There is news of a controversial bill before the Nevada legislature that would make felons of people that possess, read or capture the personally identifying RFID information of others.  In general, it is a good idea to protect personally identifying information, but let’s separate the good from the bad. The bill in its current form would make security researchers who test and demonstrate RFID weaknesses felons as well. 

State Senator David Parks, the original sponsor of the bill, said he intends to amend the bill to exempt people carrying out “legitimate research.”  Security and legal experts agree that amending the bill is important because as it’s now written would seriously impinge on the ability to test the security of RFID in real-world scenarios.

Las Vegas, Nevada hosts Defcon and BlackHat, two of the biggest security related conferences of the year. Some of the best RFID research has been presented at these conferences.

To learn more, about this current issue, check out  http://cyb3rcrim3.blogspot.com/�
Susan Brenner  is a law professor who speaks, writes and consults on cybercrime and cyberconflict.

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