On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 3:21 PM, Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

On 26 Aug 2014 21:28:49 -0000 "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: [Cryptography] toll bills, was Encryption opinion

...

...

I've not been on any of those ?>roads, but I've gotten three e-mailed bills in the last two weeks that to the unskeptical eye look fully legitimate, which also indicates that the phishers know that my geolocation makes driving such roads plausible.

...

It's not geolocation, everyone is getting E-ZPass spam this month. I have an E-ZPass account, and can report that it looks nothing like the real mail they send, which just tells you to look at their web site for a statement or other message. This is aimed at the same kinds of suckers who fall for 419.

...

I also got an actual e-mail this month from an actual toll road telling me about an actual charge due to actually driving on it. It was the 407 in Toronto, not E-ZPass, and I knew they'd be billing me so I set up an account so they'd e-mail me instead of the default paper bill, but still ...

...

John

...

PS: So is there any crypto on toll transponders, or could I skim them from the side of the road and make clones?

Apparently some do, most don't. EZ Passes are made by Kapsch (Kapsch.net), which has data sheets available, and has made their protocols open source.

You can easily modify one to inform you of when its queried: http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/ezpass-hack-covert-scanning

" Bear <bear@sonic.net> Aug 28 (4 days ago) I've got one. It's an envelope lined with copper foil. I get the pass out when approaching a toll booth, and put it back (and put the 'chip clip' back on the envelope to ensure that the foil makes good electrical contact) as I pull away from the toll booth. A toggle switch would be nice, but we can be fairly confident that a Faraday cage is working as designed. Bear. "

...and it turns out they're queried all over the place, not just at tolls. There have been proposals for a 'kill switch' which would allow you to disable it except when approaching a toll, but I haven't seen that.

But its moot, anyway. Transponders are being replaced by license plate scanning. This is yet another case where we accepted something (permanently visible LPs) on the basis that no one could track every plate, everywhere, all the time. Technology moved on, and invalidated that promise of privacy-unless-they-really-really-need-to-violate-it.

So you need active defense of plate masks/obfuscation mechanichs... flip down blanking devices, character cards, mask films on a loop roll motor, OLED plates. DIY 007. Drive masked, reveal as needed. Worst case, you don't notice the cop car near you and get a paper ticket for no plate or a hacked random nonspec plate. $100+... better than daily loss of privacy to intersection/roadside cams, google robot cars, etc. Next battle... killing all the manufacturer supplied transponders in your car... Then your cell phone.