On Fri, Oct 22, 2004 at 11:01:16AM -0400, Whyte, William wrote: | | > R.A. Hettinga wrote: | > > | > <http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41030> | > | > > An engineer and RFID expert with Intel claims there is | > little danger of | > > unauthorized people reading the new passports. Roy Want | > told the newssite: | > > "It is actually quite hard to read RFID at a distance," | > saying a person's | > > keys, bag and body interfere with the radio waves. | > | > Who was it that pointed out that radio waves don't | > interfere, rather, receivers can't discriminate? | | Absolutely. I'd add that while it's *currently* hard to | read at a distance, passports typically have a lifetime | of 10 years and I'd be very surprised if the technology | wasn't significantly better five years out.
5 years? I don't think we have that long. The technology will mature *very* rapidly if Virginia makes their driver's licenses RFID-enabled, or if the US goes ahead with the passports. Why? Because there will be a stunning amount of money to be stolen by not identity thieves, but real thieves. Imagine sitting with a laptop, a good antenna, and some software outside a metro station in Virginia. Or an upscale restaurant in Adams-Morgan, reading off the addresses of those who will be away from home for the next 3 hours. Adam --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
