Text 9473, 41 rader
Skriven 2008-01-03 16:06:12 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 9454 av David Drummond (3:640/305)
Ärende: X-Ray Passports (was: FidoNews...)
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David Drummond wrote to Michiel van der Vlist on Thursday January 03 2008 at
18:02:

DD> I've just obtained a new (New Zealand) passport (I need to give a
DD> passport number to book some tours in South America and my old
DD> passport will expire too soon). The new one has an "electronic chip"
DD> in the back page which contains all of the passport details.

Name, address, photo, fingerprints, eyeprints, DNA analysis, tax status and
sexual preferences... yeah, the Germans are way ahead of you.

DD> When I'm carrying it, someone will be able to read all about me from
DD> several paces away.

Translate "someone" as "anyone with the equipment" and you come close. Despite
wild claims to the contrary from various government officials backed into a
corner, tests by independent hackers (I believe in the Netherlands) have shown
the security to be very lax indeed.

And the nicest thing about these is that any country that reads the data out in
the course of immigration checks can also store it and put it into a database
which can be "shared" worldwide without your permission or even knowledge. That
way even countries like Germany, where the law doesn't permit the government to
require citizens to submit such data directly, can also get data they couldn't
otherwise acquire.

Oh, yes, and of course such data must be made available to "interested parties"
(read: the industry) for a price... that way you can get _much_ more
interesting advertising than you do now.

How SAFE I feel! (Wasn't that supposed to be the reason for all this?)

DD> I'm not sure if I find that worrying or not.

Depends on whether it would bother you to have the same kind of chip implanted
in you that you have in your dog or cat.

Cheers, Bob

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