In case there was any doubt that this whole digital passport / RFID passport thing was never about security (via Slashdot):
“New microchip passports designed to be foolproof against identity theft failed the test when a researcher was able to manipulate one in minutes. The cloned passports were accepted as genuine by the computer software recommended for use at international airports. According to the article: ‘A computer researcher cloned the chips on two British passports and implanted digital images of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber. The altered chips were then passed as genuine by passport reader software used by the UN agency that sets standards for e-passports.'”
Once again demonstrating that there is absolutely no reason to have RFID in our passports and that it does not in any way make us more safe or secure.
So let’s just drop the whole idea, huh? My passport’s due for renewal soon – and I do NOT want to get one with a chip in it.
Repeat after me:
- RFID passports do not make us any safer.
- RFID passports are not really any harder to counterfeit
- RFID passports are not inherently more secure
- RFID passports are a bad idea
Repeat that 600 more times. Then write it down 600 times. Then mail it to your representatives (all of them).
Well? What are you waiting for? Get to it!
