229 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
229 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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Underground eXperts United
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Presents...
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[ DMV & 2D Bar Codes ] [ By Mario ]
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____________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________
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DMV & 2D Bar Codes
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by Mario
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We will soon see yet another Big Brother mechanism in the making. However
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this one, unlike the short lived Clipper chip seems to be a very silent
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threat to our valued privacy. While we may have forseen elements of this
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threat in our previous discussions, we are now on the verge of their cruel
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implementation.
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There is perhaphs nothing new in the idea of a "National ID card" to most
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of the veteran Cpunx, perhaps only a few of you haven't heard of this.
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Perhaps also few of us have missed the AT&T commercial where a kid walks
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up to an ATM style kiosk and renews his drivers license.
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Many of us are already aware of the evil privacy invading DMV's, their
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disregard for our privacy in giving out our names and addresses and other
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personal information (at least in some states...) But how many of us
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know of the pending merging of virtually all of our records?
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Two weeks ago, I attended a presentation for a 2D Bar code system called
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PDF-417 (read Pee Dee Eff Four Seventeen.) This presentation was aimed at
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city level government MIS staff. The presenting company, Symbol Technology
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offered a very Big Brotheresque presentation for this bar code.
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On the surface, the bar code looks like a 3D random dot pattern stereogram
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with a set of ordinary bar code-looking start and end sequences. That is
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envision a rectangular bar code whose center has been replace by random
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dots leaving the first two or three bars on the left and on the right
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sides.
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PDF417 stands for Portable Data File, and it quite is. The presentation
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showed this format can hold upto 11Kbytes of data per bar code. Each PDF
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bar code can be stretched into thin vertically or horizontally oriented
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rectangles or left as a square. Several of these can fit on an ID sized
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card, i.e. a driver's license. With a good quality fax (200dpi or better)
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they can be sent over a fax. Further, they are very stable and resistant
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to harm. Several examples were shown of bar codes with bullet sized holes
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in them which were claimed to be readable, as well as a few samples with a
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diagonal torn from the lower left end to the top right end.
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An 11Kb of data may not seem like a lot, however by balancing the level of
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redundant error correction information versus stored data and using good
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data compression systems, two of these PDF417 codes can store plenty of
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information, any of it available to >anyone< you show your card to... at
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least the portions of which are not encrypted.
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Most importanly, while Smart Cards are very expensive, PDF417's are dirt
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cheap to print. Any good quality 24 pin dot matrix printer is certainly
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capable of producting ID cards. A cheap XT with a network connection, a
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decent but cheap printer, perhaps a hand held scanner/polaroid camera and
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a card laminator are enough to produce such cards. On the other hand, a
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smart card will require an on board chip which needs to be encoded and
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inserted in the card.
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Encryption:
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The presentation said that portions of the PDF417's could be encrypted to
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hold certain private information to which only DMV's or other entities
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would have the key to. This way, anyone can scan your card, but some of
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your information will be hidden. Now whether or not someone breaks into
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the DMV's and grabs the private key on the other end will become an issue
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which was not presented.
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In fact, it seems most of our city government folks are quite in the dark
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about encryption. They belive all of it can be broken and do not trust it
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which is in a way good for our privacy and the lack of theirs. However,
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their neglect of strong encryption may cause several problems in terms of
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the security of the encrypted fields: if implemented ass backards, and
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we know Uncle Sam usually does things ass backwards, don't we? Let us not
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forget that this was only Symbol Technology's suggestion. Knowing the
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DMV's, there will probably be no encrypted data. Digital Signatures to
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protect against forgeries perhaps, but little privacy protection.
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Your Mug Shot & John Hancock:
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Samples were shown of various test DMV cards in various states containing
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digitized pictures, signatures, as well as standard run of the mill info
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such as your full name, address, phone number, license number, etc. The
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idea was that a cop could pull you over (or any other official of state
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or bank, or store clerk, etc.) scan your ID card and see if the picture
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matches the stored picture in the bar code and your face. Ditto for the
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signature. In fact you can expect to see new ID's sporting these codes
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soon since Symbol is "working with all major ID card manufacturers."
