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Microchip security questions: Is your privacy being invaded?
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Questions about privacy and microchip security raised by
Chris Paget in an experiment from his car (Eric Risberg/AP)
Few people are aware how many credit cards, ID cards, and devices in their possession are implanted with microchips. Fewer still are aware of the privacy and security risks involved. Questions about microchip security are not often raised in the media, but on Saturday, AP national writer Todd Lewan wrote an excellent article showing just how easy it is to use microchips to steal personal data from unsuspecting consumers.
Lewan describes an experiment by Chris Paget in San Francisco using a $180 gadget he had acquired to steal people's personal information in a public place without their knowledge. From inside of his car, he was able to scan the identity cards of strangers with the push of a button.
Paget first downloaded to his computer the unique IDs of two people carrying electronic passport cards embedded with RFID microchips, the standard microchip technology being used with increasing frequency in all kinds of cards. Then he was able to extract or "skim" information from the PASS cards of four more people from a distance of 20 feet. In this simple experiment, he was easily able to invade the privacy of several unsuspecting individuals taking advantage of the microchip technology being touted so prominently by government and industry.
Here are a few key excerpts from this excellent Associated Press article, which was published in the Los Angeles Times and on the MSNBC website.
Increasingly, government officials are promoting the chipping of identity documents as a 21st century application of technology that will help speed border crossings, safeguard credentials against counterfeiters, and keep terrorists from sneaking into the country. But Paget's February experiment demonstrated something privacy advocates had feared for years: That RFID, coupled with other technologies, could make people trackable without their knowledge.Putting a traceable RFID in every pocket has the potential to make everybody a blip on someone's radar screen, critics say, and to redefine Orwellian government snooping for the digital age. 'Little Brother,' some are already calling it. With advances in tracking technologies coming at an ever-faster rate, critics say, it won't be long before governments could be able to identify and track anyone in real time, 24-7, from a cafe in Paris to the shores of California.
The government is already requiring passports embedded with microchips for some who enter the United States. Certain officials are eager to put these chips in all of our ID and credit cards. Yet this raises serious privacy and security questions. I highly recommend reading the entire AP article to learn about the deceptions and manipulations of the government in promoting this risky new technology. You can read the full article on the Los Angeles Times website at this link, or skim a shorter version of the article on MSNBC available here.
The box immediately below provides several ideas on what we can do to educate ourselves and address the problems of microchips in relation to security and privacy. We also invite you to comment below and let us know what you think. Are the benefits of microchips in our ID and credit cars worth the security risks?
What you can do:
- Inform your media and political representatives of this vital information. To contact those close to you, click here. Urge them to tackle the topic of microchips in relation to privacy and security, and to require testing and protections before more plans are implemented.
- Learn more about possible plans for microchipping of the entire population at this link.
- Read concise summaries of revealing major media reports on microchips available here.
- Read summaries of revealing media reports on privacy issues available here.
- Spread this news to your friends and colleagues, and bookmark this article on key news websites using the "Share This" icon just below the title of this article, so that we can fill the role at which the major media is sadly failing. Together, we can make a difference.
Fred Burks served as personal language interpreter to Clinton, Bush, Cheney, Gore, and other top dignitaries in secret meetings. As part of an international network of researchers and news analysts, Fred obtains and disseminates key, reliable information about powerful, yet little-known forces which shape our world. For more, see articles and links in the right column of this page.
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