Chips in official IDs raise privacy fears

[L. Coyote]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090711/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chipping_america_iv

By TODD LEWAN, AP National Writer Todd Lewan, Ap National Writer – Sat Jul 11, 3:38 pm ET

Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he'd bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car.

It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker's gold.

Zipping past Fisherman's Wharf, his scanner detected, then downloaded to his laptop, the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians' electronic U.S. passport cards embedded with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags. Within an hour, he'd "skimmed" the identifiers of four more of the new, microchipped PASS cards from a distance of 20 feet.

Embedding identity documents — passports, drivers licenses, and the like — with RFID chips is a no-brainer ..........

[izquierdista]

1. Not mine

I keep an envelope with a piece of aluminum foil in my wallet. Just the size of a paper bill, on the outside, so it shields everything inside. I understand that mylar is even conductive enough to shield from these nosy RFID readers.

So the next time you think you need a tinfoil hat :tinfoilhat: relax, you don't, just a tinfoil purse or wallet.

[Vincardog]

2. I am going to add tha to my ALuminadi product line