RFID Tags in Law Enforcement 290
RFID tags seem to be the flavor of the month for law enforcement officials in the tracking of individuals both foreign and domestic. pin_gween writes "In an effort to speed up entry to the US, The Dept. of Homeland Security has begun a trial using RFID tags in certain visitors' papers. The tag is embedded in paperwork and "chip readers note the entry or exit of visitors who pass by and transmit that information to a government-maintained database." In addition, Saeed al-Sahaf writes "Security officials gathered Monday at a Canadian border crossing to mark the first test of this radio RFID system" Relatedly LexNaturalis writes "Wired News has an article about England testing RFID chips in license plates that can transmit VINs and other data to appropriate receivers. According to the article, the United States will be 'closely watching the British trial as they contemplate initiating their own tests of the plates, which incorporate radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags to make vehicles electronically trackable.' Naturally privacy advocates are decrying the move by stating that unlike electronic toll passes, these new plates will not be anonymous." We mentioned the concept of tracking visitors via RFID in July.
Yes. Be RFID (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yes. Be RFID (Score:2)
I'm not trying to mock the parent poster, I just want to get in on the action.
On the other hand, maybe people would notice the repititon. But unless someone cal
Why bother with RFID? Take the paper's fingerprint (Score:2)
Of course, that would prevent folks from reading them ever time you walk around with it not secured in your tinfoil-lin
Lower tech approach? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Lower tech approach? (Score:3, Insightful)
Silly privacy-advocate! The forehead and right hand are expressly reserved for the Mark of the Beast.
Tattoos, on the other hand, go on the chest or the inner forearm.
RFID in plates (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:RFID in plates (Score:2, Insightful)
*insert bad guys of the moment here
Re:RFID in plates (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:RFID in plates (Score:2)
Re:RFID in plates (Score:2, Funny)
Re:RFID in plates (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:RFID in plates (Score:4, Interesting)
The more you know about a person, the easier it is to control them. And I think it's painfully apparent at this point that our government has a vested, intense interest in making sure it can control each and every one of us in order to preserve the status quo (people in power stay in power, the rest of us remain proles forever).
Tinfoil-hat stuff, I know, but with every one of these stories I wonder more and more often if the paranoids don't have it right.
Max
On Papers, not on people (Score:3, Insightful)
In a way, it isn't very different from giving a person a card that they swipe at the terminal instead of paper that a person has to read/stamp. Now, if they start putting these on people, thats scary!
Unnecessary (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
This is an important enough point that it bears some expansion. If all they do is check RFID tags on the way in our out of the country, at best all they're logging is the entry/exit of someone's passport (or similar other documents). That proves nothing at all.
To complicate things, RFID tags are not necessarily permanantly attached to anything. There's no real guarantee that your passport even left the country. It would be a lot like putting a gold star sticker on someone's papers,
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
Are their semi universal RFID detectors that I could buy that would help me locate any RFID tags in things I own and potentially destroy them, or can they have protocols in them so they only respond to readers that know how to talk the given kind of chip. I'm interested in something that will just spot them and help locate them, not necessarily read the data on them, though reading the data would be cool.
What kinds of secure logins and encryption
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
"Linux powers XScale-based RFID reader - Alien Technology used embedded Linux to build a multi-protocol RFID reader that it says exploits features in the latest EPC (electronic product code) specifications, including DRM (dense reader mode). The ALR-9800 can be programmed for remote management or sensor-based actuation using an optional Java/.Net SDK.
Have to doubt it will be able to touch all the gu
Re:Unnecessary (Score:2)
It's a big Give and Take (Score:3, Insightful)
The fun arises when you think about the different levels of security, the personal information gathered, how the information is used, where it is kept, etc. I have no problem having my auto information on an RFID tag somewhere on the car. Hell, my credit cards have more personal information than these little tags. In the idea of more security, I'd be fine with having my passport contain an RFID tag. Driver's licenses already hold so much info, why not a passport that lets people into the country? I'm not sure I want ALL my info on these things though. And who I want to hold the info. Identity theft could get REAL hairy depending on what info is gathered. Track my car, I don't care. Let my license have my vital info (age, sex, height, weight...maybe even blood type and other medical things for an emergency situation) if you need but be damn sure that you keep that info safe and if not, YOU are responsible for fixing the mess, not ME.
