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  • #1

    Biometric passports

    So I got a new passport today.

    This a new passport, so it contains a chip with biometric information on it. But I can't seem to locate the chip. Does anybody know where the chip is? In the passport cover?

    Also, I've heard that the security on these things is trivial and a determined hacker could swipe the info. Given this, do people sell sleeves to block the signals?
    I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891
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  • #2
    First I've heard of this.

    a determined hacker could swipe the info
    I would think that if it's biometric info, it wouldn't be much use to other folks. Who cares how tall you are, what your retina pattern and voice patterns are, or what you pic looks like?

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    • #3
      ID thefts?

      Not sure where it is either. Probably isn't giving off a signal, rather can be read... most likely only at close range.

      I doubt if you need anything more than some tinfoil wrap.

      JM
      Jon Miller-
      I AM.CANADIAN
      GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

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      • #4
        Radio-frequency identification - Wikipedia
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID
        I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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        • #5
          Originally posted by DanS View Post
          So I got a new passport today.

          This a new passport, so it contains a chip with biometric information on it. But I can't seem to locate the chip. Does anybody know where the chip is? In the passport cover?

          Yep, back cover.

          Also, I've heard that the security on these things is trivial and a determined hacker could swipe the info. Given this, do people sell sleeves to block the signals?

          A blocker is built in to the covers; the chip is only readable when the passport is open. That's not 100% secure, obviously (especially given how often you have to produce your passport in some countries), but a special sleeve would have the same issues.
          "I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George Carlin

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          • #6
            RFID is only good from a couple of feet anyway (AFAIK)
            12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
            Stadtluft Macht Frei
            Killing it is the new killing it
            Ultima Ratio Regum

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            • #7
              Is the range controlled by the tags or the readers?

              There are readers with a significant range. Like 500 ft.
              (\__/)
              (='.'=)
              (")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.

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              • #8
                The wiki article notes passport reading having been demonstrated at a 33 foot range. I guess the protecting covering that Rufus mentions attenuates the signal somewhat.
                I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                • #9
                  put it in the microwave and nuke it. Your RFID won't give off any more information.
                  Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

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                  • #10
                    Good plan, Che.
                    Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                    "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                    He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by SlowwHand View Post
                      Good plan, Che.
                      Uh, no.

                      Fun facts to know and share: you do not own your passport; it is, technically, government property, and tampering with it in any way is a federal offense.

                      So: bad plan, Che.

                      Unless...it's an elaborate communist plot to have an unrepentant capitalist arrested.
                      "I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George Carlin

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                      • #12
                        I assumed the latter, myself.

                        What sort of "biometric information" is in this chip?

                        -Arrian
                        grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

                        The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

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                        • #13
                          Penis size, circumcision status, and role. Or it will be soon.
                          "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
                          Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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                          • #14
                            7.5", uncircumcised, power bottom
                            12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                            Stadtluft Macht Frei
                            Killing it is the new killing it
                            Ultima Ratio Regum

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              2/3 of those are true
                              12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                              Stadtluft Macht Frei
                              Killing it is the new killing it
                              Ultima Ratio Regum

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