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Vastly Important Notes[Vastly Important Notes] I've received much good feedback on my last post about the pudding-headed report criticising the new DHS smartcard program. Many people are justifyiably mystified by the report's references to Bluetooth. The strange thing isn't that the new smartcard doesn't use Bluetooth, but that smart cards and Bluetooth have absolutely nothing to do with each other. It's like asking, "Doesn't the new Honda Accord suffer from all the well documented problems of Esperanto?" The short answer is "no", the real answer is, "what the hell are you talking about?" The problem, of course, is buzzword creep. With all the industry terminology floating around these days, it's hard for people to remember whether combining two particular concepts produces an argument that's coherent (like biometrics and privacy) or less so (like pancakes and the doctrine of original intent). That modesty does not typically hinder such people from writing technology assesments or legal opinions is beyond the scope of this blog...

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Vastly Important Notes: This would be damming stuff, if it wasn't crazytalk.  The DHS card has nothing to do with Bluetooth.  Unlike the "RFID" claim in the paragraph above, there isn't even anything close to Bluetooth that the DAC uses.  Nothing.  No Bluetooth.  Nuh-uh.  Bluetooth has nothing to do with identity cards.  I don't even think you could put Bluetooth onto a card if you tried;  I believe (though I could be wrong) that Bluetooth requires an active power source and contactless cards are all passive.  I have no idea what EPIC is talking about, other than maybe DHS said that they would test Bluetooth as a way to hook up computers to phones or something.  Also, all the "Bluetooth flaws" that are so breathlessly reported in the EPIC report aren't really flaws with Bluetooth at all, but with specific phones and devices that happen to use Bluetooth.  This is an important distinction but I don't want to dwell on it here because THE DHS CARDS DO NOT USE BLUETOOTH.

Vastly Important Notes: April 2005: This would be damming stuff, if it wasn't crazytalk.  The DHS card has nothing to do with Bluetooth.  Unlike the "RFID" claim in the paragraph above, there isn't even anything close to Bluetooth that the DAC uses.  Nothing.  No Bluetooth.  Nuh-uh.  Bluetooth has nothing to do with identity cards.  I don't even think you could put Bluetooth onto a card if you tried;  I believe (though I could be wrong) that Bluetooth requires an active power source and contactless cards are all passive.  I have no idea what EPIC is talking about, other than maybe DHS said that they would test Bluetooth as a way to hook up computers to phones or something.  Also, all the "Bluetooth flaws" that are so breathlessly reported in the EPIC report aren't really flaws with Bluetooth at all, but with specific phones and devices that happen to use Bluetooth.  This is an important distinction but I don't want to dwell on it here because THE DHS CARDS DO NOT USE BLUETOOTH.

Vastly Important Notes: Gadgets: I've received much good feedback on my last post about the pudding-headed report criticising the new DHS smartcard program.  Many people are justifyiably mystified by the report's references to Bluetooth.  The strange thing isn't that the new smartcard doesn't use Bluetooth, but that smart cards and Bluetooth have absolutely nothing to do with each other.  It's like asking, "Doesn't the new Honda Accord suffer from all the well documented problems of Esperanto?"  The short answer is "no", the real answer is, "what the hell are you talking about?"

Vastly Important Notes: Security: This would be damming stuff, if it wasn't crazytalk.  The DHS card has nothing to do with Bluetooth.  Unlike the "RFID" claim in the paragraph above, there isn't even anything close to Bluetooth that the DAC uses.  Nothing.  No Bluetooth.  Nuh-uh.  Bluetooth has nothing to do with identity cards.  I don't even think you could put Bluetooth onto a card if you tried;  I believe (though I could be wrong) that Bluetooth requires an active power source and contactless cards are all passive.  I have no idea what EPIC is talking about, other than maybe DHS said that they would test Bluetooth as a way to hook up computers to phones or something.  Also, all the "Bluetooth flaws" that are so breathlessly reported in the EPIC report aren't really flaws with Bluetooth at all, but with specific phones and devices that happen to use Bluetooth.  This is an important distinction but I don't want to dwell on it here because THE DHS CARDS DO NOT USE BLUETOOTH.

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