This concludes our broadcast
Even as a politician, it isn't every day you can get screwed by the State Department. Generally, you have to be overseas for that, and often involved in a scenario that features thieves who target Americans and a profoundly corrupt and disinterested local gendarmerie. But no, we haven't even left yet, and State has already bollixed things up. We received our passports over the weekend - all of us, that is, except Kid-2. And they don't seem to have a record of it (although they did gleefully cash the check we gave them for the fee). And due to the crushing backlog, it is damned near impossible to speak to a human - assuming they do employ them at State. We have an email in with them now.
Speaking of being screwed by one's passport, these new passports are without a doubt the RFID-enabled ones (I don't have a scanner to check that out for sure). If you're just hearing about this concept, put down that bheer and sit down - you'll need to. In its infinite wisdom, and over the howls of protest from civil liberties groups, technology experts, and other U.S. citizens with functional brains, Congress recently mandated that American passports would have radio frequency identifiers in them from now on - essentially, a chip that allows the passport to be read at a distance by a special reader...similar to the types used by Metro cards in DC or by those door-opening cards you might get by hanging around at an office...except, of course, this will be designed so that people will be able to snag your personal information, including the fact of your American citizenship, rather than just "I'm card #8439, let me in". And of course, we all know that criminals do not use advanced technology, nor do they single out tourists and other foreign nationals on which to commit their crimes. They don't go to the bathroom either, right?
Ah, but we're all paranoid, said the company who sold this preposterous bill of goods to our brain-deficient and corrupt Congress, because it's only designed to be read at a distance of 10 cm, and it's encrypted. Except of course that it's not either of those things, having been shown in separate demonstrations to be readable at a distance of over 1 m and not only decryptable but copyable and clone-able at that distance given $250 worth of equipment and the two weeks' prior work to break the code. Not to mention that you typically carry around a passport for ten years, and again, we all know that no one makes any significant leaps in technology to make things easier given a mere ten years' time.
Thus, I'm looking for some way to keep this damned thing from broadcasting. I've read up on the subject, and there are some permanent ways...one can use a hammer, for example. Done properly, this supposedly leaves no marks. It does get into some sticky business, however. All I need is to be stuck at Customs trying to get back into the country, and being subjected to a combination FBI third-degree/DHS procto practice because their fancy scanner the sale of which to the Government made some Congressman a lot of money can't read my passport. While I am a believer in and activist for matters of civil rights and freedoms, it would be asking too much to subject my family to the same things I would be willing to go through...and also too much to go through it in front of them as well. Microwaving achieves the same effect, but tends to also make the chip burst into flame, so that's out.
Another method is to use some form of shielding. I originally heard that static bags, of the sort that computer components ship in, were useful for this purpose, but there are some divergent opinions on the Intarnets concerning this method. One that seems to be more accepted is that friend of paranoids everywhere, good ol' aluminum foil. Yep, you wrap the passport in aluminum foil and Bob's yer uncle - one on-the-cheap Faraday cage. Apparently there are also some fancier leather cases with foil or somesuch built in, in case folks don't appreciate your oh-so-stylin' Pop Tart treatment for your passport.
Anyway, anybody have any experience with any of this? Has anyone bashed their passport with a hammer (and gone through Customs)? Do you know of some neat options for shielding it?
Speaking of being screwed by one's passport, these new passports are without a doubt the RFID-enabled ones (I don't have a scanner to check that out for sure). If you're just hearing about this concept, put down that bheer and sit down - you'll need to. In its infinite wisdom, and over the howls of protest from civil liberties groups, technology experts, and other U.S. citizens with functional brains, Congress recently mandated that American passports would have radio frequency identifiers in them from now on - essentially, a chip that allows the passport to be read at a distance by a special reader...similar to the types used by Metro cards in DC or by those door-opening cards you might get by hanging around at an office...except, of course, this will be designed so that people will be able to snag your personal information, including the fact of your American citizenship, rather than just "I'm card #8439, let me in". And of course, we all know that criminals do not use advanced technology, nor do they single out tourists and other foreign nationals on which to commit their crimes. They don't go to the bathroom either, right?
Ah, but we're all paranoid, said the company who sold this preposterous bill of goods to our brain-deficient and corrupt Congress, because it's only designed to be read at a distance of 10 cm, and it's encrypted. Except of course that it's not either of those things, having been shown in separate demonstrations to be readable at a distance of over 1 m and not only decryptable but copyable and clone-able at that distance given $250 worth of equipment and the two weeks' prior work to break the code. Not to mention that you typically carry around a passport for ten years, and again, we all know that no one makes any significant leaps in technology to make things easier given a mere ten years' time.
Thus, I'm looking for some way to keep this damned thing from broadcasting. I've read up on the subject, and there are some permanent ways...one can use a hammer, for example. Done properly, this supposedly leaves no marks. It does get into some sticky business, however. All I need is to be stuck at Customs trying to get back into the country, and being subjected to a combination FBI third-degree/DHS procto practice because their fancy scanner the sale of which to the Government made some Congressman a lot of money can't read my passport. While I am a believer in and activist for matters of civil rights and freedoms, it would be asking too much to subject my family to the same things I would be willing to go through...and also too much to go through it in front of them as well. Microwaving achieves the same effect, but tends to also make the chip burst into flame, so that's out.
Another method is to use some form of shielding. I originally heard that static bags, of the sort that computer components ship in, were useful for this purpose, but there are some divergent opinions on the Intarnets concerning this method. One that seems to be more accepted is that friend of paranoids everywhere, good ol' aluminum foil. Yep, you wrap the passport in aluminum foil and Bob's yer uncle - one on-the-cheap Faraday cage. Apparently there are also some fancier leather cases with foil or somesuch built in, in case folks don't appreciate your oh-so-stylin' Pop Tart treatment for your passport.
Anyway, anybody have any experience with any of this? Has anyone bashed their passport with a hammer (and gone through Customs)? Do you know of some neat options for shielding it?