Upcoming hassles with Real IDs

[IDrinkaRum]

http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/traffic/article/real_id_on_horizon_for_licenses/14356/?paper=potomac

This is an article from my local newspaper talking about the upcoming hassles of the Real ID that has been approved and everything.

Are Real IDs a good thing? Or are they really a haven for Identity Thieves that some of the posters at the site say?

[tropicsgoddess]

We already have enough hassles at the DMV as it is with our current system, but the REAL ID thing could be a haven for identity theft considering the fact that the info can be picked up from a certain distance. All that needs to be done to the current ID's a more sophisticated way of making the ID's less prone to counterfeit with more intricate watermarks and/or holograms.

[BlaqueKatt]

but the REAL ID thing could be a haven for identity theft considering the fact that the info can be picked up from a certain distance.

An engineer and RFID expert with Intel claims there is little danger of unauthorized people reading the new passports. Roy Want told the newssite: "It is actually quite hard to read RFID at a distance," saying a person's keys, bag and body interfere with the radio waves.


RFID tags are designed to be readable in distances of only inches-anyone here have a "toll pass" or one of the "touch and go" credit cards-those are both examples of RFID-plus the readers are out of the price range of your average ID theif(think upwards of $5,000). or if you're that concerned you can buy RFID-blocking sleeves (http://www.idstronghold.com/securesleeve.php?s=2) for your contactless cards or create a simple one out of -- seriously -- aluminum foil.

[Dreamstalker]

The electronic toll passes are read at distances of more than a few inches I'm sure. Reader equipment can be picked up for fairly cheap online (or you can roll your own if you're competent enough and have the scavenged parts lying around).

The key to protecting the data seems to be strong encryption, and I don't exactly trust the TSA/DHS to be able to handle that properly.

[Pedersen]

Ah, I have to chime in: RFID tags don't have enough data storage space to actually store anything. Even the biggest ones are disturbingly small still.

Caveat: There could be something new of which I am not aware where some RFID tags actually store a lot of information.

No, unless new tech has come out, they don't store your SSN or other biometric data. Instead, what they store is worse. They store a number. One single solitary number.

That number is cross-referenced in a database.

As far as that database is concerned, that number is you.

Which means that, for you to enter a federal building, the government has to look you up in a database. Where they will store that you entered said building. Or airport. Or ... keep going. The possibilities are endless. If you have to interact with the federal government, they will be able to keep track of where you've been.

If you want to visit a national park, they will have a log of it.

Now, all of that isn't so bad, right?

Here's what most people don't know: RFID writers are out there, and fairly cheap. Readers can be made fairly easily that will read at least 36 inches away. And they don't have to have a display on them to be useful. Take a walk through a crowded airport, and pick up numbers. Who they are doesn't matter, just that they are not you.

Use your writer, and store whatever numbers you get onto your chip, obliterating the old. Suddenly, someone you once brushed against in the airport two years ago is now claiming to be you, according to the federal government. Which means your activities are being scrutinized. Your visits to national parks and monuments are being examined.

Real ID is bad juju, all around.

[MadMike]

I don't know what all is and isn't true about Real ID, but the fact that the Bush administration is pushing so hard for this thing is enough to scare the hell out of me.

[Sylvia727]

I don't like the idea of all my information in one place. It's already scary how much info is out there and how easy it is to gather. And no matter what they tell us now, it will become more and more powerful once implemented. Remember, the social security number was supposed to be optional at the beginning. Now, how on earth could anyone survive without one? We need one to get a job, to get a driver's license, to buy a house, to apply for a credit card...we are utterly dependent on them.

[Dreamstalker]

According to the Social Security Administration, SSNs are not supposed to be used for identification purposes. Yet it seems as if they are.