Spychipped Levi's Brand Jeans Hit The U.S.

Spychips.com & Computer Power User ^ | April 27,2006 | Katherine Albrecht

[Publius6961]

Isn't there any other way to send an EMP pulse? I wonder if it could start a cottage industry after the tagging was done: Pulse your pants!

There are probably many ways, but disabling every pacemaker and other electronic device within a 100 yard radius may not be appreciated...

[AntiGuv]

The RFID Hacking Underground: They can steal your smartcard, lift your passport, jack your car, even clone the chip in your arm. And you won't feel a thing. 5 tales from the RFID-hacking underground

Dutch RFID e-passport cracked -- US next?

RFID Passports: Improved, but still flawed?

Opps! This last one does indicate that there will be encryption - my info was out-of-date - so at least there's that. Whatever the case, here's what someone could pick up if they decrypt the data:

Now, with that out of the way: What the State Department is proposing is that the RFID-enabled passports carry at least a duplicate copy of all the passport holder's personal information, and a digitized photograph, encoded into the chip. They've left expansion room for, supposedly, biometric data such as a fingerprint or retinal scan.

With regard to the latter, all they need to settle on is what kind of biometric data they want to require.

[AntiGuv]

Global RFid Passport Encryption standard hacked within two hours by a Dutch company

[t_skoz]

While I do see a civil liberties nightmare, I also see an opportunity for a libertarian-minded startup clothing company to really get a marketing heads-up here.

So um... anybody got some seed money kicking around?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Odds are that they have a thing called a bearing heater

Our engine shop had a oil soak bearing heater - but what about a degausser? We had a bearing degausser that you could hear go off on the other side of the hangar, and you couldn't wear a watch within ten feet of the bearing room, or it would toast it when they fired it off.

[MissAmericanPie]

Yeah, some jerk would prolly be upset over his pace maker frying, even if you tried to explain to him that it is for the greater good.=o)

[Nachum]

Our engine shop had a oil soak bearing heater - but what about a degausser? We had a bearing degausser that you could hear go off on the other side of the hangar, and you couldn't wear a watch within ten feet of the bearing room, or it would toast it when they fired it off.

Interesting. I wonder if retailers and consumers would pay money to zap their clothing in shops like yours...

[CindyDawg]

Someone is going to get rich, designing a spy-buster. Hopefully it will be a freeper, if yall don't burn yourselves up first:')

[MissAmericanPie]

Or personal data that only you would know, like, the name of your dog, your wife's maiden name, the nickname for your hampster, the name of your great aunt's second cousin once removed.

[MissAmericanPie]

Kind of like in lieu of tanning salons?

[CindyDawg]

Then why not de-activate or remove them at the register?

[demlosers]

Yes, it certainly will improve logistics.

[supercat]

It can be read, and stolen, by simple proximity. That's the essence of the critical difference. It need not be optically scanned.

Perhaps I should have said "legitimate advantage". Certainly getting one's passport out to show it to people who have a legitimate need to see it is a minor inconvenience compared to everything else involved with international travel.

[JerseyHighlander]

http://www.difrwear.com/products.shtml

found this after the first time RFID passports were mentioned online.

I'd be afraid that altering or disabling the rfid on the new passports will put a person under greater TSA scrutiny for all future internatinal and domestic flights.

[demlosers]

I am not kidding in the slightest. I am dead serious about disabling the RFID in any future passport I might have, especially since there's no current plan to have the data encrypted.

I see a market for tempest shielded pouches that inhibits the RFID transceivers when passports are not being used for identification purposes.

[JerseyHighlander]

Here is a possible home brew remedy, turn your class D or class E microwave into a iron forge. I think it might melt the entire passport though.

http://home.c2i.net/metaphor/mvpage.html

[VRing]

Yesterday I bought a new pair of Dickie's work pants and one of the hang tags was plain white, nothing on it. I held it up to the light and sure enough, the RFID antenna was plain as day.

[KoRn]

"...and we're not interested in what you're doing at home. We care only about the movement of material from point of make to point of sale."

Before I would buy anything you were selling with this I would need some proof that this capability wouldn't be going home with me. If you implement this without that assurance, I wish you the best of luck in finding your next job.

[CindyDawg]

Where did you buy them?

[MissAmericanPie]

What about dual citizenship with a nation that bans the darn thing? Just in case things get bad somehow. Thinking outside the box, taken to the worse case scenario, wouldn't it be possible for people to be required to do things against their will, everything from indoctrination camps in third world countries, or poor Christian Sudanese being forced to show up to a Mosque and worship Allah, thing could even get bad here.

What if this became common place in a nation like Ruwanda or Sudan, Tutsies and Christians wouldn't stand a chance, they couldn't even meet to lay plans for for self defense without the knowledge of who attended, where, and where troops were massing to stage counter attacks. They couldn't even hide without being found. Taken to it's worse case scenario this could be far more than a benign tracking of goods and blue jeans.

But I doubt the technology is advanced enough and may never take that direction anyway. It's just disturbing that many things invented for the common good ends up being perverted into something devastatingly destructive and corrupt.

For instants most agencies formed and laws passed in D.C. that are suppose to be a benefit end up being a disaster by not only not fulfilling their reason for existance, but often time actually working against it's on purpose for existance. Like Welfare, Medicare, the Public School system, the INS, the CIA, the Patriot Act,HUD, government banking rules and regulations, "Know your customer", the list just goes on and on.