Welcome to Call to Decision
Subject:
[Caspian-newsletter-l]
Katherine to Speak on RFID ID Cards in Phoenix Tomorrow (Thurs,
3/13)
Hi, all:
I am about to leave for Phoenix, where I and other advocates will be
briefing the Arizona state legislature on privacy issues associated with
new remotely-readable, spychipped "enhanced" driver's licenses. If you
are in the area, you are invited to join us on Thursday evening for a
public town hall meeting on the topic sponsored by the Arizona ACLU
tomorrow night.
As you may know, several states, including Arizona, Washington, Vermont,
and New York have agreed to issue the RFID-tagged cards for
border-crossing purposes. The idea is that state residents who
voluntarily pay an extra $40 to receive the remotely-trackable cards
will be allowed to cross more "efficiently" into Canada or Mexico, since
border officials will see them coming before they reach the guard
station.
To anyone who's clued in about RFID, the spychipped driver's licenses
are a complete privacy nightmare, however. They can be silently read
from 20-feet away, through a person's wallet, pocket, backpack, or purse
-- even when the target is in a moving car. They are unencrypted and
contain a unique ID number that can be used to identify and track people
miles from the border -- indeed, anywhere the government chooses to put
a reader.
But it's not just the government that could use the cards to track and
surveil people. Anyone with a rudimentary RFID reader can remotely
access the the unique ID number on the card. Retailers could use them to
ID customers as they walk in the door. Marketers could use them to track
people around the store. Stalkers could use them to track their victims.
Terrorists could scan for them in crowds and pinpoint Americans
traveling in other countries. Hackers could duplicate the signal emitted
by chipped licenses to impersonate people. The list of potential abuses
for the ill-conceived ID card are staggering.
If you are in Phoenix and would like to learn more, the ACLU is hosting
a Town Hall Meeting tomorrow evening (Thursday, 3/13) at 7:00 PM at the
University of Arizona. I will deliver a PowerPoint presentation on
RFID-tagged ID cards and sign books after the event, so be sure to bring
your copy of Spychips (or you can pick one up while you're there).
The event is free and open to the public. Further details are available
below my signature,
or on-line here: http://www.acluaz.org/News/PressReleases/3_10_08.html
If you cannot attend in person, please send your prayers and well wishes
with us to the state of Arizona, as we work to inform the public about
the encroaching police state.
In freedom,
Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.