RFID. No wait - contactless chips. No! Wait - it's....
This is absolutely classic. Proof if proof were needed that governments consider the average citizen to be totally stupid.
The U.S. government has finally decided it won't use RFID tags in the passports it issues to millions of Americans in the coming years.
Instead, the government will use "contactless chips." Or "proximity chips," "contactless integrated circuits," , or even "contactless smartcards." In fact, the name will be anything but "RFID." That doesn't cover up the fact that the name might change but it is still an RFID chip.
The distinction is part of an effort by the Department of Homeland Security to bamboozle the public and confuse them. Many people associate the term RFID with radio chips that blab personal information indiscriminately. That is why Homeland Security is engaging in doublespeak, to dupe Americans into accepting RFID tags on their passports. The simple fact of the matter is that any identity thief will be able to lift an RFID-tagged passport holder's personally identifiable information with reader devices that can be purchased for less than $500. It doesn't matter what you call the chip.
This is the icing on the cake though : Homeland Security's Joseph Broghamer insisted that the contactless chips for ID documents are vastly different from RFID tags used in retail supply chains, because contactless chips must be held very close to a reader device to be activated and to transmit their data (of about 4 inches where other RFID tags can be read at distances up to 30 feet). Apparently then, this stuffed shirt has managed to invent radio waves that only travel 4 inches. Amazing!
Apparently, Broghamer "nearly fell out of his chair," when he read a Wired News report that the Homeland Security Department's employee ID card will include an RFID tag. "I never used the term 'RFID,'" said Broghamer, "I only used 'contactless chip' or 'proximity chip' to describe it."
Ah well that's OK then. As long as the name has changed, this scheme will be perfectly safe to put into passports.
I wonder if I could start a business manufacturing lead-lined tin-foil coated passport covers.....?
The U.S. government has finally decided it won't use RFID tags in the passports it issues to millions of Americans in the coming years.
Instead, the government will use "contactless chips." Or "proximity chips," "contactless integrated circuits," , or even "contactless smartcards." In fact, the name will be anything but "RFID." That doesn't cover up the fact that the name might change but it is still an RFID chip.
The distinction is part of an effort by the Department of Homeland Security to bamboozle the public and confuse them. Many people associate the term RFID with radio chips that blab personal information indiscriminately. That is why Homeland Security is engaging in doublespeak, to dupe Americans into accepting RFID tags on their passports. The simple fact of the matter is that any identity thief will be able to lift an RFID-tagged passport holder's personally identifiable information with reader devices that can be purchased for less than $500. It doesn't matter what you call the chip.
This is the icing on the cake though : Homeland Security's Joseph Broghamer insisted that the contactless chips for ID documents are vastly different from RFID tags used in retail supply chains, because contactless chips must be held very close to a reader device to be activated and to transmit their data (of about 4 inches where other RFID tags can be read at distances up to 30 feet). Apparently then, this stuffed shirt has managed to invent radio waves that only travel 4 inches. Amazing!
Apparently, Broghamer "nearly fell out of his chair," when he read a Wired News report that the Homeland Security Department's employee ID card will include an RFID tag. "I never used the term 'RFID,'" said Broghamer, "I only used 'contactless chip' or 'proximity chip' to describe it."
Ah well that's OK then. As long as the name has changed, this scheme will be perfectly safe to put into passports.
I wonder if I could start a business manufacturing lead-lined tin-foil coated passport covers.....?
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