State looks at limiting scanning technology

Michael Gardner, Sign On San Diego

With little thought, many Californians carry wafer-thin cards containing a 15-cent silicon chip that enable them to zip through toll booths, enter parking garages and access the office...

Critics say RFID data can be obtained by lifting the identifying number literally out of someone's pocket with a remote scanner from a couple of feet away. Data bases could be accessed to match the number with other personal information. In one experiment, access cards of several legislative employees were remotely read in elevators and in hallways and cloned, providing the “thief” with access to private, secured areas.

“It sounds like science fiction, but it's quite doable,” said Lee Tien, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocate for privacy rights in the digital world. “It's not paranoia if the threat is real.”

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