November 19, 2004 | Even the folks who make 'em hate 'em

The government's plan to issue passports with RFID chips in them has drawn the ire of privacy advocates (see my Wired News story here) for lax security and now even one of the companies involved admits the standards being used are woefully inadequate, according to this article by AP reporter, Ellen Simon.

On the latest passports, the agency has "taken a 'keep it simple' approach, which, unfortunately, really disregards a basic privacy approach and leaves out the basic security methods we would have expected to have been incorporated for the security of the documents," said Neville Pattinson, an executive at Axalto North America, which is working on a prototype U.S. electronic passport.

Can anyone with some smarts spy on your unencrypted passport? Pattinson says yes.

Under the standards, information on the chip could be picked up by someone who wires a briefcase with a reader, then swings it within inches of a passports, Pattinson said. Over a greater distance, an interloper could eavesdrop on border control devices reading the passports, he said.

"There's no security built into it," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program, at the American Civil Liberties Union. "This will enable identity theft and put Americans at some risk when they travel internationally."

And of course, the funniest thing in the whole sad business is that those who are unlucky enough to get one of these passports but wants to protect their privacy would do well to take the tin-foil hat off their head and put it on their passport.

One rudimentary way to protect electronic passports from identity thieves is to wrap them in tinfoil, which blocks radio waves. A single size Doritos bag would do the trick. Protecting border control agents' readers with a metal shield would protect against eavesdropping.

The International Civil Aviation Organization and State Department say they're looking at more organized methods.

The State Department won't start issuing these to regular Joes and Janes until sometime next year. I for one plan to get a new passport before then and that sucker will remain valid for another ten years. And it doesn't need a tin-foil hat.

Posted by Ryan Singel at November 19, 2004 12:07 PM

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Ryan Singel catches an AP article on RFID passports: On the latest passports, the agency has "taken a 'keep it simple' approach, which, unfortunately, really disregards a basic privacy approach and leaves out the basic security methods we would... [Read More]

Tracked on November 20, 2004 09:29 AM

» Secondary Screening: Even the folks who make 'em hate 'em from Privacy Digest: Privacy News (Civil Rights, Encryption, Free Speech, Cryptography)
The government's plan to issue passports with RFID chips in them has drawn the ire of privacy advocates (see my Wired News story here) for lax security and now even one of the companies involved admits the standards being used are woefully inadequate, acc [Read More]

Tracked on November 27, 2004 05:02 PM

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Posted by: Watching them, Watching Us at November 19, 2004 09:17 PM