RFID Underground

I came across this off of Digg and also this month Consumer Reports has a piece on RFID's called
RFID tags, Hacking RFID (registered users). I guess now that Consumer Reports is getting unconformable about RFID's, I hope that the general public will pay attention to the issue and speak out against them.

Wired 14.05: The RFID Hacking Underground

Photo Credit: clix

RFID chips are everywhere - companies and labs use them as access keys, Prius owners use them to start their cars, and retail giants like Wal-Mart have deployed them as inventory tracking devices. Drug manufacturers like Pfizer rely on chips to track pharmaceuticals. The tags are also about to get a lot more personal: Next-gen US passports and credit cards will contain RFIDs, and the medical industry is exploring the use of implantable chips to manage patients. According to the RFID market analysis firm IDTechEx, the push for digital inventory tracking and personal ID systems will expand the current annual market for RFIDs from $2.7 billion to as much as $26 billion by 2016.

Technorati Tags: Spychips, Data-mining, RFID

RFID-Blocking

I came across this the other day, after I heard about the government issuing RFID's in current Passports. And know that even credit card companies are beginning to use this technology, I want to make sure that my wallet is a Faraday Cage. I know that I'm being paranoid, but even paranoids have enemies. And with ID theft on the rise this I see as becoming a prime ground for these thieves.

Product Page

Technorati Tags: RFID, Spychips, Data Mining, Faraday Cage

You Get What You Deserve.

I've never been an advocate of RFID technology. I think that it is an Orwellen technology that is put forth by cooperations who could careless about civil liberties. And now thats to hacker it could turn into a nightmare for these cooperations and governments -- Namely the US Government -- who have and wish to implement RFID's in their environments.


RFID chips can spread viruses - Engadget



Technorati Tags: RFID, Data Mining, Orwell, Spychip

RFID's in your Goodyears

Now I have to worry about the tires I place on my car! Sure they are using these in NASCAR races now, But I can see local government using these as the new Photo radar. Just embed readers in the road way the same way they do for some traffic light sensors. Then you'll get your speeding tickets because your tires were doing ninety in a sixty five miles an hour zone.

RFID Tags Embedded in Daytona 500 Tires - Gizmodo

Technorati Tags: RFID, spychips, Data Mining

CityWatcher Story

Example of subdural chip

I'm glad to see that more are picking up on this story dealing with Citywatcher.com. But I would like to see more than: "Sure, implanting an RFID chip in your workers might incite privacy concerns, be a tad creepy, and signal the end of days..."Engadget.

I would hope that others as they pick up this story might have more concerns than chalking it up to a PR stunt.


Technorati Tags: RFID, Implants, spychip, Datamining

Chipping Employees - Welcome to a Brave New World

Photo Credit: VanHeber

I heard about this company -- CityWatcher -- that would requires RFID injection into it's employees a few days ago on the radio, but I am only now seeing it hit the the tech sites like Slashdot. Other than the revulsion that I felt upon hearing of this story, the so called security that this mark of the beast was supposed to give, is non-existent. A researcher recently published that these systems are as vulnerable as any other if not more so, since anyone with a reader only to get within a few feet to be able to copy the info.

I have the same feelings about the PayPass system that MasterCard has put in place in the last month or so in stories like 7-11. The idea that all anyone needed was a radio power transceiver reader to get my credit card number is frightening. As it is I feel that I'm going to have to line my wallet in Aluminum foil before long.

Related
SpyChips


Technorati Tags: RFID, Spychips, TIA, Datamining

How they Spy

Noah Shachtman has outlined a two part series of articles by Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache on News.com outline what the NSA's domestic spying program might look like.

Defense Tech: NSA: How They Spy

Technorati Tags: NSA, warrantless taps, Scandal, Intelligence

Tricky Dick

I caught Dick Cheney on the NewsHour. This man comes off as so rational, it is scary. But what he says about the legality of the Domestic Spying program is just plain wrong. The thing that is being overlooked is that congress in this case is not the oversight for this program. It is and was the FISA Court. Nothing about this, that has been made public, changes this or gives them these powers. Take a look at the transcript.

Online NewsHour: Newsmaker with Vice President Dick Cheney -- February 7, 2006

Technorati Tags: Warrantless wiretaps, Scandal, Vice President

Law vs. New Technology

I keep on hearing that the FISA Law is old and out of date from people on the web.; And that is one of the reasons that Bush gave his order, well that is a bunch of BullS**T. If he truly felt that the law had problems then why didn't he go to congress. The answer is he did and was told no way by congress. Bush and Company could not except that and did an end run around congress and any oversight. One of the major papers last week said something about how this operation had to be reauthorized every 40 day by the Attorney General and how one of the Deputy Attorney generals refuse to on legel question at one point. When you have so may people thinking that this operation has serious oversight problems the President and his political cronies should not have the final say. He keeps say we couldn't because that would have gone into classified matters that congress couldn't or shouldn't be advise of and/ or could keep a lid on. And the courts were either to slow or held him to, to high of a standard. It also comes out that what few; briefings that had occurred may have mislead congress as to the true nature of his Domestic spying.

Which brings use back to the problem of this President acting as if nothing other than his opinion is required to change the law. This matter more than meets the definition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors to impeach this President. Anyone who cannot see that are constitutional protections at steak here and that without action, are rights are meaningless and only exist at the whim and pleasure of the President needs to do a reality check. The constitution does give great power to the Executive in times of war. But there are legal limits to it's use, congress to this point has not done their jobs under the constitution to balance the power of the Executive branch when it over reaches and endangers are rights.

