gHacks technology news » biometric-passports http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:31:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 ePassports Make Terrorist Dreams Come True http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/06/epassports-make-terrorist-dreams-come-true/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/06/epassports-make-terrorist-dreams-come-true/#comments Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:41:31 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=8772 Did you notice that many governments who are very keen of introducing new electronic means of identification have virtually no idea of what they are actually introducing? They claim it will make identification easier, securer and thwart document forgery.

The latest “proof” is a video by dutch security researcher Elvis Aaron Presley, sorry Jeroen van Beek, who managed to create a blank working document that was accepted at Amsterdam airport in September 2008.

The essence of the test was to show that ePassports can be easily forged. This essentially means that anyone with the technical knowledge can alter the picture, name, nationality, DOB and other credentials with ease.

If you need proof that Elvis is still alive then the following video might convince you.. I mean, it is an ePassport, a secure and reliable passport. Ain’t it?

Check out the thc epassport page for all the information about the current insecurities.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/06/epassports-make-terrorist-dreams-come-true/feed/ 2 Stop the Big Brother State http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/10/stop-the-big-brother-state/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/10/stop-the-big-brother-state/#comments Sat, 10 Mar 2007 07:31:07 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/10/stop-the-big-brother-state/ The Big Brother State is a short educational film created at the German university of Augsburg which tries to provide a different view of certain laws that are supposed to protect our freedom for the sake of our rights and privacy. Do we really need more observation at public places, trusted computing, biometric passports and network traffic monitoring. Who is able to tell that that no misuse will ever happen with the collected data ?

The movie uses animations and a dramatic voice to display possible consequences for everyone. Definitely worth to see.

I think Goethe put it nicely by saying “None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.” All of these mechanisms provide a false sense of security. What good does it do if all network traffic is monitored when terrorists use encryption, one use computers, meet in person, meet in another country, send letters, use codes only they know ?

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