[nycbug-talk] RFID passports

[Jesse Callaway]

On Oct 22, 2004, at 12:00 PM, Bob Ippolito wrote:

>
> On Oct 22, 2004, at 11:22, Jesse Callaway wrote:
>
>>
>> On Oct 22, 2004, at 9:23 AM, Dru wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Here's an interesting piece from the Effector mailing list 
>>> (www.eff.org):
>>>
>>>
>>> ~ New Passports Will Leak Personal Data
>>> The next generation of US passports will have embedded RFIDs,
>>> and some reports suggest that the information the chips
>>> broadcast won't be encrypted.  Meaning anyone with an RFID
>>> reader could passively scan you, pulling the most intimate
>>> personal data right out of your pocket.  Unbelievable:
>>> <http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/000434.html>
>>>
>>> Dru
>>>
>>
>> Speaking of which CryptoGram is now RSS as well as the familiar 
>> monthly email.
>>
>> <http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-rss.xml>
>>
>> Time to pull out the collection of anti-static bags and keep the 
>> shiniest! This works with EZ-Pass, where there is most likely more 
>> wattage.
>
> EZ-Pass uses an active transponder (self-powered, uses a battery) and 
> runs on a completely different frequency than the kind of passive 
> transponder (powered by the reader's signal) that would go into a 
> passport.  The same techniques aren't necessarily going to work.
>
> -bob
>
>


I'm certain that if you wrap your passport in foil you'll see no 
outside EMF inside the little rectangular space. And since you say it's 
a passive transponder, you shouldn't see much inside of the magic space 
either. It would need to be some sort of toxic ray in order for dense 
anti-static bag not to block it.