Mythbusters host: credit-card companies DIDN'T kill segment on RFID vulnerabiliies

Mythbusters' Adam Savage now says that credit-card companies and Texas Instruments didn't lean on him to kill a story about vulnerabilities in RFID cards:

"There's been a lot of talk about this RFID thing, and I have to admit that I got some of my facts wrong, as I wasn't on that story, and as I said on the video, I wasn't actually in on the call," Savage said in the statement. "Texas Instruments' account of their call with Grant and our producer is factually correct. If I went into the detail of exactly why this story didn't get filmed, it's so bizarre and convoluted that no one would believe me, but suffice to say...the decision not to continue on with the RFID story was made by our production company, Beyond Productions, and had nothing to do with Discovery, or their ad sales department."

'MythBusters' co-host backpedals on RFID kerfuffle

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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rollerskater

i saw adam & jaime a couple months ago- they said their producers continue to shooting down their desire to make an “audiophile” myth episode about premium cables, records vs CDs, etc because the producers think it would be too boring.

so there is a hand in there already guiding them as to what they can air even on the stupid stuff. so yeah- more exploding cement mixers.
Daemon

Or so the gun-wielding corporate hitman standing right behind Savage wants us to believe.
rollerskater

continue shooting down, i mean.
youdiejoe

Credit Card companies rule with an iron fist when they don’t like content. Case in point:

A client of mine runs a BDSM web portal and has membership areas for content, one of the credit card companies didn’t like the specific content of one of the actors performance, and contacted my client and said if that happened again they would pull their CC processing from the site. Mind you, this is legal consensual sexual activity and the CC company wielded their 300 pound gorilla because they didn’t like something. As you can imagine my client complied, as nearly 99% of the revenue streams through CC billing.

Just wanted to add some background color to the discussion.
Agit

He should submit it to the public domain then, at least more scrutiny would be placed on RFID & RFID security.
minTphresh

sounds like someone had their funding threatened!
Enochrewt

Ok Savage, I’ll believe you, as long as you set me up with Kari Byron. What? She’s married? Don’t make me go Positive K on yo’ ass.
Takuan

as I mentioned earlier, this cuts both ways. A web organized consumer’s revolt where CC payments were withheld and delayed in rotation to discipline the CC companies might temper some of their overweening greed and other criminal practices. People have talked about doing this for gasoline for the same reason, CCs would be easier.
kamiikoneko

So, consider this myth busted! (If Savage isn’t full of crap)
Rob

Don’t. Believe. You.

[Savage, that is.]

“it’s so bizarre and convoluted that no one would believe me”

He has *seen* the internet, yes?
gpatrick900

I think the real reason is a copyright issue. If I am not mistaking PBS FrontLine did a story very similar to the RFID segment. My local news even reported the vulnerability of some RFID chips. I think most people are away of it. Last year I ordered the RFID emvelope. It suppose to block RFID signals why it is in your billfold/wallet. Have not tried it, do not have a card yet that has that feature.
Secret_Life_of_Plants

I imagine Adam Savage issuing this retraction while strapped to a steel table. Around him stand a team of corporate executives from Amex, Visa, Mastercard etc., one of whom adjusts a slow drip of Dimethylmercury. The exit tube for the neurotoxin looks like the one on that contraption at the end of “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” starring Vincent Price. The end of the tube hovers directly over Savage’s left eye; Dimethylmercury threatening to drop…
webmonkees

The whole video series was quite interesting, but this particular part, I could have placed bets on Savage having to later retract / clarify it.

If it was Grant, and not Tory as he referred to twice.. he’s quite ingenious in regards to electronics.

I’d say they didn’t want any mainstream media exposure of _any_ plausible method.

Especially after their prior segment when they busted every fingerprint verification device on the market.

I think, but I could be wrong, that there’s some extra security/encryption protocols they’re not using (that cost a bit more to implement) it would take a national rollout of techies to retrofit the installed devices. No zero-day exploits for MB fans..
PeterNBiddle

Damn. Mythbusters just jumped the shark.
SpocksBrain

Sorry, but the first thing he said is a better explanation for why it didn’t get aired; this statement doesn’t explain it at all.

