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Smashed RFID

This is what's left of the RFID chip I dug out of a new debit card.

 

RFID technology is being deployed to consumers without their consent by several financial institutions . The security model being used to manage data from these cards is questionable, thus the concern that compels one to render the chip non-functional or removing it altogether.

 

Initially, after locating the chip in the card (you can see a small rectangular distortion in the surface when you hold the card to the light at a flat angle), I used a ball-peen hammer to break the chip. Once done with that, I noticed that the chip carrier was poking out of the card on the back side, so I opened the hole up a little with a hobby knife and then pulled the chip out.

 

The "super-macro" setting on my camera is really just digital over-sampling so the image is not so good.

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Uploaded on July 3, 2008
Taken on July 3, 2008