NY state inserts RFIDs into licenses; citizens next?

What can we say about RFIDs that hasn't already made you afraid? Your passport? Clonable. Your work ID and "secure" credit cards? Yeah, those too. Not scary enough? How about every adult New Yorker walking around with one in their back pocket? It's just a matter of time, as the Empire State's clearly enhanced drivers licenses (says so right on 'em) are now hitting the streets. For $30 on a new one, or $10 if you're looking to upgrade, you can get yourself a radio-wave emitting ID, enabling you to cross the border into Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean sans-passport. Don't worry, the cards won't be broadcasting any personal information -- just a unique code that the government can use to track your every movement.

[Via Crave]

[Platinum_Skeet @ Sep 17th 2008 11:03AM]

Ah man Mclovin can't get apast this system....

[mdm-adph @ Sep 17th 2008 11:31AM]

He can if he takes a hammer to his ID. They'll still have to accept it.

Oops -- did I just say that!?!

[big rob @ Sep 17th 2008 11:51AM]

Mclovin was from hawaii........ DUH!!!

[Jay6464 @ Sep 17th 2008 4:39PM]

And if you want to see where all this is going and haven't already, google around for the film "Zeitgeist". We're a few more "terrorist attacks" from being a monitored, regulated, data entry.

[konshuss @ Sep 17th 2008 11:04AM]

RFID blocking wallets. they work.

[Archie852 @ Sep 25th 2008 12:18PM]

Just slip the license into a jacket made with aluminize mylar and it blocks the signal. One can recycle potato chips bags.....Environmentally Friendly move!!!

[Wayne @ Sep 17th 2008 12:31PM]

Totally unnecessary. The RFID chip can only be picked up within a short distance of the appropriate sensors. For some reason, the myth of Big Brother tracking your every movement with RFID just won't go away.

[konshuss @ Sep 17th 2008 1:01PM]

yeah you're right, we're never within a short distance of people who could simply wave a reader past our pockets and get our information... totally unnecessary.

hi, i'm actor troy maclure. you might remember me from such sarcastic replies as 'the macbook air is only good for cutting cakes' and 'gizmondo is a name we can trust'

[Benson @ Sep 17th 2008 3:25PM]

Those can work, but microwave ovens work too, and you don't have to tote them around all day. (Which is good, considering that they're a touch heftier than hat-foil wallets.)

[Darkflame @ Sep 18th 2008 6:06AM]

For some reason people think that half the population will be carrying these scanners around and scanning the other half population for the govenment.
The Big Brother idea in this case is beyond reason. Its short range, and any govement agent close enough to scan you convertly is also close enough to take a photo.

No, the dangers lie in the cloning and in individual abuse of the technology. This is useless for Big Brother tracking, this is more "stupid brother making data accessible to any sod nearby".
Theres many sensible well thought out objections to this technology use without going anywhere near the big-brother style irrational cliche. Its those reasons why people want wallets to keep their data safe.

[Scott @ Sep 17th 2008 11:04AM]

oh fuck. I live in Jersey. We'll probably be next.

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 17th 2008 12:25PM]

I'm sorry Scott, please accept my sincerest condolences.

Not the license issue, but for having to live in Jersey.

[phanbouy @ Sep 17th 2008 12:33PM]

hey... if the Station Agent took place there it can't be all bad, right?

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 17th 2008 12:46PM]

Not you too, Phan!

[JerkfacedFed @ Sep 17th 2008 12:47PM]

nj ftw, morris county representing

[Scott @ Sep 17th 2008 12:58PM]

Yeah, Morris County in the hizzy~

I'm in Mo-Township

[phanbouy @ Sep 17th 2008 1:09PM]

no one cares guys

[MARSHAK @ Sep 17th 2008 4:04PM]

I'm sorry too, I'm quite lucky not to live in New Jersey.

[Timmy @ Sep 17th 2008 11:05AM]

It will be just like watching airplanes on a radar. Now if only we could get the Terrorists to carry these it would improve our surgical Air-Drone strikes.

[Kris @ Sep 17th 2008 11:06AM]

This is dumb. So it's been proven that RFID is weak security wise. Then they implement it in Credit Cards and, guess what? They're clonable. So what do they do? Put it into Passports. Now passports are clonable.

So at this point, I would think to myself "Ok, researches found flaws in RFID then passports and credit cards have been cloned due to RFID. So what have I learned here.... hmm... Let's put it in our licenses! Since no one has broken a license, we don't have anything to worry about!"

[Platinum_Skeet @ Sep 17th 2008 11:08AM]

So Mclovin is safe... GENIUS!!!

=P

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 17th 2008 1:43PM]

Dude, lay off McLovin's dick.

[SecretAsianMan @ Sep 17th 2008 4:52PM]

Don't block McLovin's dick, you should be guiding it.

[Neeko @ Sep 17th 2008 11:07AM]

Ill PASS on anything RFID untill they make it mandatory. Its only a matter of time until well all have RFID chips on us somehow at all times. BUT till that day comes...HELL NO.

[Groovy_Guy @ Sep 17th 2008 11:49AM]

That's like refusing to be raped until someone says, "pretty please?"

Let's all stop being so passive aggressive and GROW A PAIR! Refuse this stuff NOW and FOREVER!

[blizz419 @ Sep 17th 2008 1:03PM]

i don't care if it is mandatory i will kill the chip so it is not active fuck that, and if they ever expand that into requiring implants i will fight to the death till they put one in me, this fuckin country is going down hill if this shit continues to get worse and people still call this home of the free those people should be shot

[Allan @ Sep 17th 2008 11:09AM]

I literally just got a new license last week. Never saw this as an option though. And they didn't try to slip one by me either - no "enhanced" thing on it.

