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TechDirt reports:
In a letter sent recently from Senator Ron Wyden to two of his colleagues who head the Committee on Rules & Administration, it's noted that (incredibly) the ID cards used by Senate Staffers only appear to have a smart chip in them. Instead of the real thing, some genius just decided to put a photo of a smart chip [PDF] on each card, rather than an actual smart chip. This isn't security by obscurity, it's... bad security through cheap Photoshopping. From our Senate.
Moreover, in contrast to the executive branch's widespread adoption of PIV cards with a smart chip, most Senate staff ID cards have a photo of a chip printed on them, rather than a real chip. Given the significant investment by the executive branch in smart chip based two-factor authentication, we should strongly consider issuing our staff real chip-based ID cards and then using those chips as a second factor.
(Score: 2, Funny) by idiot_king on Monday May 08 2017, @05:03AM (8 children)
If you're a Senator, enough people know who you are to recognize if it's you or not. These people are very, very busy and are constantly escorted around by their staff and whatnot. Technically there are eyes on these people at all times simply because they are so important and vital to the legislative body of the USA.
It would be different for a person like me to just storm into Capitol Hill and start voting against (the oxymoronically-named) Trumpcare, simply because nobody knows who the hell I am.
As much as I would like Repubs to be subject to mandatory chips to make sure they aren't biomechanically-grown Trumpdrones, the stakes are far, far too high and someone would notice if something was off right away. But as far as the average person, like you and I, it's far more necessary to have a solid ID like a chip (or similar).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday May 08 2017, @06:38AM (5 children)
If you're not taking a vote, but just going around Capitol Hill, being an old white guy in a suit surrounded by (fake) journalists and (fake) bodyguards would probably open many doors.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday May 08 2017, @09:32AM (4 children)
Why would you get fake bodyguards? I don't think real ones would be that more expensive, and you might need them if anyone recognizes you as fake.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday May 08 2017, @12:50PM (3 children)
In the rest of the country you can get anywhere with an orange safety vest, steel toe boots, a clipboard, hard hat, and a homemade ID for an imaginary service company printed at home, and using fakes is just going to get you noticed.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @02:19PM
Make sure the hard-hat is white.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by black6host on Monday May 08 2017, @05:51PM (1 child)
So true.
Had a guy show up at my place about 3 weeks ago. Wearing orange safety vest, folding clipboard, some kind of id badge, etc. Told me he was from the "energy supply company" and that he could save me money if he could just have my signature. A rate increase was coming for the company that provides our electricity and he was there to save me from it. I asked him for a business card. Nope. Asked for his company's name, "we're the energy supply company", asked for the phone number to the company. Nope. So, that's what I said: Nope.
I'm pretty sure he got a few people though...
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday May 08 2017, @07:01PM
Probably one of those invoices for the $700 printer toner cartridge and they'll send you to collections if you don't pay up.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday May 08 2017, @12:58PM (1 child)
As much as I would like Repubs to be subject to mandatory chips
As an alt right kind of guy, I assure you the Russians are behind us technologically so we only get picture of chips. As the old Russian saying goes, we pretend to work, they pretend to pay us with pixs of fake ID chips, or something like that. As the antifa know, we on the right are completely Kremlin controlled because nothig says fascism like Russian commies, which is why Hillary wanted to start a nuclear war with the Russians. Well, see ya, I gotta visit the embassy to pick up my paycheck, suckas.
Besides anyone with a microscope could look at the chip and Russian clones of American chips in the 70s/80s/90s used to have Cyrillic lettering and stuff. "Art" on chip dies was a thing in the old days, I don't know if it still goes on, used to be a common thing to give the industrial espionage guys the middle finger, you know they're gonna be looking at chips or complete stolen masks. Why senator, why does your chip have "made in moscow" in little 100 nm tall Cyrillic letters on it?
(Score: 3, Funny) by HiThere on Monday May 08 2017, @04:29PM
Sorry, you don't sound alt-right as much as alt-sane.
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