Senate Banking Committee Member Denounces”No-Swipe” Credit Cards
From the CASPAIN newsletter:
A member of the Senate Banking Committee denounced RFID "no-swipe" credit cards at a press conference Sunday. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said contracts for the cards should have warning boxes disclosing "the known weaknesses of the technology." He cautioned cardholders about their vulnerability to identity thieves, commenting .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]DRM in Game Systems
I had to laugh when I read this today at Penny-Arcade:
All of this confusion for paying customers, so that pirates will be detained an additional fifteen minutes before they descend, their scythes awhirl. For those who don't know, Penny-Arcade is a site that has been doing comics centered .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Defective by Design, DRM, Gaming, penny arcadeSome US Schools Fingerprint Students Like Criminals
In a recent newsletter, the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes:
Despite complaints from privacy advocates and parents, schools in states across the country are considering using fingerprint scans to track students. Kids at Sandlapper Elementary in Columbia, South Carolina, have their fingerprints scanned to pay for their breakfast and check out library books, .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Universal to Rip off MP3 Player customers
Reuters reports that the recent Microsoft Zune player (the competition portable MP3 player to the iPod) has a built in royalty fee that goes straight to Universal (one of the worlds largest music companies).
Slashdot's coverage quotes Universal Music's Doug Morris as saying the following:
These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]IHOP Takes Driver’s Licenses
There was a recent case in Boston where a man was asked for his driver's license before being seated at IHOP. Apparently some gizmo thought it would be a great idea to prevent "dine and dashing". According to the article, the security person already had about 40 IDs on the desk by the time the subject of this .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Data Brokering, IHOPTommy Thompson – May Run For President
Katherine Albrecht, the world's leading RFID privacy expert and co-author of the book Spychips - How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID writes:
Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is considering a run for president in 2008…
As head of Health of Health and Human .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
The British RFID passports have had their encryption broken already
New RFID passports are supposed to make identity theft more difficult and to make it easier to spot fake passports like the ones used by the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.
First, making the data remotely secretly readable without every possessing or otherwise .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Cellphones, Passports, Physical Security, RFID, UKLow Chance of Bush Pushing Spying Bill Through Lame Duck Congress
The Center For Democracy and Technology recently said in their newsletter:
The "lame duck" 109th Congress will return to Washington November 13 to take care of unfinished business before it finally ends. Among the bills President Bush has said he'd like to see passed is the NSA
Domestic Spying bill. In addition, there is an effort .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Voting not allowed in Maryland
Our most fundamental right as American citizens is being denied in Maryland. I went to the polls to vote today and explained that I wanted to vote, but would only use a paper ballot. While the check-in people suggested a "provisional ballot", the supervisor nixed that and showed me this nice large sign.
Why did I insist on a paper .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Diebold, Elections, Evoting, Maryland