I’ve been a big fan of the Mythbusters series on the Discovery Channel because of all the neat experiments they perform to confirm or debunk stories and myths. Recently, at a HOPE hackercon event, Fred Savage (co-host of Mythbusters), had mentioned about how the major credit card companies had basically “bullied” the Discovery Channel and Mythbusters from airing a show which detailed the vulnerabilities of RFID (Radio Frequency ID).

For those who don’t know, RFID have been widely used by manufacturers to remotely track parcels and inventory, however, credit card companies have recently added the technology to credit cards in order to allow customers to simply “wave” their cards to pay. I can only speculate that credit card companies are aware of vulnerabilties of the technology and don’t want it known to the general public (in order to secure their investment). Well, I guess it’ll be up to others to determine the shortcomings of RFID and shed some more light to the subject.

-Stephen