Related
Wiretaps and Data Mining: Old Law vs. New Technology
Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program


Technorati Tags: President, Congress, FISA, Wiretapping, Scandal, Law

Denied wiretaps, So Bypassed them updated

Daily Kos is showing slightly different numbers than the upi story that I sighted earlier in the day.

Daily Kos: FISA Court Modified Inadequate Warrant Requests

Technorati Tags: FISACourt, Courts, Wiretaps, SCOTUS

Denied wiretaps, So Bypassed them

UPI has a short blurb that Bush decided to skip the FISA Court because they had questioned and modified 179 warrants out of 5,645 requests by the Administration. Apparently that is more than all of the previous Administrations combined. They had done that only twice out of the 13,102 applications approved over the first 22 years of the court's operation. Further more this court, which I feel was doing its job correctly, had rejected six warrants flat out.

So because the court questioned 3% of these warrants that is to much interference for this Administration. Sure this is quite a jump in oversight from it's historic level of .015% disapproval. But you would think that now that we are in a state of war more questionable request would reach the court. So to this administration a 97% approval rate for these warrants makes this court an activist and out of control court that he need to bypass for the good of the country.

To me that just doesn't pass the smell test.

Related
Bush was denied wiretaps, bypassed them


Technorati Tags: SCOTUS, Courts, FISA, Wiretaps, President

NSA

Photo Credit: mrrealtime

Defense Tech has been having some very interesting article over the last week dealing with Domestic Spying issue that exploded on the political landscape last week.

Defense Tech: NSA "Tapping Into... Telecom's Main Arteries"
Defense Tech: New Tech Behind NSA Snoop Case?
Wiretaps' Fishy Rationale

Technorati Tags: NSA, NSATechnology, Wiretapping, DomesticSpying

Warrantless Searches

Photo Credit: filax

Daily Kos is linking to stories out of Think Progress and US News & World Report dealing with warrantless Searches of Muslim Sites, and the threatening of whistle blowers with firing. It seems that the government has been using new technology to surveille US citizens. And as is pointed out in Kos' article:

In 2001, as the article points out, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of thermal imaging to detect heat lamps in a residence was a "search" under the 4th amendment and a warrant was needed. The case was U.S. v. Kyllo, and the opinion was written by Justice Scalia.

Technorati Tags: Warrantless, Warrantless Searches,

Counter to The Volokh Conspiracy

Daily Kos has an interesting blog on how the NeoCons think that in times of war the President has Monarchy like powers. An interesting counter point to Volokh: Legal Analysis of the NSA Domestic Surveillance Program.

Related
Daily Kos: A Little Bit of Monarchy

Technology at the Root Wiretap Scandal

The new technology at the root of the NSA wiretap scandal

Did the Justice Dept. Commit Purgery?

The Washington Post is reporting that one of the eleven Judges, a James Robertson, that sits on the FISA Court has resigned from the court in protest to the Presidents action. But what makes this all the more interesting is the statement further in the article that he had said to colleagues in recent conversations that

he was concerned that information gained from warrantless NSA surveillance could have then been used to obtain FISA warrants. FISA court Presiding Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who had been briefed on the spying program by the administration, raised the same concern in 2004 and insisted that the Justice Department certify in writing that it was not occurring.

The more that I hear the more that I think that Bush has created a constitutional crisis.

Related:
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
White House Elaborates on Authority for Eavesdropping

Bushes Domistic Spying

This site has one of the most complete analysis of the legal issues involved with Bush's decision to do the warrant less spying on American citizens.

The Volokh Conspiracy - Legal Analysis of the NSA Domestic Surveillance Program:

So Much for Passport Security

Photo Credit: mammuth

According to this Cnet article starting next year all new passport issued will have RFID's in them, even though scores have issued concerns that anyone with a reader could gather everything about you in your passport for Identity theft. This is not anything that I would want in my passport. Their are other forms of electronics that could of been used that would not have these same risks to privacy. Anything that required it to come in direct contact would of worked. So for the want of a few seconds I now going to be at risk of Identity theft just walking around if I have my passport on me. I'll have to wrap it in layers of tin foil after I renew my passport next time.

Related articles:
Passports to get RFID chip implants

Is anyone watching this Administration?

I cannot believe this country, America is becoming a fascist state more now than ever before! I find out that Paul Rosenzweig has been appointed chairman of the Department of Homeland Security's Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee. Rosenzweig is a "prominent champion of government data-mining" according to C|net. And he was also a member of John Poindexter's DARPA project: Total Information Awareness that got killed in that name only to be born again in other forms, such as the ill fated Airport Passenger Screening program. This is the type of person that is supposed to protect our rights and insure ethical behavior in DHS?!

I love this quote:

As a Slashdot reader comments on the news:

Get with the newspeak, bub. Today's new improved doubleplusgood American conservatives are for smaller government in the form of increased federal spending, more privacy in the form of total surveillance, state's rights in the form of Congressional meddling in individual state court cases, isolationist foreign policy in the form of overseas force projection, government transparency in the form of increased classification of documents, and high moral standards in the form of flagrant House ethics rule violations.

Update 4-8-2005: link to commented 14 points of Fascism

Carjacking in Malaysia

While I don't know if this is a true story, I do think that it is possible. Something to think about, when your buying that high end car in a third world country .

His finger for his car
By Leslie Andres, The New Straits Times Malaysia

There is a team of carjackers on the prowl in Subang Jaya and what they did to accountant K. Kumaran on Monday shows how ruthless they can be. They chopped off part of his left index finger when they realised that his S-Class Mercedes Benz had a security feature which would immobilise the car without his fingerprint....
More on this Story
BBC story