Re:It's a big Give and Take (Score:3, Insightful)
While a lot of information is public, the ease of gathering where you are/were is now to the point of painless. Tracking an individual used to involve a lot of work and traditional gumshoeing. Technologies like this make it easier only to track your law-abiding people.
Those who are intent to dodge the system for nefarious purposes are going to slip through much more
Re:It's a big Give and Take (Score:2)
I'm not really sure I get your car/murder example though. Anyone can steal a car as it is. The authorities would have to prove that I was driving it when someone killed someone else. Also, like I stated in my original post, if they (read: government agencies) are going to collect all this info and have it be e
Re:It's a big Give and Take (Score:2)
Neither does the terrorist. Of course, since he's not planning on driving for much longer, he pulled his RFID off and for shits and giggles in the afterlife, stuck it to someone elses car.
Track Everyone (Score:2, Funny)
Hello Big Brother (Score:4, Insightful)
And Big Brother Watching you? You wouldn't even need the software predictions [slashdot.org] mentioned a few weeks ago -- just follow the RF tag around town
Re:Hello Big Brother (Score:2)
Well, they already do that with automated radar guns and red-light cameras... Having computers track you over a certain distance and calculate your speed seems like a more complicated way to do it.
And Big Brother Watching you? You wouldn't even need the software predictions mentioned a few weeks ago -- just follow the RF tag around
Re:Hello Big Brother (Score:2)
For argument's sake, what if you are trying get a job, your prospective employer is able to track your car -- now they know a HELLUVA lot more about you than they need to know. Is it their business what grocery store you frequent? Which bars? Where your girlfriend lives? Don't think that the gov't wil
Re:Hello Big Brother (Score:2)
The *local* gov't is corrupt as can be. I can only imagine small towns doing sweeps of hotels or rest stops and writing citations for minor offenses: burned out headlight, not having your windshield wipers in good working order, etc. For a small town, the fees generated by the police department make-up a scary proportion of the entire revenue pot. So long as the residents
Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:3, Funny)
Frequency
Identification
Access.
Re:Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:2)
No seriously, don't!
Told ya.
Re:Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:2)
Re:Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:2)
Re:Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:2)
Re:Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:2)
Gotta remember to preview.
Re:Needs a better acronym for public relations... (Score:2)
Why extra RFID? (Score:4, Interesting)
What's preventing people from storing their tickets and passports at locked storage boxes at airport?
That way they have complete freedom to roam around the country without being followed, the database doesn't even show them ever leaving the airport if the reader is at the front exit.
Or is there some limiting law that visitor must have his/her visa with him/her all times when moving outdoors that I missed?
Re:Why extra RFID? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm pretty sure there is such a law - if you're a Nonimmigrant, you're supposed to carry positive ID at all times - and they pretty much say that's your passport. Of course, the vast majority of nonimmigrant visa holders don't do this, but some friends of mine were given a hard time by INS agents when they returned from a short pleasure flight in Cessna in MA - met at the ramp by Immig
I predict (Score:2)
RFID Security (Score:5, Insightful)
Barcodes? (Score:4, Insightful)
When they say RFID tags in Law Enforcement (Score:2)
My thoughts on RFID chips (Score:3, Insightful)
You can put them near the barcode of products bought in store, for the same reasons as above. Plus it can prevent shoplifting a lot easier. Scan it in, scan it out, no problem.
But under no situation stick it in a human or into our ID cards. That crosses the line.
Other security applications (Score:3, Insightful)
Use with guns? (Score:3, Interesting)
RFID range (Score:2)
Re:RFID range (Score:3, Informative)
No it's not. According to the Shannon-Hartley theorem, [wikipedia.org] there's a theoretical maximum transfer rate at a given bandwidth and noise floor.
The bandwidth of an RFID response is, of course, constant. By contrast (and ignoring entirely that RFIDs are passively powered) the relative signal strength of the RFID at the receiver decays approximately with the square
Re:Use with guns? (Score:2)
What about an opt-in system? (Score:2, Insightful)
First Name: No
Last Name: Yes
SSN: No
Gender: No
etc?
If a person felt comfortable allowing the government to scan his or her information and thereby clear faster, he or she could do so, but if a person did not feel comfortable with that he or she would still be able to pass through the normal way. Would this be a possible compromise between privacy and security?
