clrankin

OK, here's one for the forum...

All TSA is concerned about when doing a drivers license (ID) check is that you appear to be who you claim to be, right? And TSA accepts plenty of other forms of identification that don't necessarily disclose any information other than one's identity, correct?

Given the above assumptions, would someone have a problem covering up fields like 'Address', 'Customer Number', and 'DOB' on a drivers license and using it for identity verification? This would be one potential answer to those of us who realize that TSA must see some sort of ID to allow us past but who also wish to remain private and not provide unnecessary additional information about our identity to those who have no need (or apparent right) to know.

N965VJ

I guess that by doing so, you may obscure some of the security features the TDCers are looking for.

cordelli

There was discussion about that in this thread (and maybe others)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-increase.html

FriendlySkies

This is the reason why I signed up for a passport card two weeks ago. I just received it on Friday and will be using it as ID at MCI on Friday and RDU on Sunday.

Janus

Same here. The only thing I don't like is it has "Place of Birth" as State + Country (I would prefer just country). Otherwise, the card has Name, Age, and DOB; exactly what Secure Flight wants and (minus State of birth) nothing else.

FriendlySkies

Athough it is a bit far fetched, I feel a bit better not having a TSO staring at my home address for "reasons of national security" Who knows, maybe that TSO has photographic memory and if they see a wallet with a bunch of cash and credit cards, they remember the address and have a friend case the house while you are traveling! With the Passport card, they receive the info they need!

Boggie Dog

Applied for PP and PP card on March 26. Received PP last week, still waiting for the card.

When received will be my only ID for the smurfs.

FriendlySkies

You should be receiving it very shortly. I applied 3/26 and receiving the card of 4/9. Two weeks! Although, I did request priority delivery... Excited to try out the card on Friday.

gj83

I had to use my DL last week while waiting for my PP. I used my PP card today in CLT without much to-do. I was happy after I pounded the crap out of it to hopefully destroy the RFID.

N965VJ

Hammer Time

FriendlySkies

^

With the passport card, they include a small protective sleeve. I believe it is supposed to block people from stealing the info from your PP card..

Ari

Why would you want to destroy the RFID? It doesn't have any personal information on it.

jkhuggins

Disclaimer: I'm not advocating one position or another on this issue. But I've read up on it quite a bit.

While the RFID tag may not have any personal information on it ... it is still a unique ID being broadcast to anyone with a scanner. Experiments have shown that such RFID tags can be surreptitiously read from a considerable distance.

There are at least two scenarios that could give someone pause, depending on your level of paranoia.

• Relatively few countries issue RFID passports; those that do tend to be the more affluent countries. In a large crowd, someone with an RFID scanner could use a scanner to target citizens of those affluent countries for theft (or worse), since they'd be more likely to be carrying valuables.
• Sure, the RFID number doesn't contain any personal information. Neither does your Social Security number (other than state of issuance). Yet, because of overuse, the Social Security number has become associated with a great deal of personal information regarding the bearer --- so much so that one should never share the number with anyone who doesn't need it for an officially-sanctioned purpose. RFID numbers could end up in the same situation ... except that, as noted above, RFID tags can be scanned without the bearer's knowledge.

Janus

In regards to the second point: The RFID value that is returned does not equal any value on the front/back of the card. It is basically a random number that is matched using a database when one approaches a US border. So the likelihood that this value would be tied to anything important is highly unlikely (as at a border crossing, the card would still be inspected and the photo in the database could be retrieved). Also, I think this value changes every time a new card is issued, again lessening its use.

As to the RFID. The PP card's RFID is not the same as what an e-passport uses (those use wireless smart cards). I.e. an RFID chip always returns the same value when queried. But a wireless smart card is actually a fully functional CPU that exchanges data and communicates with a reader.

That all being said, I do see one other problem with the PP card. Tracking. Namely, since the RFID chip always returns the same value, a "bad person" (or the government) could install RFID readers throughout a building, city, state, etc and track the movements of that person. Combining that with video footage, credit card transactions, TDCs, etc and that RFID number could then be matched back to a person.

TSO1973

If you were to cover up info such as address, DOB, or whatever, while it won't make a difference to the TSO since we don't look at the address anyway, you could potentially open up a discussion about presenting an ID that has the appearance of being tampered with. I'm not saying it would happen, but that's a possibility I could forsee.

But as long as I can see what I need to see on it, speaking for myself here, wouldn't matter to me if your address was covered.