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At a recent conferance, Lukas Grunwald, a German security expert, showed how the electronic passports being integrated into the U.S. and other country's border procedures are not impervious to theft and the like.
The passports have a vulnerability that could allow criminals to clone embedded secret code and enter countries illegally. This "discovery", if you will, contradicts assurances made by government officials that the electronic information stored in passports could not be duplicated.
Countries such as Germany already use the technology in passports to help border officials guard against forgeries and to automate the processing of international visitors.
"If there is an automatic inspection system, I can use this card to enter any country," Grunwald said.
The research is the latest to raise concerns about the growing use of radio-frequency identification technology.
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As if the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (a law that forces service providers to make your phone calls available for government wire tapping) wasn't enough, we are not facing the next phase of governmental control.
Get ready to face another hampering of your civil liberties - government access to VoIP and SMS messages. As retrieved from Schneier via Ars Technica:
The government hopes to shore up the legal basis for the program by passing amended legislation. The EFF took a look at the amendments and didn't like what it found.
According to the Administration, the proposal would "confirm [CALEA's] coverage of push-to-talk, short message service, voice mail service and other communications services offered on a commercial basis to the public," along with "confirm[ing] CALEA's application to providers of broadband Internet access, and certain types of 'Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol' (VOIP)." Many of CALEA's express exceptions and limitations are also removed. Most importantly, while CALEA's applicability currently depends on whether broadband and VOIP can be considered "substantial replacements" for existing telephone services, the new proposal would remove this limit.
via [Schneier] |
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GPS Wireless released a story on the Iowa's new offender tracking program that is set to start on September 1st.
Spurred by the abduction and killing of Jetseta Gage, a 10-year-old girl, last year Iowa's lawmakers provided $2.4 million for the adoption of the new system. With over 6,000 registered sex offenders, less than 1/3 of the amount of New York City (who does not track offenders), Iowa won't be the first state to adopt this program. Other states invested in similiar GPS tracking systems that will be secured to the ankle of registered offenders.
Benefits of the tracker? It records the offenders movements: where he's been and how long he's been there allowing authorities to establish a record of his movements. Additionally, the tracker alerts authorities to violations e.g. coming to close to a school or church etc.
Many people are relieved yet some believe this is letting them off too easy. Sex offenders that would be subject to years in prison or the like are now allowed to freely roam about and mingle in/with society. What do you think? |
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