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March 27, 2006
How to kill the spychips in your credit card
Has your bank issued you a new "contactless" or "smart" credit card or ATM card? Then you might be uncomfortable knowing that anyone with the right reader device could silently and invisibly read your account number - and potentially even charge something to it - right through your wallet, purse, or backpack.
What's a privacy-loving anti-RFID consumer to do? You can either refuse to use the card and demand one without an RFID tag in it (which is what I would do), or you can knock it silly with a hammer.
Ball peen hammer, as seen on Wikipedia.
If you choose the hammer option, here's an email I received with a link describing how it's done:
"I posted instructions on my website on how to disable the new PayPass chips that one of our regional banks started putting in their ATM cards. The information would probably apply to others as well."
http://wvp.diablops.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=1
-Katherine Albrecht
Posted by Katherine Albrecht at March 27, 2006 12:55 PM
Comments
Also note that if you call Charter One bank, they'll issue you a card without the RFID chip. No questions asked (at least in my case). That indicates to me that there concern about this may be more prevelant than some thinks.
Posted by: brenden at March 27, 2006 1:25 PM
You should do a comparative analysis to see if the ball-peen hammer method works better or worse than your attempts to disable chips using a microwave oven.
P.S.
Katherine want to debate yet?
Regards,
Nicholas Chavez
President, RFID LTD.
Posted by: Nicholas Chavez at March 27, 2006 1:53 PM
*I* didn't make any attempts to disable the chip via microwave oven. In all reality I suspect the ball-peen hammer was much more than needed, in particular considering that they seem to not want you to even sign the card where the chip is located.
Posted by: Brenden at March 27, 2006 4:06 PM
I believe that the US Government should investigate MasterCard for promoting such an overt method of compromising privacy. This company must be stopped.
Posted by: david wartner at April 10, 2006 9:42 AM
The Cashless Society vs. Terrorism
Concern of terrorists' infiltrating the United States through the US-Mex border, sea and gulf ports, not to forget our baseline to the north, will most certainly bring about the implementation of a National Identification Card (NIDC). Currently debated legislation that will deal with the issue of illegal immigration will not address the problem but will only delay the inevitable, God forbid, another evil terrorist attack on US soil. The complexities of the problem have our feeble-minded legislators scratching their heads to come up with a solution.
Think about this...
Two of our most important concerns on a worldwide scale are terrorism, and identity theft. What better way to deal with these problems than implementing a NIDC? Yes, they will try the plastic card first. It is the most logical technical apparatus to start with.
The real "wolf in sheep’s clothing" is the Micro-Printed Tattoo. Please read from Gods Word, Revelation chapter Thirteen, verse 16-18.
More to come...
Posted by: G K at May 27, 2006 12:09 PM
Jeebus, Some god bothering gimp always comes up with the mark of the beast argument / comment. Give it a bleedin' rest
Posted by: Herbert Sherbert at April 20, 2007 5:12 AM
@david warner:"I believe that the US Government should investigate MasterCard for promoting such an overt method of compromising privacy."
The US government that is trying to get retroactive protection of the telecoms and has a database containing every prescription drug you've ever taken and uses it for non-permitted purposes? That US government?
Posted by: Rob at April 20, 2007 8:54 AM
On my new (post April 2007) issued US passport the RFID chip is on the back cover corresponding to the U in USA (hard to read security printing) seen on the opposite of the back cover. In other words it is about 10% from the top and 10% from the left when viewing the satellite image on the back cover. Bend fairly sharply to identify this is indeed the place of yours. It is about the size of a pinky fingernail or 1/2 cm by 1 cm in dimension. Can anyone else confirm this for their passport as well, or are they randomly placing the chip?
Posted by: John at July 6, 2007 4:23 PM
Rob,
I can confirm that mine, issued in mid July, is in exactly the same place you indicated.
Posted by: No RFID Chips at July 28, 2007 12:18 AM