line with it, and they are killing us all.

It's called oil drilling.

[They_Live]

30. oh

I thought it was called insurance and for profit health car, but you may be right.

[PoliticalPothead]

34. Yup

That too, just another way corporations use human lives to pad their bottom line.

[Orsino]

19. In this case, more specifically, big corporations can bully smaller ones. n/t

[Arctic Dave]

2. How hackable and scanable are they? Very.

The RFID chips in your debit/credit card can be read by a criminal or a let's say a store, just you walking by them.

So, those little towers at the doors of every supermarket exit could read your card info.

Billions of dollars a year are stolen this way but they don't want you to know that because it would make you lose your trust in their system.

[Iggo]

3. Can't watch the video right now. Question: Banned by whom?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. The Discovery Channel backed down after receiving a conference call from the legal counsel from

American Express, ..., and a number of other major corporations.

Many attorneys are in the threat business. These corporate attorneys intended for their threats to be taken seriously, and they were.

[Iggo]

11. Thank you.

[cascadiance]

5. Get a lead case for your passport...

If you got a passport in recent years, you probably have an RFID chip. And for terrorists, it is said that now they can scan for their "body count" of Americans to maximize their kill count if they match a lot of Americans near by overseas. Supposedly a lead case might help prevent this from happening.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/072910-black-hat-rfid-passports.html

A place to get cases...

http://www.idstronghold.com/

[RoccoR5955]

7. Lead not needed

All you need is an RFID safe bag, like those that hard drives come in. In a pinch, you can fashion one out of household aluminum foil.

[cliffordu]

9. Yep, tin foil. Answer to 87.2 % percent of the problem

[eggplant]

14. Heh. In NY, an "enhanced driver license" comes with its own foil envelope.

The Enhanced license is a standard license + the WHTI-compliant RFID chip for land-based border crossings. I thought it was a nice touch that they included the foil envelope automatically.

[RoccoR5955]

10. Mythbusters has a lot of things banned

There are many things that their legal department has made off limits, or they just do not want to upset things with.
I have even seen some out and out lies on the show, from things that I have personally done whose outcome is the opposite of what they get.

[SkyDaddy7]

25. PLEASE TELL!!

I cannot say I have seen every show but I have yet to see "lies" or "out & out lies"...Now, I have heard some folks, like conspiracy theorist, claim the results were fabricated or they lied or whatever but no one that has ever proven them to be "out & out" liars.

Science is not about making people happy it is simply about getting at the truth & Myth Busters do a good job at getting at the truth.

[RoccoR5955]

32. I'll have to post them when I see them

I only know that there have been times where they did one of their "experiments" and they either did not do it correctly, and got the wrong result, or did it without things that I would have done...


Come to think of it, I just thought of one. The dogs that sniff out pot, they said that it was busted that you can hide the smell, yet if you put the weed in a container of coffee, inside its own glass jar, double bagged, and place that can of ground coffee into a can of pickle juice, and place the jar/can of pickle juice in another jar of ground coffee, the smell will be hidden. They didn't even use the real thing in that one, "because it is illegal." Yes, you will have to have either small amounts, or very large jars, but it can be done.

That's one, I'll have to post others as I see them.

[Hekate]

17. RFID safe wallets in different styles are available at Magellan's

I got a leather passport folder from them several years ago, and more recently a wallet style that holds my passport too. I now use it year-round for my credit cards, not just when I am traveling.

http://www.magellans.com/small-bags-and-wallets/small-bags-and-wallets-wallets-and-money-belts

http://www.magellans.com/

[ellenfl]

20. do other aluminum cc cases work as well? mine's not from magellan. eom

[Hekate]

24. Probably. I like mine because they are lightweight...

The flat passport case is black leather, while the wallet is a woven synthetic that looks rugged and comes in a number of attractive colors besides black (I chose red), and has both a wrist strap and a long shoulder strap. It has a slot labeled "passport" as well as the usual places for cash and credit cards. The lining of both types is a flexible gray material, probably infused with aluminum.

Magellan's also carries a line of small lightweight colored-aluminum credit card holders, little snap boxes with partitions for your cards. I was attracted to those initially, but given that I am a little clumsy was afraid I'd simply end up dropping my credit card collection all over the floor.

I like Magellan's because they are local -- there's a nice catalog, but it's nice to be able to drop by their little flagship store and browse when the mood takes me. They started carrying RFID wallets right about the time I read about the issue in the LA Times.

jokes are funny, but for a change it's actually a useful material!

[longship]

6. and public libraries? Maybe?

[SCVDem]

12. Just wrap your wallet in

Blur.

Blur can do anything!

Dear corporations! Fuck you!

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. What is Blur?

[SCVDem]

29. Hidden ingredient names

When they were making a thermite mixture, instead of telling people what they were using, they just called it blur.

Mix blur and blur, add a match and get a fiery reaction.

They used it in the Hindenberg duplication episode.

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. Thank you for that context...makes sense now.

[grahamhgreen]

13. How is that even possible....

[struggle4progress]

15. Mythbusters Blocked From Revealing RFID Myths [Update: September 3, 2008]

It appears Adam Savage of Mythbusters is retracting his statements made at The Last Hope conference, according to a statement issued to CNET News on Wednesday.

Adam Savage says in the issued statement, "There’s been a lot of talk about this RFID thing, and I have to admit that I got some of my facts wrong, as I wasn’t on that story, and as I said on the video, I wasn’t actually in on the call."

He continues, "Texas Instruments’ account of their call with Grant and our producer is factually correct. If I went into the detail of exactly why this story didn’t get filmed, it’s so bizarre and convoluted that no one would believe me, but suffice to say...the decision not to continue on with the RFID story was made by our production company, Beyond Productions, and had nothing to do with Discovery, or their ad sales department" ...

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Mythbuster-RFID-HOPE,6313.html

[blackspade]

18. That only makes it weirder.

[tnlurker]

16. For Later reading

[Warpy]

21. Aluminum wallets are cheaper than dirt on Amazon

and will defeat most bad guys with scanners.

I started using one a year ago to keep all the cards straight.

[baldguy]

23. If you're wondering why libertarians & Paulbots like Snowden are dangerous - this is the reason.

They would have corporations free to control EVERYTHING - not just the content of a basic cable show.

[jonthebru]

26. Serves them right!

[boomer55]

27. yeah well mythbusters aint exactly the best sources of info.

[RoccoR5955]

33. +1! n.t.

[bluedeathray]

35. Consumer Reports weighs in

On security of RFID technology.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/june/money/credit-card-fraud/rfid-credit-cards/index.htm

[bluedeathray]

36. Popular Mechanics tips to help prevent RFID theft

Right here:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how-to/4206464