Is there anything these idiots can’t screw up?
This is what happens when you have bureaucrats enamored with outside cutting-edge “knowledge” that’s way, way beyond their competence to evaluate. In foreign policy you get an obsessive focus on “always having to say you’re sorry” government-to-people communication – as if that’s what diplomacy is designed to do – that ends with comparing Jews to Nazis. In domestic policy you get this idiocy:
Backtracking from earlier claims that e-passports are “totally secure,” the U.S. State Department is now urging travelers to keep their RFID-chip enabled passports in “radio-opaque sleeves” to protect owners from having their information skimmed by unauthorized readers within a 30-foot range. The State Department’s warning comes with the caveat that “hackers won’t find any practical use for data,” because personal information is encrypted. But that encryption has already been cracked. So now the data and the accessibility of the chip have been compromised. Why are we using this technology, again? Implementation of this technology means more hassle, more concern about your data, and, frankly, less convenience. Great.
Well as long as they’re sure hackers won’t find any practical use for the data…
Although that’s kind of curious. If the data isn’t useful for identifying individuals then it doesn’t seem like a particularly useful thing to have on the chip. And if it is useful for identifying individuals then it seems like there’s at least some practical use for it.
Mind-blowing incompetence.
References:
* Public Diplomacy Means Always Having to Say You’re Sorry [MR]
* State Department’s Arab TV Station: Israel Conducting “Holocaust Against 1.5 million Palestinians” [MR]
* What a shock: Your e-passport isn’t secure after all [Upgrade Travel Better]
Previously:
* State Dept Importing 1,350 Palestinian Saddam Supporters From Iraq Into Southern California
* State Department Tries To Cleanse Obviously Illegal "No Jews Allowed" Application But Is Too Fucking Stupid To Turn Off Track Changes
* State Department Spouts Utter Nonsense, Undermines Israeli Self-Defense
