[linux-elitists] Two on RFID from Politech: Hack the tech, & Gilmore's dystopia

[Don Marti]

begin Teh Entar-Nick quotation of Mon, May 10, 2004 at 06:12:08PM -0700:

> 	If you're hoping for privacy with an automobile, then you have
> already lost.  Why bother complaining about RFID tires when you're
> already tracked by license plate and tollway pass, and drivers license
> databases are swapped around like trading cards?  

It's easier to tell when a license plate photo is
being taken than when a tire ID is being collected.
Instead of having citizens show up to a City Council
debate about license plate cameras, the RFID system
gets buried in the street with the car-detector loops
at intersections and in the budget under "safety".

Since the reader hardware is going to be in every
car for tire pressure monitoring, it'll probably
be a lot cheaper than a good license plate camera.
And it's much harder to vandalize -- completely
unaffected by spray paint.  Photos are now read by
humans, while RFID can be fully automated.

One reason to be interested in this issue is that,
unlike many other proposed "security" measures,
there are a lot of useful, budget-helping reasons
for local police to install scanners, whether they're
photo or RF-based.

Speed limits

All kinds of traffic laws -- this car scanned in
the right lane but turned left; that car showed up
going the opposite direction a few seconds later,
so must have made an illegal U turn.

"Cruising" ordinances -- no passing a certain point
more than n times per hour

Police officer safety at traffic stops -- do the
tire IDs match the license plate?  If not, must be
a stolen car, plate, or both.

"remote attestation" of tire pressure -- that truck
is carrying hazardous materials with an almost-flat
tire; stop it at the weigh station.  That school
bus scans 10psi low; make the driver get the tires
checked before picking up the kids in the afternoon.

Won't somebody please think of the budget? police
officers?  children?

-- 
Don Marti
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dmarti@zgp.org                        from the experts in California, USA 
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