More RFIDs

[LAK]

More RFIDs. This time all in the name of "fighting crime" of course. Next will follow "terror" - at which everyone must prostrate themselves or be branded a "kook" or a "terrorist".

Getting the chip to transmit through metal hasn't been easy. Metal reflect radio frequency signals. Consumer goods companies adhering to supply-chain mandates from Best Buy Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. have struggled to get radio frequency signals to transmit through aluminum and metal, such as cans filled with vegetables.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181500870

RFID-Embedded Police Badges Debut In August

There's another crime-fighting weapon being added to law enforcement's arsenal, and it's not what you'd expect. Along with handcuffs, guns, and nightsticks, cops' uniforms will soon include badges with RFID chips.

By Laurie Sullivan


Mar 3, 2006 03:53 PM

V.H. Blackinton & Co. Inc. has developed a badge for law enforcement and government agencies with an embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) chip it plans to launch in August, company officials said Friday.

The SmartShield system validates badges and verifies the wearer. The package comprises Blackinton metal badges equipped with RFID chips, and Enforcement Identification (Eid) software that tracks information on each badge in a department’s inventory.

Blackinton has worked on the application since 2003. Research began in 2004, and development and manufacturing last year. The product will launch in August.

South Carolina Highway Patrol, Brookline Massachusetts Police Department, and Louisiana State Capitol Police are testing SmartShield, said John Domurad, director of research and development at Blackinton. Furthest along on deployment, the South Carolina Highway Patrol began September testing badges in the field. The agency deployed the software earlier this year. Next, deploying Datastrip Inc.'s DSVII-SC readers running Windows CE.Net in the field, Domurad said.

The DSVII-SC reader can communicate over wireless LAN or cellular networks, has biometric capabilities, and reads PDF bar codes, magnetic strips and RFID chips. It also can retrieve data from on-board memory or an external database via wireless 802.11 or Bluetooth technology, said Stuart Tucker, customer and sales support manager at Datastrip.

Blackinton's application uses 125 kilohertz or a 13.56 megahertz RFID chip. Each encoded with an identification number and law enforcement agency number specific to the division and embedded into the badge made from ferrous metals. "The chip is embedded into the badge, not attached," Domurad said. "The chip becomes inoperable if someone tries to remove."

Getting the chip to transmit through metal hasn't been easy. Metal reflect radio frequency signals. Consumer goods companies adhering to supply-chain mandates from Best Buy Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. have struggled to get radio frequency signals to transmit through aluminum and metal, such as cans filled with vegetables.

Domurad declined to provide details on how the embedded chip transmits the signal. "Telling you the specifics would be a bit like giving you the formula for Coca Cola," he said. "All I can tell you is it works. But the same configuration doesn't necessarily work in all badge styles."

The standalone software application integrates with any sequel-based record management system and can run parallel with access control systems.

-----------------------
Yes, we know, "no one will be forced to have them".

---------------------------------------------------------------

http://ussliberty.org
http://ssunitedstates.org

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I hope they are using the new smart RFID technology that can be encrypted. Otherwise someone is going to have a nifty collection of "authentic" RFID badge IDs in short order.

 

[Third_Rail]

Bartholomew Roberts, funny enough that was one of my first thoughts as well.

I wonder how big the power source is to get through metal objects? This is no longer the "passive" RFID we've been told about.

 

[Manedwolf]

Hackers have already shown that they can rig up commercial handheld "within a foot" RFID readers to use several times the power they were designed for, and interrogate chips at a good distance, say, across a large room.

Digital pickpockets are just around the corner. And the sheep go "baah!"

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Hackers have already shown that they can rig up commercial handheld "within a foot" RFID readers to use several times the power they were designed for, and interrogate chips at a good distance, say, across a large room.

Thus the birth of "Smart RFID" that incorporates stronger encryption to defeat interrogation by RFID readers that do not have the correct authorization.

 

[HankB]

Hmmm . . . perhaps there's a business opportunity here. Put overpowered RFID readers all over a neighborhood. Connect to a network, and - presto! - anyone with network access can now track all the police in the area, no more need for lookouts if you're doing something illicit.

And . . . if there's a raid or warrant search and your reader doesn't pick up the RFID chips, it seems that there would be a defensible assumption that the raiders weren't real cops after all, justifying resistance . . .

 

[Crosshair]

Imagine what havoc I could do with an EMP device. You can make them out of disposeable cameras and a few parts from Radio Shack. Not very powerfull, but more than enough to fry every RFID chip in the immediate area since by design they are VERY sensitive to EMP.

 

[proud2deviate]

Imagine what havoc I could do with an EMP device. You can make them out of disposeable cameras and a few parts from Radio Shack. Not very powerfull, but more than enough to fry every RFID chip in the immediate area since by design they are VERY sensitive to EMP.

'Tis precisely what I was thinking. The little buggers operate off of received radio waves, right? Just feed 'em more than they can handle and watch 'em pop.

 

[ball3006]

All the police depts have to do....

is install a reader at all of the donut shops around town and they will know where their officers are.....I have to admit I have a chip in all 4 of my cats........after all, they are my kids..........now of today's parents would chip their kids............chris3

 

[dm1333]

I wonder how rank and file officers feel about this? There was a move in the CG to put a transponder on all our small boats but the station OICs shot that one down pretty quickly. They didn't want to be micromanaged from higher up in the chain of command. As for chipping my dog, he never seems to get more than about 20 yards from the food bowl unless forced.

 

[Cellar Dweller]

Free Money!

Other than having to spend their FREE "Homeland Security" MONEY in order to get even more next year, what's the point?

What does a SmartShield do to fight crime?

The SmartShield system validates badges and verifies the wearer

to whom? If I (and the public) don't have a reader, we can't. I don't know of any police stations overrun with fake badges, so it seems...pointless.

The DSVII-SC reader can communicate over wireless LAN or cellular networks, has biometric capabilities, and reads PDF bar codes, magnetic strips and RFID chips. It also can retrieve data from on-board memory or an external database via wireless 802.11 or Bluetooth technology

Oh, the reader is magic! But wait, the public doesn't get SmartShields, so it's...pointless.

Is there suddenly a problem with LEOs being able to identify and track their own? Why not GPS in the car or equipping officers with GPS radios? OTOH, SmartShield might have caught all those "ghost" cops in New Orleans...

After the police have readers, they'll need someone to read besides themselves. The public won't need RFID that can transmit through metal, since it will be in a ID card (DL, state ID) or implanted (for the 1984'ers). Super-extra pointless.

What'll happen when a resisting person gets tasered and their RFID fries? Have to do it the old-fashioned way I guess...Overall, a useless "tool in the toolbox."

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Hmmm . . . perhaps there's a business opportunity here. Put overpowered RFID readers all over a neighborhood. Connect to a network, and - presto! - anyone with network access can now track all the police in the area, no more need for lookouts if you're doing something illicit.

Probably not practical on that scale; but you could certainly put one on the doorstep of your house and know when cops were gathering on your front porch. You wouldn't even have to be able to break the encryption to do it; you would just need to look for whatever specific encryption this uses. That is the downside of things that broadcast, even passively - they broadcast regardless of who is listening.