[IP] More on RFIDs in passports
------- Original message -------
From: Steve Chadima <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 14/4/'05, 9:29
Thought you might be interested in this latest chapter in the
RFIDs-in-passports debate. Regards, Steve
Steve Chadima
Chief Marketing Officer
Energy Innovations, Inc.
130 West Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
626-535-2784 voice
626-535-2701 fax
steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.energyinnovations.com
Officials disagree over effectiveness of passport chip
By Sarah Lai Stirland, National Journal's Technology Daily
SEATTLE - A government official on Wednesday downplayed the privacy
implications of a new wireless chip technology that soon will be embedded into
American pass
ports, but a civil liberties advocate disagreed with his stance.
The State Department is installing chips that can be read wirelessly by
machines when Americans pass through U.S. immigration. The chips contain the
information
that American passports currently display, such as name, identification number
and photograph, enhanced by facial-recognition technology.
The new passports will be rolled out and tested by about August. State has said
the new technology will enable immigration officials to authenticate a passport
holder's identity and make the documents better resistant to tampering.
Frank Moss, State's deputy assistant secretary for passport services, said
during a panel discussion that civil libertarians' have overblown their concern
that
fraudsters and terrorists having the ability to access that data remotely with
their own chip scanners and then to commit crimes with that information. The
chip
s can only be read by a machine that is at the most 10 centimeters away, he
said.
"The idea that you can walk through a lobby of a hotel and that you can be
scanned is poppycock," he said at the Computer, Freedom and Privacy conference.
Opponents of the wireless chips in passports have suggested that the technology
could make Americans vulnerable to identity theft domestically, and Americans tr
aveling abroad could be walking targets for terrorists. They say that
fraudsters and terrorists could purchase scanners to scan crowds to acquire the
informatio
n contained in the chips.
Moss also pointed out that the chips do not contain some of the information
that is central to the crime of identity theft, such as Social Security numbers
and
home addresses.
But after Moss' presentation, Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil
Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, demonstrated that a reader
coul
d read his passport information from more than 10 centimeters away. He charged
that the chips can be read from as far away as 30 feet.
Moss vigorously defended the administration's passport initiative and said that
State would not roll out the new passports without incorporating a mechanism tha
t will prevent unauthorized access to the passport holders' personal
information.
"I want to assure all of you [that] this passport will not be issued to the
public before we address the problem of skimming," he said. "We take this
problem ve
ry seriously."
Skimming refers to the practice of using scanners to gain unauthorized access
to passport holders' data.
Moss said possible technical solutions include the incorporation of a metal
cover on the front of the passport designed to prevent unauthorized scanners
from re
ading the data.
This document is located at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0405/041305tdpm2.htm
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