Being in NY though, would maybe be worth it if you visit Canada or plan to and don't have a passport (I don't).

[Steve @ Sep 17th 2008 11:28AM]

I got a new license in NY last month ago and I saw the choice there, saying there was a wait for it at the time...

I'm by NYC so it doesn't really matter for me personally, but if you live in Buffalo or Rochester area where Canada is so close.. this has got to be amazing... I wonder if its possible to live in the US and work in Canada?

[Eric @ Sep 17th 2008 11:54AM]

For us in the west, this is actually fairly useful. I live halfway between Rochester and Buffalo, and it isn't uncommon for a group of us to decide to go to Niagara Falls for the day, or Toronto for the weekend.

[Cactus @ Sep 17th 2008 12:17PM]

Steve --
It most certainly is possible to live across the border from your work -- I knew several people who worked in Plattsburgh, NY with homes just across the border in Canada, most of them nurses at the town's major hospital (but also college professors and even some retail workers).

Your way, though (live in US, work in Canada), is somewhat less common, since it ends up kind of being the worst of both worlds -- you pay hefty Canadian taxes on your wages without getting the "free" healthcare you should get with them, forcing you to pay for coverage on your own stateside. Canadian healthcare is a benefit of residency, not citizenship or employment.

Obviously, while this driver's license facilitates the border-crossing bit, you still need the necessary right-to-work papers to pull this off (visa, permit or citizenship)

[Jamma @ Sep 17th 2008 11:10AM]

WAR IS PEACE
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Sep 17th 2008 11:14AM]

Are you actually from leeds or do you just support Leeds united. I'm in Barnsley myself.

[Twoje @ Sep 17th 2008 11:15AM]

2 + 2 = 5

[eiki @ Sep 17th 2008 11:16AM]

and leeds is losers

just kiddin' ;)

[derX @ Sep 17th 2008 12:08PM]

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU

[Steven @ Sep 18th 2008 5:04AM]

"2 + 2 = 5"

Only for extremely high values of 2! Stick to the facts, please.

[Gaucho @ Sep 17th 2008 11:12AM]

damn it. I just moved an I wanted to get my NY driver's license updated with my new address . . . looks like I won't be driving anymore. I don't need some new fangled technologies with interwebs inside it to be emitting radar and sonar that close to my junkasaurus rex.

[eiki @ Sep 17th 2008 11:18AM]

SONAR is already an acronym, so that would be SONARRFID or RSONARFID!

[kiwi @ Sep 17th 2008 12:05PM]

I'm pretty sure you can still get the "non enhanced" versions.

I looked into changing my address yesterday and on the form to get a new license, you're able to choose "Enhanced driver's license" or "Driver's license", both of which are $15 for a new card.

[gustavo @ Sep 17th 2008 3:24PM]

Bostero, no tenes verguenza de esos colores, rojo y blanco es mas suave para la vista...

[sjdurfey @ Sep 17th 2008 5:06PM]

man, having something that size in your pocket emitting sonar would be killer for Marco Polo!

[RC @ Sep 17th 2008 11:13AM]

It's really tacky how you harp on this issue telling people to be scared. Just explain the concern. If you have to implore your readers to be scared, perhaps the issue isn't really that scary to begin with. Besides I don't need to be afraid and peeing my pants to decide whether I suppport something or not. I'm against a lot of things that I don't bother getting emotionally frightened of. I find I make more rational decisions that way and feel less like an idiot ready to be manipulated into an opinion on something. Or maybe that's how you view your readership?

[macfly @ Sep 17th 2008 11:44AM]

Oh please... your nick is RC (remote controlled)!
Why would'nt you be in favor of RFIDs




(just kidding mate, I could'nt help myself)

[Bob @ Sep 17th 2008 11:14AM]

I never understood the fear of RFID. It has been implemented poorly in some situations but on a whole the technology is great. Inventory tracking without requiring line of sight means that entire pallets of items can be entered directly into inventory. There are so many great uses for the tech, yet everyone seems to condemn it because of a few people who did not do their research before implementing it into their products (ie credit cards and passports).

[konshuss @ Sep 17th 2008 11:21AM]

yes, credit cards and passports.... a few people... a few million.
why do you think we should raise ire about a technology that is questionable at best security-wise, being implemented with personal information that can, and has, been cloned? does one even need to ponder why before defaulting to 'why the hell not?'

[iEye @ Sep 17th 2008 11:23AM]

Mark of the Beast 666 and all that jazz...

soon it will be inserted into every new born Baby...

is that what you really want?

[Bob C @ Sep 17th 2008 11:51AM]

The fear isn't of the technology, but in its use. Obviously for tracking pallets of merchandise or something with little or no security risk it's a fine technology. But for use in tracking personal information, it's too insecure to be viable. And the very idea of having something that is trackable on you at all times, regardless of the technology used, is distasteful to anyone with half a brain.

[mdm-adph @ Sep 17th 2008 3:28PM]

@Bob C

Don't own a cell phone either, eh? ;)

[Wwhat @ Sep 18th 2008 5:29AM]

I for one don't carry a cellphone.
But I do pay for a lot of stuff with an electronic (non-RFID) card so at those times my blip shows up, and then there's the cameras, and cameras, and cameras, and cameras....∞

[Leindurstit @ Sep 17th 2008 11:15AM]

Move along, citizen.