Comments on: Stupid Gov’t Trick: Wireless Passport Storage http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/14/stupid-govt-trick-wireless-passport-storage/ Data storage info & analysis Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:12:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Robin Harris http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/14/stupid-govt-trick-wireless-passport-storage/comment-page-1/#comment-3988 Robin Harris Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:39:12 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=194#comment-3988 Chris, thanks for the perspective. When I lived in Europe I had to have a bank account - with a smart card - to get paid. No seemed concerned there, so the cost issue never occurred to me. Not that I think cost should be a determinant - people pay for passports after all - so as long as it is reasonable why worry? The bottom line is that remote observation is a problem - whether it is one's passport, phone calls, internet surfing or presence in public spaces. It is not a question of "if" this information will be used for oppressive and evil purposes, only when. Sad, but several thousand years of history confirms it. Only after some unlucky people get targetted, tortured and killed will most Americans wake up to the current stupidity will our passports get fixed. Chris, thanks for the perspective. When I lived in Europe I had to have a bank account - with a smart card - to get paid. No seemed concerned there, so the cost issue never occurred to me. Not that I think cost should be a determinant - people pay for passports after all - so as long as it is reasonable why worry?

The bottom line is that remote observation is a problem - whether it is one’s passport, phone calls, internet surfing or presence in public spaces. It is not a question of “if” this information will be used for oppressive and evil purposes, only when. Sad, but several thousand years of history confirms it. Only after some unlucky people get targetted, tortured and killed will most Americans wake up to the current stupidity will our passports get fixed.

]]> By: Chris http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/14/stupid-govt-trick-wireless-passport-storage/comment-page-1/#comment-3987 Chris Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:00:21 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=194#comment-3987 Look to Mitretek (http://www.mitretek.org) for some of the influence on this decision. I worked there a few years back when the Dept. of State was deciding whether to go with 64k or 128k on the card. The Dutch passport was the only chipped passport back then, I think - I didn't realize that the encryption could be broken so quickly (not that I looked into it). FYI, smart cards were panned because of their cost and 2D barcodes don't really hold enough data (if you want to store biometric data, such as a face picture, on the chip). Look to the Dept. of Defense Common Access Card for a massive smart card roll-out. Cheers. Look to Mitretek (http://www.mitretek.org) for some of the influence on this decision. I worked there a few years back when the Dept. of State was deciding whether to go with 64k or 128k on the card. The Dutch passport was the only chipped passport back then, I think - I didn’t realize that the encryption could be broken so quickly (not that I looked into it).

FYI, smart cards were panned because of their cost and 2D barcodes don’t really hold enough data (if you want to store biometric data, such as a face picture, on the chip). Look to the Dept. of Defense Common Access Card for a massive smart card roll-out.

Cheers.

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