What the FUCK were they thinking?.
This whole thing about implanting RFID chips in passports is a very very bad idea.
All U.S. passports will be implanted with remotely readable computer chips starting in October 2006, the Bush administration has announced.
For one, imagine you decide to vacation overseas and you're traveling through an area that is not so friendly to Americans. You make attempts to dress as non-american as possible so as to not attract attention to yourself on your way to your destination. You've removed every scrap of clothing that screams "HEY!! IM AN AMERICAN!" to not attract the wrong kind of attention (read terrorists who hate americans). Now, I'm not being paranoid. There are people in the world who really do hate americans and would not even hesitate to rob, murder, rape should one happen to cross their path in certain backwater parts of the world. I'm not saying everyone is like this.. but come on.. you just know you should take certain precautions when travelling in certain areas.
There's not just that, but I sure as hell dont want some identity thief to be able to point his antenna at me and leech my info right off my passport.
I dont freaking care that they say "well, we will put anti-skimming material on the outside of the passport to mitigate scanning". Yeah, right. Lemme tell you about that antiskimming material.. it's basically a piece of aluminium foil. It doesnt work 100% of the time. Yea.. ok.. what about 50% of the time if that? They didnt lie after all, they said "mitigate". Mitigate is not the same as PREVENT. High powered antenna can skim info from 160 METERS away and a piece of tin foil is supposed to stop that. Puh-lease.
Then, there's also that the government says "well we arent doing this to track individuals, we just want to authenticate you when you enter a port" COME ON... yea.. ok.. they say that wire taps are illegal.. but that doesnt stop people from using them now does it? They say carrying concealed weapons is illegal but that doesnt stop people now does it.
Every fucking year I loose a little more personal freedom. This just pisses me off to no end. I honestly wonder if George Washington and company would be proud of what we've become.
My plans: Get my passport redone NOW before they put these chips in and get my foreign travel done before it expires. Seems a shame but I'm feeling a bit like I'm being boxed in as a prisoner of my own country because I'm refusing to get a RFID chip. Sure, I could just suck it up and get a RFID chip implant and take my chances, but screw that.. it's the point of it all. They say they wont use it to track my movement, but come on.. that's EXACTLY what they are doing. Tracking me. Yea, I know they track me already but that's not the issue, It's when the tracking threatens my personal saftey and wellbeing, it's being pushed to far.
This is steadily becoming a People vs. Goverment thing really quick. I dont even think it's a People vs. [insert political afiliation here] issue. it's definitely People vs. Government.
I really dont know how much more of this I can take. You'd think there were enough people out there in America resistant to this thing to actually make a change. Why are these people continually allowed to infringe on our rights of freedom.
All U.S. passports will be implanted with remotely readable computer chips starting in October 2006, the Bush administration has announced.
For one, imagine you decide to vacation overseas and you're traveling through an area that is not so friendly to Americans. You make attempts to dress as non-american as possible so as to not attract attention to yourself on your way to your destination. You've removed every scrap of clothing that screams "HEY!! IM AN AMERICAN!" to not attract the wrong kind of attention (read terrorists who hate americans). Now, I'm not being paranoid. There are people in the world who really do hate americans and would not even hesitate to rob, murder, rape should one happen to cross their path in certain backwater parts of the world. I'm not saying everyone is like this.. but come on.. you just know you should take certain precautions when travelling in certain areas.
There's not just that, but I sure as hell dont want some identity thief to be able to point his antenna at me and leech my info right off my passport.
I dont freaking care that they say "well, we will put anti-skimming material on the outside of the passport to mitigate scanning". Yeah, right. Lemme tell you about that antiskimming material.. it's basically a piece of aluminium foil. It doesnt work 100% of the time. Yea.. ok.. what about 50% of the time if that? They didnt lie after all, they said "mitigate". Mitigate is not the same as PREVENT. High powered antenna can skim info from 160 METERS away and a piece of tin foil is supposed to stop that. Puh-lease.
Then, there's also that the government says "well we arent doing this to track individuals, we just want to authenticate you when you enter a port" COME ON... yea.. ok.. they say that wire taps are illegal.. but that doesnt stop people from using them now does it? They say carrying concealed weapons is illegal but that doesnt stop people now does it.
Every fucking year I loose a little more personal freedom. This just pisses me off to no end. I honestly wonder if George Washington and company would be proud of what we've become.
My plans: Get my passport redone NOW before they put these chips in and get my foreign travel done before it expires. Seems a shame but I'm feeling a bit like I'm being boxed in as a prisoner of my own country because I'm refusing to get a RFID chip. Sure, I could just suck it up and get a RFID chip implant and take my chances, but screw that.. it's the point of it all. They say they wont use it to track my movement, but come on.. that's EXACTLY what they are doing. Tracking me. Yea, I know they track me already but that's not the issue, It's when the tracking threatens my personal saftey and wellbeing, it's being pushed to far.
This is steadily becoming a People vs. Goverment thing really quick. I dont even think it's a People vs. [insert political afiliation here] issue. it's definitely People vs. Government.
I really dont know how much more of this I can take. You'd think there were enough people out there in America resistant to this thing to actually make a change. Why are these people continually allowed to infringe on our rights of freedom.