electricinca.com

According to the tech new site The Register Government ministers are evading the acknowledgement that British ID cards will include RFID chips.

Home Office Minister Andy Burnham:

There are no plans to use radio frequency identification tags in ID cards… suppliers were asked for their views on the durability and costs of contact, contact-less, dual interface and hybrid cards. This survey concluded that a 10 year life for a contact-less card, incorporating a secure smartcard chip with a radio frequency contactless interface, was feasible.

Got that? So the Home Office isn’t using RFID tags, but is using a “chip with a radio frequency contactless interface”.

A commenter at the NO2ID website writes

Because if you think about it, 3rd party readable RFID-enabled ID Cards are *heaven* for identity thieves…

I couldn’t agree more.

Bruce Schneier has a very detailed analysis of the security of RFID in identity documents.

Tags: computer security, ID cards, security

The nominees for the 2006 Academy Awards have been announced.

As you would expect some films received the nominations they were expecting but there were a few surprises.

The Constant Gardener was pretty much overlooked with only the screenplay and Rachel Weisz receiving nominations.

George Clooney has received multiple nominations both as an actor in Syriana and as the director and writer of Good Night Good Luck.

Biggest surprise to me was the nomination of William Hurt as Best Supporting Actor for A History of Violence. I didn’t believe this when I first heard it because for me the one thing about the movie that made it less than perfect was his performance. I thought he was awful in that role.

Tags: movies

Thanks to Murky.org for the following quote

“The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”
Winston Churchill, Nov 21, 1943

And for reminding me that Pledgebank has another pledge for people who wish to resist the introduction of Identity Cards but cannot directly refuse to register because of professional or family responsibilities.

Tags: politics, totalitarian

Alive in Joburg, a stellar short film directed by Neill Blomkamp, is an unsettling and eerie tale of a close encounter of the third kind in Johannesburg, South Africa. The discrimination of visitors from another world makes for an interesting allusion to Apartheid. This is what War of the Worlds should have been like.

This is just simply amazing. A brilliant concept that has been executed extremely well.

More at Spy Films

Tags: movies, SciFi

I think my hypothesis that the creatures of the sea are turning against mankind is proving correct with yet another notable inexplicable attack in the news.

Video captures octopus attack on submarine

Rare video footage shows a giant octopus attacking a small submarine off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Salmon researchers working on the Brooks Peninsula were shocked last November when an octopus attacked their expensive and sensitive equipment.

The giant Pacific octopus weighs about 45 kilograms, powerful enough to damage Mike Wood’s remote-controlled submarine.

Wood’s first reaction was to panic, knowing the marine creature can exert a powerful bite.

Octopuses are known to be intelligent creatures capable of using tools and disguise themselves if they are now attacking submarines I’d be very worried about what future plots they have in store for attacks on mankind.

Forget Al Qaida it is the creatures of the sea that we should be worrying about.

Tags: nature, security

BBC News: Court rules against song-swappers

The UK music industry has won a landmark court case in its fight against illegal online music sharing.

High Court judges ordered two men to pay the British Phonographic Industry between £1,500 and £5,000 for making thousands of songs available online.

One of the men said he did not know he was acting illegally, the other said there was no evidence against him.

The BPI has launched 139 similar cases since October 2004, most being settled out of court for up to £6,500.

I really don’t believe that file-sharing is killing the music industry it might well be hitting their income from fewer CD sales but even that conclusion is in dispute.

I think there should be a distinction made between online file-sharers and the organised criminal gangs that are in the business of music piracy who are selling illegal CDs. The second group are the ones I believe should be targeted and the first group should be encouraged to choose legal alternatives.

I’m curious about the case against the first defendant in this landmark court case.

The first defendant, from King’s Lynn, said the BPI had no direct evidence of infringement, but the judges dismissed this and ordered him to make an immediate payment of £5,000.

Presumably the BPI did have direct evidence of the infringement which is why the judge dismissed this defence. So was the defence just a gambit that was almost certain to fail or did the defendant really believe there was no evidence, if so why would they believe that.

I am waiting for a legal challenge in such a case where the defendant has wiped all evidence from their own PC so all the evidence left will be the internet traffic logs associated with the IP addresses they used.

Tags: copyright

Bill Thompson writing for the BBC explains why he refuses to agree with the knee-jerk reaction to the news of Google’s censorship in China.

He points to the fact that Google.cn explains that censorship of the results have occurred and that much censorship is occurring in the UK and the US that the average user is not even aware of.

He believes that Google’s willingness to work with the Chinese government is a good thing in the long run.

But if we in the West, with our liberal political culture and our attempts to build open societies, do not engage with China then we lose the opportunity to influence them and convince them of the benefits that this brings. If the Chinese government fears instability then we should offer help and advice and support, not closed borders and locked doors.

Different circumstances require different responses, and just because sanctions were the right way to put pressure on apartheid South Africa does not mean that a technology blockade is the way to influence China.

Who can say what the repercussions of this will all be but I think he might well have a point.

Tags: censorship, internet

Yet another link via Schneier.

ID Card Planned for the Borders

U.S. officials announced Tuesday they would start issuing a special identification card this year that would allow Americans who frequently traveled to Mexico or Canada to continue crossing the border without a passport.

Officials said the card would be about the size of a credit card, carry a picture of the holder and cost about $50, about half the price of a passport. It will be equipped with radio frequency identification, allowing it to be read from several yards away at border crossings.

To obtain the card, officials said that citizens would be required to provide the same kind of documentation needed to obtain a passport.

Okay so it requires the same documentation to obtain as a passport does and in effect acts like a passport when crossing the border. I have to ask, why not just use a fucking passport then?

Not only is such an ID redundant but to be equipped with RFIDs that can be read from several yards is a security nightmare and a boon to identity thieves. Jeez.

Tags: security

A quirky but of security humour found via Bruce Schneier’s blog.

How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Schneier’s readers come up with some additions to the list.

Tags: security