more on more on on RFIDs in passports

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: John Morris <jmorris-lists () cdt org>
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 16:36:02 -0400
To: <dave () farber net>
Cc: Henning Schulzrinne <hgs () cs columbia edu>, "Bruening, Paula"
<pbruening () cdt org>, "Schwartz, Ari" <ari () cdt org>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on more on on RFIDs in passports

For IP....

Dave,

We should not jump to the conclusion that there exists no possible technical
solution to the problems posed by RFIDs in passports:

At 11:33 AM -0400 4/21/05, David Farber wrote:
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Russell Nelson <nelson () crynwr com>
> Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 10:25:56 -0400
> To: <dave () farber net>
> Cc: "Jonathan S. Shapiro" <shap () eros-os org>
> Subject: Re: [IP] more on on RFIDs in passports

<SNIP>
> The real objection remains: how do you create a chip which everyone
> who you DO want to read it gets to read it, but nobody you DON'T want
> to read it can read it, and which does not require any action on your
> part.  There is no solution to this problem; thus RFIDs cannot be made
> to work securely.

In a brief note posted today, Henning Schulzrinne, Chair of the Columbia
Department of Computer Science, has suggested a couple of seemingly viable
methods for preventing passport RFIDs from being read by unauthorized
readers.  See http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/papers/2005/passport.pdf,.

The most intriguing idea that Professor Schulzrinne advances is to include a
"light-sensitive element" on an inside page of the passport, such that the
RFID is only capable of responding to a reader when the passport is opened
to, say, the inside cover/first page where the picture appears.  As
Professor Schulzrinne explains, "if the passport is closed, the RFID
circuitry is disabled."  This type of technology is used in some greeting
cards, and thus likely would not add too much cost above and beyond the cost
of the RFID itself.  The fuller description of the idea is:

> Light sensor: A light-sensitive element embedded in the passport center page
> only activates the RFID circuitry when sufficient light falls onto the
> passport. If the passport is closed, the RFID circuitry is disabled. A simple
> photo-sensitive resistor can serve this purpose and does not require any
> active circuitry. This approach is similar to one used by electronic "singing"
> greeting cards that play their tune when the recipient opens the card. Ambient
> light is sufficient to activate the circuitry, so the customs official would
> only have to open the passport in order to obtain the data. The additional
> cost of such circuitry appears extremely modest, as they can be embedded in
> greeting cards.

I would be interested in any problems with this approach that your readers
might raise (as I am sure would Professor Schulzrinne, who I have cc'd on
this e-mail).

John Morris

-- 
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John B. Morris, Jr.
Staff Counsel
Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 I Street NW, Suite 1100
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jmorris () cdt org
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