Re:What about an opt-in system? (Score:2)
Can't be hard to disable (Score:2)
RFID tags on our elected officials (Score:5, Interesting)
Then publish their whereabouts on a googlized map system. Now when you need a doctor or a cop, you know where to go. When there's an accusation of corruption or impropriety, you can check the map logs and see if Congressman Joe "show me the money" Smith was visiting the local corporate ganstas. I think this idea has merits.
At the risk of sounding paranoid... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sorry put yeah, for one, someone can hack a way to read all that information, now a thief has your address. And where does it stop? Once the government starts using RFID, they'll come up with all sorts of "neat" ways to use it. This is just to get us comfortable with the technology.
I always have my tin foil hat on
Renting de-RFID tools (Score:2)
I assume that that's not illegal. Yet.
Chip H.
Perfect for monitoring government officials (Score:2)
For example, senator xyz's frequent trips during work hours to $liquorstore, and his frequent trips after work hours to $crackdealer / $hooker.
Or congressman abc's frequent visits to $megacorp-campaign-contributor and immediately afterwards to $uberbank or $money-laundering-hidingplace.
RFID + Hammer = harmless RFID? (Score:2)
Some Tinfoil Hat Fodder... (Score:3, Interesting)
Here's a possible worst case scenario for such a thing...
First, have these new RFID cards required by law to be on your person at all times. Those who fail to comply with this are met with stiff penalties and become tagged as possible terror suspects.
Then, set up a system to track each of these RFIDs to within three feet of their physical location, creating a database of common activity over time. (Going to work, groceries, etc...) If any new activity deviates from the activity stored in the database beyond a certain threshold or if the RFID goes out of range or stops transmitting beyond a set length of time, alert the feds / law enforcement to observe your activity directly, and tag you as a potential threat.
Finally,have anyone found tampering with the RFID or willfully preventing random access to the RFID data (wrapping it in foil, etc...) tagged as a potential terror suspect and presented with stiff penalties.
Deadly Cross-Border Traffic (Score:2)
Each year, a large proportion of the gun deaths in Canada, Mexico and as far away as Japan are caused by illegal guns smuggled out of the US.
England leading the march (Score:4, Interesting)
Even more interestingly, they seem pretty content with that fact. The fact that they're an unarmed populace with an armed (and dangerous!) government seems to please them greatly. The cameras and microphones in public places seem to get constant praise, or at least little outraged criticism (at least here on Slashdot). Some of the biggest gripes I heard in a previous article about the governor chips in cars in lieu of congestion fees were about how they weren't related (speeding in a congestion zone?).
What gives? When the US gets to the level of government involvement that England is currently experiencing, will we be happy with it, too?
A not so perfect world (Score:4, Insightful)
BUT
It's not a perfect world.
All forms of power are eventually corrupting, in the rare event that a particular person isn't tempted in a way they are vulnerable to then time itself will cycle up someone who is.
All structures in which power is accumulated is a beacon to those who would use it for good as well as those who would use it for personal gain, and many will switch from good to gain over the long run.
Power can be even more insidious, you don't need to wield the ultimate power to be affected. You can in fact find satisfaction in exercising what control you can. Many people who for one reason or another seek power over other's gravitate to the twin bastions of abused power.
GOVERNMENT and BUREAUCRACY
Worse yet, in many positions where you have both the power and the desire to do good. You encounter those who would take advantage, those who are dishonest, those from whom you must protect the resources you control so that the good people will have them. Thus rules are made, rules that grow over time to cover manifold individual situations. Rules that take up much time to bypass for those few who are exceptions. First one is slighted, for the good of all, after all we wouldn't be able to help 10 other's if we took the time to help that one. And so it goes. Leading ever downward to the stereotype called
BUREAUCRAT.
But back to the point of this post... It's not a perfect world. We do need protections from ourselves, not individually, but that we do as a group. I've always been amazed at how the intelligence of a mob (in all it's many forms) is defined by it's lower limits. But again I digress.
On the one hand our law enforcement agents need information in order to provide protection from those members of society that seek to harm other's.
On the other hand if that information is easily obtained, not bound by strict and ruthless controls and access then IT WILL BE ABUSED. It is the nature of power.
The US has had a good time of it, our constitution was well designed, with numerous limits and balances built in to check the natural growth of government power. These checks and balances weren't there by accident.
The founders were so wary of and understanding of the nature of government and power that their first attempt failed (Articles of Confederation) by being so weak on the federal level to be essentially useless. It was in fact so bad that when they gathered to fix it tossed it and started over.
