MY new passport has the RFID chip ,
thats fine when I go thru customs and immigration , ,

But how do I shield it at other times ?

will the silver metallic plastic bag that computer cars come in shield it ?

or can I use the aluminum foil that I make my hats ?
will that work

Rally

PS.....I guess the same idea is for shielding your credit cards with the RFID chip

The frequency to read the RFID chip in a passport is 13.56 MHz. As higher a frequency gets as harder it is for it to penetrate objects. 13.56MHz are considered to be High. So there is a chance that thick aluminum foil might do the trick. I would say it will definitely make it impossible to read the chip from a larger distances but in very close proximity like a few inches I'm not so sure.

MuMetal should work just fine.

even if crooks do get all the data from the RFID chip in my e-Passport, what's the worst that they can do? it only has my name, DOB, POB, sex, photo.... is there really any cause for concern here?

well thats more than I want "crooks" to know about me right there

Rally

Would one of those old lead-lined film protection bags work?

Basically, identity theft on steroids is probably the worst that could happen to you.. which is nothing to sneeze at. Here's what I mean : someone skims the data off your e-passport, goes home, decrypts it, and records all the data on a new, blank passport. The attacker places his own picture on the passport, but all the name data and all that stuff that is printed on the first page is you. Obviously, the information stored digitally in the passport's chip is also pertaining to you.
Attacker travels overseas, commits crimes, etc. in your name. Or, attacker could be a terrorist who enters a country legally when his real identity would have been red-flagged.

It's not science fiction either - passports are already being cloned. The most difficult part would be obtaining a genuine blank passport, but then in some countries these have been bought or stolen.

The only way really to foil such an attack is when fingerprint scanning or IRIS scanning becomes mandatory for everyone, at all ports of entry, in all countries... which is probably only a matter of time. Until then though, the scenario I depicted is very doable.

Because fingerprint technology is never foiled.

There is no such thing as 100% security. Identifying the points that need to be addressed and closing the big holes easily without placing undue burden on those being "secured" should be the key. Sadly, the current government organizations don't like that plan to much.

If you're that worried about it, just bang the chip with a mallet. That will make sure nobody can read the chip, and they'll have to actually look at your passport instead.

Or get:
http://www.idstronghold.com/passportsleeve.php?s=2
http://rfidblockr.com/

Or yeah a hammer or microwave should work.
They're still toying around with putting foil inside it so its only readable when open, but don't expect anything soon.

Problem with a microwave is it leaves visible scorch marks. A mallet doesn't.

has anyone seen a USA citizen go thru immigration with a destroyed chip ?

I can imagine that they get the extra once over just because ,
you must be a radical if you do not like to be "chipped"

yes its the world we live in for "security" , but it gives a good opening to ID thiefs too

need to go , my tin foil hat is loose....

Rally

rally

My passport got a mallet taken to it the day it arrived, and i can tell you that the chip inside doesnt work(no visable damage) because most customs personel mutter under there breath that the chip doesnt work and how much of a pain it is to do there job manually.

I have had to deal with two ID theft attempts on me(thank goodness for wacky bruteforeproof passwords or i would have lost alot of money), and one full attack on my mother, needless to say it was a pain in the butt to deal with so im going to limit my exposure as much as possible to having anyone getting another wack at my identity, if CBP has a problem with it then they can replace my passport at there expense.

I went through IAD a couple of weeks ago and they did not use the chip. All they did was to read the machine readable part and when I asked I got the impression that they are not set up to read the chip yet.

deliberately destroying/disabliing the chip on the US passport is a crime, isn't it? the passport is US government property. if you get a CBP officer who's having a bad day, he/she may have you arrested for destroying US government property!