Pimp My Passport -workshop

May 8, 2009

Type: event
Location: FI
Starts: May 16 2009 at 12:00AM
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Pimp My Passport workshop
- Craft a protective "Faraday cage" passport cover to secure your privacy

Time: Yläkaupungin Yö arts festival, May 16th 2009, from 4 p.m. to 00.00 a.m. (drop-in workshop, come any time you want)
Place: Jyväskylä University Main Building lobby

Live Herring workgroup invited media artists Mari Keski-Korsu and Mika Meskanen to carry out Pimp My Passport workshop in Jyväskylä on May 16th , 2009 as part of the program of Yläkaupungin Yö arts festival. Workshop will take a place in Jyväskylä University Main Building lobby from 4 p.m. to 00.00 a.m.

Pimp My Passport workshop examines DIY and hacking prospects as well as control and privacy issues of the RFID chipped passports currently being rolled out throughout the European Union. It also plays around with the notion of nationality and its symbols - seeking new ways to signal identity by "pimping" personal travel documents. In workshop, we are crafting protective "Faraday cage" passport covers to protect our privacy. Passports are a good example of privacy issues related to RFID: chips can be read from distances without a passport carrier’s knowing enabling identity theft. The chips can be also copied or modified. For example a scanner read Elvis Presley’s RFID passport chip without any problems in Amsterdam airport.

Although dealing with heavy subject matter like electronic privacy, big brother and nationality, Pimp My Passport is a playful, hands-on project that anyone can take part of. If you wish, please take your passport with you for testing your passport cover.

Realization of Pimp My Passport workshop in Jyväskylä has been supported by AVEK (The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture).

http://www.liveherring.org
http://www.ylakaupunginyo.fi/