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"He counsels staff and clients to keep their credit cards in specially shielded envelopes to or stack them one on top of the other so the signals are jumbled up
by BuildTheRobots 11y ago
"He counsels staff and clients to keep their credit cards in specially shielded envelopes to or stack them one on top of the other so the signals are jumbled up."
Slightly terrifying advice. A few years ago Kris Padgett (iirc) demonstrated that nearly all RFID "blocking" wallets were useless. That and they employ some immense collision detection -if you can throw a binbag full of chips past a reader and still manage to scan them all, I find it impossible to believe 2 cards stacked does _anything_ to help.
- viraptor 11y agoNew readers can actually enumerate RFID cards. I'm not sure if cards themselves need to support that explicitly or not. It's very useful in big gates - like ski lift, where you're likely to have the pass and your wallet with extra cards.
- narrowrail 11y agoBecause RFID is a family of technologies operating at 4 different frequency bands and using 2 different coupling mechanisms, it is difficult to generalize. For the use case of ID cards, 13.56MHz and inductive coupling are the relevant characteristics. Anti-collision is pretty weak in most 13.56MHz transponders, and it is no better than it was 8 years ago.
- e12e 11y agoWhy not just buy pre-paid VISA cards [ed: and even if they do -- the damage will be limited] ? AFAIK they don't have RFID? I'd be more worried about my passport (if it had RFID).
- fractallyte 11y agoAs soon as my RFID passport arrived, it went into the microwave for a few seconds. No smoke, no discoloration - just a slightly raised outline. And no more RFID.
- e12e 11y agoBut is it then, technically, still a valid passport?
- fractallyte 11y agoValid enough for human validation! (Although, I think it's technically illegal to deface a passport. But, at the same time, it's not technically 'defaced'...) Edit: As a frequent (if reluctant) traveler, I've yet to encounter a necessity for RFID at passport control. (I simply avoid that particular queue.) I've been stopped twice for not being obedient: once because I refused to step into a mm-wave scanner (after the controller refused to send me back through the metal detector after I removed my belt...), and another time for not staring into the hypnotic blinkenlights that were swirling around the cameras above everyone's heads in the queuing area.
- graedus 11y agoCan you elaborate on the 'hypnotic' lights? I've never seen or heard of this.
- fractallyte 11y agoI think it was UK Gatwick Airport, on the way to passport control. The passengers were shepherded into lines, and spaced at intervals above each line were ceiling-mounted cameras. Bright LEDs around the camera lens were flashing in rotational patterns - designed to instinctively draw attention, and hence make facial recognition easier.
- ethbro 11y agoWere there four lights? Or five?
- fractallyte 11y agoI really can't recall. I wasn't looking up!