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This is not vaporware, this type of bar codes have been used by the DoD
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as ID's.
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Welfare Cards:
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These will be used for welfare cards. Wether they will be separate cards
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or part of your drivers license wasn't clear by the presentation. You can
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bet that they have evangelized many DMV's and government agencies around
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the country with the same speech.
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(Fingerprints were also shown - possible application - match your paw
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prints to the ones stored in encrypted form on the bar code using a card
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scanner/finger print scanner machine which also matches them to a neat
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database via a network.)
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DMV Invitations:
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One of the less interesting things was that your DMV invitations to
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renew your license would be sent on a postcard sporting a bar code
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without which they would not allow you to renew your card. The usual do
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not bend, stape, or spindle shown on punch cards will no longer apply as
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these are almost indestructible, and it would be in your interest to not
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harm them.
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Buying Guns:
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Your drivers license will hold a hidden encrypted field to which gun
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dealers will have a machine that will hold the key to. By swiping your
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card, or inserting your card in the device, a green light would indicate
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that you can infact purchase a gun, a red would indicate you are either a
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person with a past criminal record, or soon enough a political danger...
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Supposedly, this will remove the one day wait for hand-guns. So now the
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right to bear arms is linked to your drivers license.
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DMV's & Voting:
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By '96 all DMV's will be required to have give drivers access to something
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called the Motor Voter System. This will give you the "right" to register
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to vote when you renew your license. We now have a political link between
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you and your right to drive... your right to vote.
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DMV's & Your Bank:
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DMV's will >SELL< your records to your bank. Supposedly, they will claim
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that this information will be used to protect your bank accounts by giving
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your bank your photo, etc. as proof of ID. Let us not forget that the IRS
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is pushing to have full access to your bank accounts. We now have a link
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between the IRS, your bank, and your drivers license. You can bet your
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credit cards will also be linked in this nasty soup.
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DMV's & All Insurance:
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Not just drivers insurance will be linked to your driver's license, but
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your health insurance as well. In fact, your entire family's insurance
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will be linked!!! Their presenter said "Two full pages of medical info
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plus the doctor's name."
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Your Car & The Parking Meter:
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Should you deserve a parking ticket, your windshield will sport a nifty
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little PDF417 with all your registration info. If you happen to have put
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too few quarters in the parking meter, not to worry, the parking meter
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will sport a PDF417 bar code as well. A portable scanner will grab
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your info and the info off the parking meter. If the scanner has a built
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in printer - and they will eventually - you'll get parking tickets within
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less than four seconds of a meter maid's time..
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This is a really neat technology, but as an enemy to privacy it is a far
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more insidious enemy than clipper was. WHEN, not IF, these DMV based
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ID's are in place, it will be near impossible to gain much of your valued
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privacy.
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A National Health Care ID card as we previously thought will not be the
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future... If you drive, and very few can live in today's society without
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the privlidge of driving (I am one of those few as I rely on the subways)
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you are already carrying the National ID Card from Big Brother, Inc.
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Symbol Technology sees a great boom in PDF417, but the odd twist is that
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while they make scanners, they are not selling them to the government,
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nor are they offering anything other than lip service and evangelism.
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They are opening the eyes of sleepy, DMV drones to the possibility of
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Big Brother Hell, and they are doing a good job. They will eventually
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profit from this as their distributors sell the DMV's scanners and third
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party custom written apps for the DMV's databases... And it does seem as
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if the DMV is licking its ugly lips. (The AAMV Association of American
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Motor Vehicles is the central hierarchy for all the DMV's. They are
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interested in this technology and it is in use in some states as a pilot
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program.)
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We have yet another battle on our hands. :-I
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Copyright (C) 1995 by Ray Arachelian, All Rights Reserved.
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Distribution Permitted by any means as long as the text and
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copyright notice are kept intact.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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uXu #265 Underground eXperts United 1995 uXu #265
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Call SECRET TECTONICS -> +49-40-823326
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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