Wow--this is turning into a thriller plot. (I was more interested in the technical questions.) The usual way to get by if someone fingers you in unfriendly territory as a North American tourist is to say, "We're Canadian," with or without Maple Leaf t-shirts and references to the Calgary Stampede. That's supposed to work; but not if you have an RFID in your knapsack that says where you're really from.
And, to continue the thriller plot, you wouldn't want to marry an RFID reader to a sniper rifle, even if the tech would work. Live hostages are worth far more than tourists found dead in mysterious circumstances (whose assassination could be claimed by multiple groups of bad guys). I'm still interested in the technical question: exactly why are RFID chips in the passports in the first place, and what exactly are they used for? Are there any consequences if they stop working? Passport RFID's sound pretty silly to me--the kind of thing that happens when someone's brother-in-law is the chief contractor. --Constance Warner -----Original Message----- From: Computer Guys Announcements and Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Sloane Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 1:44 PM To: COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: Re: [CGUYS] Passport RFID Not to treat your concerns lightly, but if your average kidnapper/terrorist in a "third world" country can't spot an American tourist 100 yards away, he must be pretty pretty blind. I am willing to bet money that the average 10 year old urchin in Khartoum/Baghdad/Bogotá/Tehran/etc. could tell you the nationality of 98 out of 100 foreigners in the local market on any given day. They don't need an RFID scanner. Mike Constance Warner wrote: > Sorry to be so paranoid, but-- > > Doesn't the presence of a passport RFID show that you are a U.S. citizen > to anybody who has the right equipment and who is looking for U.S. > citizens with purposes in mind that don't bode well for said citizens? > I would imagine that equipment to detect the passport RFID's can't be > that hard to buy, steal, or modify from similar equipment already in > use. It's a long shot that a Bad Guy would use this modality to pick > out somebody to kill or kidnap, but I'm not sure it can be ruled out > completely. Perhaps others on the list can weigh in on this, if it is a > potential hazard. > > That having been said, I'm not sure what use the U.S. Government is > going to make of the RFID's, and whether there would be any consequences > if you showed up at an embassy or a consulate with an RFID that was MIA. > (I have relatives who travel abroad, but they have older passports > without RFID's, so I'm not worried about them in this respect.) > > --Constance Warner > ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
