Fergie's Tech Blog

California Senate Approves Bill To Outlaw Skimming RFID Tags

K.C. Jones writes on InformationWeek:

The California State Senate voted to make it a crime to skim information stored on RFID tags.

The Senate voted 36 to 3 to pass the bill, introduced by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). The bill, SB 31, goes to the California State Assembly.

Simitian participated in a controlled experiment to demonstrate how skimming works.

"The problem is real," he said, while announcing passage of his bill. "The card I use to access the State Capitol was skimmed and cloned by a hacker in a split second. Minutes later, using that clone of my card, he was able to walk right into the Capitol through a 'secure' and locked entrance." Simitian said personal information on tags used for drivers' licenses and student IDs should be protected the same way other personal property is protected.

posted by Fergie @ 1/31/2008 01:50:00 PM