How about they just go ahead and make & air the show, or at least publicly release the science & story behind it?
TEKNA2007

if you watch the video where he made his original claim, it doesn’t look like he’s lying at all. he’s not having to do any on-the-fly invention … he’s just telling it like it was, letting it roll out the way he remembered it. does it seem like he’s showing any hesitation or uncertainty? no. imho.
Angstrom

when I saw the original HOPE video I thought – “so if the RFID companies threatened action over revealing information on the show, why on earth does Adam Savage think that this information is OK to talk about now?”

He did what I tend to do, when in gregarious mood and in full flow he spoke without thinking of the consequences.

Well, I guess for the sake of the show we all love that we should pretend that this retraction was not driven by a furious Discovery Channel.
I am certainly convinced.
*cough*
Tweeker

If it wasnt yanked by the powers that be, they wont have any trouble showing it then, right?
Elvis Pelt

The fix is in. Er, the fix was in a long time ago.

Anyway, shark-jumping aside, hasn’t it been over for a while? I mean, why go to the effort of hollowing out and heating a dead pig’s tongue to see if it will stick to a frozen flag pole when we all know you’re going to have one of the three amigos do it with a live, only semi-mutilated human tongue?
TEKNA2007

Angstrom:

so if the RFID companies threatened action over revealing information on the show, why on earth does Adam Savage think that this information is OK to talk about now?

Exactly. If they can kill the one, they can kill the other.
The Unusual Suspect

Adam Savage …busted.
vamidus

So.. can we see the episode then?

:)
Bender

The things you gotta do and say to keep the money rolling in…
Baldhead

Someone check his basement for a pod!
cory

The numerous, gaping RFID vulnerabilities are not exactly a well-kept secret anyway. I note, however, the links in that list that refer to attempts by CC companies to silence the problem. Barbra Streisand syndrome anyone?

They don’t want the problem aired on TV, but I’d lay money that this will soon get bigger and nastier for them, Adam Savage or no.

Pity this BS retraction statement by Adam will taint the show’s credibility.
Zinjanthropus

Beyond Productions is an Australian company. Blame Australia!
jonathan_v

or maybe he was just wrong to begin with…
Joe

Mr. Savage isn’t the only guy who can do a Mythbusters-style segment. If, for whatever reason (corporate pressure or self-censorship by his own production company) he doesn’t want to touch RFID, that leaves a vacuum others can fill.

I’m sure we have people in the BoingBoing/Make community with the needed skills; maybe a good RfidBusters (pronounced riffed-busters) segment could be a highlight of the next Maker Faire.
nil8r

80% of the media are controlled by about 10 or 20 companies max. It doesn’t matter where the orders came from, it was squashed.
consideredopinion

“#5 posted by PeterNBiddle , September 5, 2008 1:33 AM
Damn. Mythbusters just jumped the shark.”

Hmm…I think they jumped the shark week some time ago.
dculberson

Takuan, a payment withholding scheme would hurt the withholders more; seven years of bad credit is pretty tough on an individual.

An alternative is, pay off a particular type of CC and don’t use it for a month. Rotate. Zero balance, zero transactions = no income.

Positive nonzero balance and no payments = late fees, interest, and if they’re really stung, permanent penalty interest rates up to 35% and black marks on your credit report. They don’t usually do the last two for just one payment cycle, but they can, and if the pain was enough they just might in order to teach a lesson and recover some income via the interest rate hike.
Takuan

that of course is a more reasonable approach and I instinctively want no truck with it. But you’re right of course: a web based CC user union that monitors CC company behavior and organizes the membership to dump their balances punitively when required – yeah. The beauty of it is that the process is transparent and the slimy practices that provoke retaliation will be publicized. Or we could just pick one bastard company to ruin with mass default. They lose their bad credit record weapon if EVERYONE does it. The other CC companies you held cards with wouldn’t give a damn if most of their clients did the same thing. Stinking usurers.