Google around even for a few clicks and you can quickly get a sense of the concerns and controversies surrounding RFID systems. RFID tags can be incorporated into ID cards, clothing, various items, even under your skin. What’s scary in the short-term is how quickly the systems are being deployed as costs come down. Some of the entities currently using RFID: Libraries, universities, museums, amusement parks, VIP nightclubs and -- of course -- several governments worldwide.
Here’s a nice jolt of paranoia to start off your weekend. This video was made by a hacker to demonstrate just how easy it is to sniff out and clone personal data off RFID passports and IDs. He does so with $250 worth of RFID reader equipment and a laptop, while driving around San Francisco. “I don’t believe that we should have any kind of identification documents with RFID tags in them,” says our tour guide. His video makes a pretty good case as to why.
As a dispassionate scientific obsever of such phenomena, I find it fascinating when technology so clearly outpaces any regulation, standardization, or even clear thinking aobut potential ramifications. As a part-time fugitive with several passports, I have less notional concerns. Either way, good stuff to know.
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