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Or just design a container whose RFID identity changes between being loaded onto the ship and being unloaded at the next port, making tracking impossible. Coul

Or just design a container whose RFID identity changes between being loaded onto the ship and being unloaded at the next port, making tracking impossible. Could be as simple as telling the captain of the ship to swap the RFID modules between two containers during the voyage.

nonrandomstring 3y ago
Like any system that is "monitored", it also presents the opportunity to feed disinformation to an adversary; what's labelled as submarine technology heading for one place is really anti-drone weaponry heading to a different front thousands of miles away.
- wakawaka28 3y ago
  The volume and timing of containers is also important and leaks a lot of information. The weights probably have to be accurate too. Then, besides this, the whole thing is a bad idea. The Chinese will destroy these cranes in the event of a war with the US.
  - nonrandomstring 3y ago
    > destroy these cranes in the event of a war Indeed you are right. And I was once laughed out of security meeting for suggesting that allowing certain nations to build the control systems for one of our nuclear power plants might have issues. TBH, I think the laughter was very, very nervous and I distinctly heard the sound of a penny dropping. [0] https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/edf-hinkley-nuclear-plant-chinese-role-in-spotlight https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/edf-hin...
mattashii 3y ago
Even if you swap RFID identities during transit, the location of each container on the ship doesn't change much during any voyage, so this wouldn't materially change things: the tracker just has to update the ID references with the locations of the containers in the unloading port.
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  If the location of the container changes while the ship is underway, you've got bigger issues than RFID tracking!
bell-cot 3y ago
Since the cranes "know" the physical location of each container when it is loaded and unloaded, I suspect the CCP can update their container tracking software ~100X faster than the Pentagon can implement a decent RFID-changing system.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
lxgr 3y ago
Do you have any idea how many containers can go on a single cargo ship? This sounds a lot like suggesting a Walmart manager can “just quickly stick encrypted payload QR codes over each EAN barcode in the store”.

nonrandomstring 3y ago

Like any system that is "monitored", it also presents the opportunity to feed disinformation to an adversary; what's labelled as submarine technology heading for one place is really anti-drone weaponry heading to a different front thousands of miles away.

wakawaka28 3y ago
The volume and timing of containers is also important and leaks a lot of information. The weights probably have to be accurate too. Then, besides this, the whole thing is a bad idea. The Chinese will destroy these cranes in the event of a war with the US.
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  > destroy these cranes in the event of a war Indeed you are right. And I was once laughed out of security meeting for suggesting that allowing certain nations to build the control systems for one of our nuclear power plants might have issues. TBH, I think the laughter was very, very nervous and I distinctly heard the sound of a penny dropping. [0] https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/edf-hinkley-nuclear-plant-chinese-role-in-spotlight https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/edf-hin...

mattashii 3y ago

Even if you swap RFID identities during transit, the location of each container on the ship doesn't change much during any voyage, so this wouldn't materially change things: the tracker just has to update the ID references with the locations of the containers in the unloading port.

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
If the location of the container changes while the ship is underway, you've got bigger issues than RFID tracking!

bell-cot 3y ago

Since the cranes "know" the physical location of each container when it is loaded and unloaded, I suspect the CCP can update their container tracking software ~100X faster than the Pentagon can implement a decent RFID-changing system.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

lxgr 3y ago

Do you have any idea how many containers can go on a single cargo ship? This sounds a lot like suggesting a Walmart manager can “just quickly stick encrypted payload QR codes over each EAN barcode in the store”.