An interesting story here on the BBC Website this morning. It seems 3000 passports and visa stickers were stolen en route to an RAF base from where they were to be sent to embassies worldwide. But fear not, says "Not Flash, Just Gordon" 's minions. The items are quite unusable and have no value on the black market as they are fitted with new state of the art ID chips.
No Value On The Black Market ? Really ?
Remind me again what you need to wave to get more than three hundred quid out of a bank these days. Other than a gun, that is. And for that matter what you need to open an account. Or buy a house. Or do just about anything else. After all, it was Gordon Brown that demanded our financial institutions do sod all for you unless you wave one of these documents, so why should he be surprised when a few thousand go missing. And whose fault will it be when the immigration agencies get handed photocopies of the passports handed over by next month's cocklepickers ?
And how many estate agents will have the same technology as fitted to terminal five ? Actually it's just as well they don't. You wouldn't want your solicitor conveyancing a house in Perth Australia while your Laugh A Minute HIP Kit describes a house in Perth, Scotland.
But I wonder just how 'secure' those documents really are and how much technology I'd need to overwrite them. Given the way APACS did Chip and Pin on the cheap, I bet little more than I could fit in the boot of a reliant robin at a car boot sale.
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