[ale] OT electronics in us passport

Thu Jul 12 15:34:31 EDT 2012

Hi Mike W.,

Thanks to you, (and others) for the information and links.  You all have 
convinced me that there's enough potential risk from RFID, although 
probably minimal, to justify trying to mitigate it.  Just so everyone 
knows, the cover of the passport provides shielding, so it's not 
supposed to be readable if closed, according to what I've read.  
However, if it's only 1/2" open, I read somewhere that it can be 
scanned.  And, because of the binder / cover design, it likes to pop 
open.  Therefore, I decided to get a wallet for it.  I didn't want to 
wait for online delivery, so I've been roaming around town.  If you find 
these at all, you generally find them near the luggage department, along 
with luggage scales and travel padlocks, etc.

I tried Target, WalMart, Office Max, TJMax / Homegoods, Khols, Staples, 
Radio Shack, Stein Mart, Office Depot, and Belk.

Both Office Max and Khols had passport wallets, but the packaging didn't 
mention RFID protection.

The only one I found in local stock in Cumming which mentioned RFID 
protection is one from American Tourister and stocked by WalMart.  No 
longer in stock now, since I bought the last two.

The part number is AT31-900-100-13-Black and it costs about $12.  I 
don't know how good it is, but should be better than nothing on short 
notice.

I don't think any of my credit / debit cards have the RFID and if I get 
one, I'll ask for one without it.

Based on an article I read, you can look for the following logos on your 
cards to see if they have RFID.  I don't know if this is the only way to 
tell.

MasterCard - PayPass
Visa - payWave
Amex - expresspay

By the way, other than the warning that you mentioned in your other post 
about possibly not being able to board planes if you somehow "damage" 
the chip and it doesn't work, the passport itself says (in very fine 
print) that you may be subject to prosecution if you alter the 
passport.  Title 18, USC, Section 1543.

Also, does anyone know if the new GA driver's licenses have the RFID?  
Maybe I'll have to use my passport wallet all the time for my other 
cards.  Maybe I'll have to get a cheap RFID scanner just for 
experimentation.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 7/12/2012 10:55 AM, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> On Thu, 2012-07-12 at 10:11 -0400, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
>    
>> Hi all,
>>      
>    
>> I recently got a US passport. On the back page, it says "This document
>> contains sensitive electronics. For best performance, do not bend,
>> perforate, or expose to extreme temperatures,"
>>      
> Which reminds me.  I need to get mine renewed.  :-P
>
> It's an NFC (Near Field Communications) chip (AKA RFID) like the "tap
> and go" credit cards, MARTA subway tickets, European livestock trackers,
> some pet identifiers and a lot of "wave at the reader" employee badges
> you see everywhere.  NFC/RFID is also coming to smartphones for "Google
> Wallet" and "tap and go" type credit card applications.
>
> These have been in US passports for some time now.  Some people object
> to them and have deliberately damaged them.  Might not be a smart move.
> A family was denied access to a flight just this last year when a
> child's passport would not read through the NFC reader, even though the
> optical OCR information contains all the same information and was still
> readable.  They claimed the passport had been dropped.  Since the rest
> of theirs were readable, it seams reasonable but they still missed their
> flight.
>
>    
>> Does anyone know what's in there? Do I need to get a metal wallet to
>> carry it?
>>      
> There are some shielding passport wallets available and you can get
> these thin shielding envelopes.  Having attended an eye opening talk by
> Adam (Look Ma!  I'm a Cow!) Laurie (he demonstrates cloning NFC / RFID
> takes including a European cow identification capsule) I have a small
> stack of them he was passing out at his talks.  They basically look like
> they are made of Tyvec, impregnated with carbon and coated with a
> metallic looking coating on the outside.  They're not stiff like a metal
> wallet would be.
>
> This looks something like what Adam was passing out...
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Protector-Secure-Block-Theft/dp/B002LGY1CY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342104581&sr=8-1&keywords=passport+rfid+blocker
>
> I would definitely carry my new passport in a shielded carrier.  It's
> already been demonstrated that someone could read out enough information
> over NFC which would allow them, when combined with other readily
> available public information about you, to create a cloned passport.
> The feds wanted to claim it couldn't be done but it has been already
> done as a proof of concept.  If you want to throw the bucks, this looks
> like a nice organizer / RFID shielding wallet...
>
> http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Executive-Organizer-Passport/dp/B004GT9JOO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1342104237&sr=8-5&keywords=passport+holder
>
> May get one of those myself when my new one comes.
>
> If you have any "tap and go" credit cards, I would get sleeves for them
> too...
>
>    
>> Sincerely,
>>      
>    
>> Ron
>>      
> Regards,
> Mike
>
>    
>> --
>>
>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
>> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>>
>> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
>> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier
>> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>
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>    
>
>
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-- 

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com

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