CaliforniaGlad
Member
For those of us who recently obtained one of the new credit card sized US Passports please read this Thread...
My source is PC WORLD, May 2010, page 67.
New US Passports have a RFID radio-responding chip that sends your personal ID Social Security (and who knows what other information) to a remote card reader as you enter back into the United States or any other location the Feds want to establish your identity via your Passport.
Just being 10 feet away from the reader is enough because identification is all done with radio frequencies. No need to insert your Passport into a reader, just hold it up from your car to the reader.
PC WORLD reports that Chris Paget spent under $250 for his off-the-shelf equipment and software that allowed him to simply drive down San Francisco streets hunting for RFID hits!
Within 20 minutes Paget had two US Passport information captured to his laptop!
I suspect with hi-gain directional antennas and pre-amps the range of the laptop and detector could be greatly extended too.
NOTE: Your Passport is shipped in a foil-clad card holder. KEEP your Passport in it and that should be enough to protect you. Apparently there are at least two people in San Francisco who didn't.
Next time I encounter a US border RFID reader I will first try flashing my card to the reader still in the foil packet? Is the foil holder enough shielding to keep my Passport from responding? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hope this helps you...
SOGLAD
My source is PC WORLD, May 2010, page 67.
New US Passports have a RFID radio-responding chip that sends your personal ID Social Security (and who knows what other information) to a remote card reader as you enter back into the United States or any other location the Feds want to establish your identity via your Passport.
Just being 10 feet away from the reader is enough because identification is all done with radio frequencies. No need to insert your Passport into a reader, just hold it up from your car to the reader.
PC WORLD reports that Chris Paget spent under $250 for his off-the-shelf equipment and software that allowed him to simply drive down San Francisco streets hunting for RFID hits!
Within 20 minutes Paget had two US Passport information captured to his laptop!
I suspect with hi-gain directional antennas and pre-amps the range of the laptop and detector could be greatly extended too.
NOTE: Your Passport is shipped in a foil-clad card holder. KEEP your Passport in it and that should be enough to protect you. Apparently there are at least two people in San Francisco who didn't.
Next time I encounter a US border RFID reader I will first try flashing my card to the reader still in the foil packet? Is the foil holder enough shielding to keep my Passport from responding? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hope this helps you...
SOGLAD
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