It's the Stuff We Don't Hear About

I do recall hearing a little bit -- and I mean a very little bit -- about this whole idea some while ago, but hadn't realized it was a done deal. This is the sort of thing that goes beyond paranoia and rests firmly in the shadow of slack-jawed stupidity. I'm glad this guy took the trouble to show just how awful it is. From Engadget:

Think of it this way: Chris Paget just did you a service by hacking your passport and stealing your identity. Using a $250 Motorola RFID reader and antenna connected to his laptop, Chris recently drove around San Francisco reading RFID tags from passports, driver licenses, and other identity documents. In just 20 minutes, he found and cloned the passports of two very unaware US citizens. Fortunately, Chris wears a white hat; his video demonstration is meant to raise awareness to what he calls the unsuitability of RFID for tagging people. Specifically, he's hoping to help get the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative -- a homeland security project -- scrapped.

Here's a fact sheet from DHS on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative -- as usual, predicated on the idea that everything works right the first time around -- and I think it really takes someone in government to believe that -- and fankly, it strikes me as not very realistic in other ways.

Here's a video:



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