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Re: [privacy] Feds Leapfrog RFID Privacy Study
From: "Dude VanWinkle" <dudevanwinkle () gmail com>
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 05:24:20 -0500
On 10/30/06, Richard M. Smith <rms () computerbytesman com> wrote:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,72019-0.html By Ryan Singel 02:00 AM Oct, 30, 2006 The story seems simple enough. An outside privacy and security advisory committee to the Department of Homeland Security penned a tough report concluding the government should not use chips that can be read remotely in identification documents. But the report remains stuck in draft mode, even as new identification cards with the chips are being announced. Jim Harper, a Cato Institute fellow who serves on the committee and who recently published a book on identification called Identity Crisis, thinks he knows why the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee report on the use of Radio Frequency Identification devices for human identification (.pdf) never made it out of the draft stage. "The powers that be took a good run at deep-sixing this report," Harper said. "There's such a strongly held consensus among industry and DHS that RFID is the way to go that getting people off of that and getting them to examine the technology is very hard to do." RFID chips, which either have a battery or use the radio waves from a reader to send information, are widely used in tracking inventory or for highway toll payment systems. But critics argue that hackers can skim information off the chips and that the chips can be used to track individuals. Hackers have also been able to clone some chips, such as those used for payment cards and building security, as well as passports. The draft report concludes that "RFID appears to offer little benefit when compared to the consequences it brings for privacy and data integrity" -- a finding that was widely criticized by RFID industry officials when the committee met in June.
Why would we even ask RFID industry officials what they think? I guess we know who is behind keeping this schlock in our legislative process -JP _______________________________________________ privacy mailing list privacy () whitestar linuxbox org http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy
Current thread:
- [privacy] Feds Leapfrog RFID Privacy Study Richard M. Smith (Oct 30)
- Re: [privacy] Feds Leapfrog RFID Privacy Study Dude VanWinkle (Oct 31)