Comments on: Concerns Still Swirling Around New Passports http://www.scienceline.org/2007/02/07/tech-webster-rfidpassports/ The Shortest Distance Between You and Science Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:48:50 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ciara Curtin http://www.scienceline.org/2007/02/07/tech-webster-rfidpassports/comment-page-1/#comment-683 Ciara Curtin Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:19:59 +0000 http://scienceline.org/2007/02/07/tech-webster-rfidpassports/#comment-683 Check out <i>Wired</i>'s "How To: Disable Your Passport's RFID Chip" (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9). Which, they note, is illegal. Check out Wired’s “How To: Disable Your Passport’s RFID Chip” (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9). Which, they note, is illegal.

]]> By: Alan Dove http://www.scienceline.org/2007/02/07/tech-webster-rfidpassports/comment-page-1/#comment-678 Alan Dove Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:50:06 +0000 http://scienceline.org/2007/02/07/tech-webster-rfidpassports/#comment-678 I don't get the argument that the biometric data on the chip preclude forgery. Why couldn't one simply copy the basic passport data from the original chip, then modify the biometric information to match one's own face? Burn a new chip with the altered information, and everything would check out. It's the same idea as substituting the picture. The only way to counter this would be to have every customs scanner do a cross-check with the central passport database to see that the original biometric data match the data on the passport. But if you're doing that, why put the biometric data on the chip at all? The whole thing strikes me as a pointless use of new technology. It doesn't seem to provide any benefits over the old barcode plus picture. I don’t get the argument that the biometric data on the chip preclude forgery. Why couldn’t one simply copy the basic passport data from the original chip, then modify the biometric information to match one’s own face? Burn a new chip with the altered information, and everything would check out. It’s the same idea as substituting the picture. The only way to counter this would be to have every customs scanner do a cross-check with the central passport database to see that the original biometric data match the data on the passport. But if you’re doing that, why put the biometric data on the chip at all?

The whole thing strikes me as a pointless use of new technology. It doesn’t seem to provide any benefits over the old barcode plus picture.

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