Friday, June 22, 2018

In the Chips

New laws are calling for the dependable tracking of firearms, and modern RFID tags can be integrated with the metal components of firearms to monitor the use of guns. [More]
Why just violate the Second Amendment when we can include the Fourth and Fifth?

And why not mandate remote shutoff switches, activated by "Only Ones" or automatically (to include an alert to authorities) if you mistakenly enter a "gun-free zone"? 

Hey, if you're not doing anything wrong...

[Via Dave Licht]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember hearing an NPR story about the pros and cons of "chipping" people with RFID technology. The reporter actually had himself chipped to get a firm feel for the process. He then contacted some folks who claimed to be able to overwrite the data in an RFID from quite a distance. They actually described going in to a chain drug store and convincing some of the inexpensive items on the shelf that they were in fact expensive Mercedes Benz sports cars. He met one of those folks at a fast food restaurant and sat across the booth from the guy for the interview. At the end of the interview the person being interviewed showed that his pocket contained a device that had already wiped the reporter's chip and reprogrammed it from across the booth.

Another route would be to just use a brute force attack to disable the chip. As the article discussed, they are not self powered but require an external magnetic field from the reader to provide power for the chip. I doubt it would be that difficult to create a simple device that would generate a strong enough field to effectively fry the chip's electronics. A simple bulk tape degausser such as the units once sold by Radio Shack might work.

Then there's the issue of the 8 million or so unchipped AR15's already in circulation, 80% receivers, 3D printing, and the "pour your own lower" molds already widely available.

The horse they're trying to corral left the barn ages ago.

"Your father's still perfecting ways of making sealing wax." -- Rolling Stones.

Henry said...

Add RFIDs to guns! What a brilliant idea! This was thevery technology that made Fast and Furious such an unbridled success for the Obama administration.

RFIDs are notoriously easy just to burn out. Any microwave will do it. For processing larger items like guns, the cabinet walls of an old microwave are entirely expendable.

Mack said...

David,

I'm thinking that the 'Landmark' (yes, an overused word) SCOTUS opinion, Carpenter v. United States, enables us to use that as Thor's Hammer.

Who wants to be tracked, stalked, surveilled by the almighty State?

Reason provides excellent analysis. Maybe an Ammoland column on this topic?

1) Neil Gorsuch Joins Sonia Sotomayor in Questioning the Third-Party Doctrine

In a case dealing with cellphone location data, Gorsuch says entrusting information to someone does not mean surrendering your Fourth Amendment rights.

* http://reason.com/blog/2018/06/22/neil-gorsuch-joins-sonia-sotomayor-in-qu

2) Huge Win for Everyone With a Cellphone (and for the Fourth Amendment) at the Supreme Court

SCOTUS rejects warrantless cellphone location tracking in Carpenter v. United States.

* http://reason.com/blog/2018/06/22/scotus-rejects-warrantless-tracking-of-c