That good time is coming to an end. Defeated by time and technologically aided abuses that are overwhelming the built in protections. Even though the founders built in methods for these protections to be updated and modified when necessary they weren't able to build in the will and resolve to do what's necessary.
I don't believe we should turn away from technology, and I do think it can be a tremendous help in combating crime. HOWEVER it should be used and applied with 80% of the resources applied to checks and balances. The smallest incursions on our rights should be met with the assumption that such will be misused unless rigorous controls and safeguards are implemented.
I'm not saying we can't trust those in power. I don't know them that well. I'm saying that if the power is there, then eventually someone we can't trust will be wielding it.
It has *no* privacy problems: the gov't says so. (Score:5, Informative)
The Department of Homeland Security has a Privacy Assessment of this program [dhs.gov]. Guess what? It has no privacy implications.
I'm now going to "contemplate" that being asked for "your papers, please" and being tracked every time I enter and leave my country, that there is no more "If" in "If we have to live our lives weighing every action, every communication, every human contact, wondering what agents of the state might find out about it, analyze it, judge it, possibly misconstrue it, and somehow use it to our detriment, we are not truly free [privcom.gc.ca]." doesn't change our rights (4th Amendment [state.gov] anyone? it says "Persons") in the US. Whooohoo, I'm ever so much safer! [btw, that's one of the best essays on why privacy is a necessary and fundamental right in a free society. He warns Canadians not to give up what the U.S. has already lost. Worth reading.]
Nexus Pass (Score:3, Informative)
So, this is not new to me.
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:5, Insightful)
Then again, I also believe that the government shouldn't be allowed to keep any information on an otherwise-law-abiding person whatsoever beyond that used in exchanges with that individual. This means that I personally would want them to have a file for my voter registration, my tax history, notation of the presence of a driver's license, notation of ownership of land if any, and notation of things like social security, medicare, or any other non-standard service that is used by the person. Beyond that, nothing else that I do is any of their business at all.
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh...why? I mean, when your car gets stolen, why do you feel the police should have to take some "real effort" to find it for you. If your daughter is kidnapped by some sicko and they know the plate number of his van (why is it that they all own vans?), why should it take them "real effort" to save her life? For that matter, why should you really care if the local cops know you went through the red light in front of Albertson's at 10:37p
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:5, Insightful)
In my case, you're quite likely correct that nobody that would have access to these tools would care about tracking me, personally, throughout my day. But do consider the possibility of a small town or two where the local enforcement occasionally finds itself poking in everybody's business, perhaps sweeping parking lots of bars where "odd" people hang out or looking for out-of-towners to ticket.
And then even figuring I'm a pretty uninteresting individual, take into account that protestors and politicians aren't. If this gets integrated in any way with traffic cameras or toll booths or they decide to toss routine scans from a cruiser into a log, the information could be used to quash dissent or held over our representatives to steer their decisions. Who knows how long this information is retained for, either? Ten years down the road you might run for office only to have logs of your vehicle regularly parked outside a porn shop turn up in the paper from an anonymous source.
What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't have to directly affect us to affect us. It's a threat, albeit one still waiting for implementation to demonstrate how benign or dangerous it is to our privacy. It also seems redundant in light of license plates, except for the fact that it would make casual electronic scans of masses of vehicles much easier than visually inspecting each plate.
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
Because the license plate number on the back of the vehicle can't provide them with that information.
Or better yet--gee, your car was a block away while this brutal murder happened. What were you doing in that n
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm really beginning to wonder why nobody points out the fact that all these security measures just aren't any use to catch determined terrorists. My personal conviction is that companies who market those "anti-terrorism" devices are making a fat buck out of the whole deal, and they share the proceeds with the politicians who approve of these things. It disgusts me more and more each time I look at it...
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
and why did robert mueller, the director of the fbi, announce that the passports they used masterfully forged?
in fact, there aren't any documents that show that the passports were real except the talking heads on tv. the same talking heads that reported that wmd were found in iraq, even when the white house denied finding them.
and let's not get into how the passports ended up unscathed after the crash. i mean paper is quite fire resistant.
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
My personal opinion is that the companies who market those "anti-terrorism" devices are run by would-be terrorists.
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
sure, taking off the license off your van is illegal. but hitting the rfid chip with a large blunt object vaguely shaped like a rock... who's to say YOU purposedly did it? and as a bonus, you have no way of knowing it's disrupted, unlike losing your plate. do they really think this will stop criminals?
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2)
Re:Vehicle Tracking? (Score:2, Insightful)
Somebody is proposing a law to change that as we speak. It is important to take away your non-criminal status, so that nobody will complain when your freedoms are taken away.
RFID Tracking (Score:2)
Looks like a page right out of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (1957) [mind-trek.com] indeed:
Sure enough everyone around here can name a
Re:License plate bar codes (Score:2)
Re:License plate bar codes (Score:2)
Re:License plate bar codes (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:License plate bar codes (Score:2)
Frankly a human reading off a license plate and punching into a computer is far cheaper and more effecitve than laser scanning. Besides, better to get the police into the habbit of quickly reading and remembering license plate numbers because doing so when you're not in a car could be kinda useful.
Re:License plate bar codes (Score:3, Insightful)
This is not a drill; this is a police state. Don't give them any more toys than those they already abuse.
Re:License plate bar codes (Score:2)
Police were supposed to have handheld scanners that could be used to tap into the state's database immediately. I don't know if that ever happened.
Off-topic story time:
They also have the www.IN.gov website address on the license plates. Some people were really upset about that so they started putting decals over it - usually covering the bar code as well.
think harder (Score:2)
ted kacynzki: white male from the usa
sum.zero
and a comment on moderation (Score:2)
sum.zero
math (Score:2)
arab terrorist 1:158 killed
sum.zero
some other interesting numbers (Score:2)
min 23,456 max 26,559
from the iraqi body count database [iraqbodycount.net]
sum.zero
Re:think harder (Score:2)
Ted Kaczynski: killed 3, injured 23
Timothy McVeigh: killed 168, injured "at least" 500
19 arab terrorists: killed over 3000, injured how many thousands more?
So I guess we should have let McVeigh waltz right past our searches. After all, if the best he can do is kill 168, he's hardly worth our time at all. Better to get that poor Arab student who came to America to get away from government interference in daily life because he happens to have been born in the wrong place. Correct?
How many terror
Re:think harder (Score:2)
Of course Republitards such as yourself like to advocate racial profiling as a weapon in Dubya's GWOT. But if we look at the history of terrorism in the United States you find that most of it was done by whites against jews and blacks by the KKK.
Republitards are not bound by any intellectual consistency on this though. Even though 15 of the 19 terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11th were from Saudi Arabia and Osama Bin
Re:think harder (Score:3, Interesting)
As for Saudi Arabia, I don't agree with our government's unwavering support for such a corrupt regime, which I might remind you was
Re:think harder (Score:2)
In 2001, Republican's were criticized for not acting on information that Bin Laden was going to attack the US. Now you want to ignore the same type of information [cnn.com], because it's easier just to label people as racicts than to actually think about what is going on."
oops (Score:2)
the bottom line is that the usa undertook these actions. the other side has their own views about whether to call them mistakes or war crimes or whatever.
ask all of the asians in n america that were detained, had all of their possessions confiscated and were placed in internment camps how they feel about that.
all sides have plenty to be ashamed of and playing the 'their
Re:I haven't heard about... (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree, there ARE good uses for RFID. I do not believe, however, that those uses involve placing personal information out and available for the first person that breaks the encryption.
Could the glass be half full? (Score:3, Insightful)
Consider: one of the big problems of modern life is you have to prove your ID, credit and legitimacy to all kinds of people all over the place, with the consequences that sooner or later your private info leaks out and bad guys can get ahold of it, zap, identity theft, credit card fraud, and so forth.
But what if something like an RFID tag could be provided b
Re:I haven't heard about... (Score:2)
Same with the 'ring on the finger' for civilians. Unless you wear it ALL the time, it will likely not be there when/if you actually need it.
And one extra bit of technology to fail at the worst time.
These things
Re:I haven't heard about... (Score:2)
It is far from bullet proof, pun intended.
Firearms technology needs to be kept simple to reliably fill it's intended usage. The more complicated you make it, the greater the chance of failure when needed most.
Answer is : Microwaves ! (Score:3, Interesting)
BTW: barcodes are most easily rendered unreadable by line-color marks parallel and over the lines. One is usually sufficient. More may be necessary for checksumed codes. Better grocery stores do this when they put dated goods on sale. Magstripes are easily destroyed by wiping with rare-earth magnets (check the positioner on an ol