What is Reddit's opinion of NFC Reader?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.anyro.nfc_reader&hl=en

Should be free. Although, I thought passports were supposed to make you enter the pin # from the data page in order to view the data now a days.

Which app? I just checked my bank card using an app called NFC Reader which successfully read my card, but the NFC data was not the same number as the one embossed on the card.

Install this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.anyro.nfc_reader

and scan your laundry card to get the specs. If you get in the results "Mifare Classic type: Classic" and "Mifare size: 1024 bytes" you are good.

If not, it might still possible depending on what card it is since they tend to use cheap cards (because who cares about having secure laundry cards really), but that would require some researches on how.

I know there isn't on iOS. Let me look and see if there's an NFC reader for Android.

Edit: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.anyro.nfc_reader&hl=en

Looks like this may work for Android, not sure though.

I am genuinely interested to know how you discovered this information.

Using the NFC Reader app I have found there does appear to be a tag associated with the Surge. It's just not triggering a response on my phone.

Thank you for your points. I really appreciate having the conversation on this so I can figure out what questions need to be asked next.

>1.) are for the staffing which it takes to make and distribute them

Absolutely, that should be factored in. Obviously the €35 is mostly going to the manufacturer for making them, plus postage. When I say it costs $15 to make a good card, I mean only the manufacturing cost, not costs to the government office for checking citizen registration details and the like.

But DFA costs here are quite low since they are just building off of an existing passport record. So I'm expecting a high amount going to the manufacturer. If it were €35 for a card with new registration we'd be looking at a different matter.

>2.) n putting in a (s) you seem to be saying that there are multiple manufacturers?

Apologies, I was being overly specific in the wrong way. It's not that there are multiple manufacturers which can make one card on their own, it's there appears to be a coalition required to make one card/one passport. (Though there is definitely a primary manufacturer. So like 80% of the card is that one company, and the other companies make some little element.) Ultimately, I am really only talking about the one manufacturer.

>You make claims about the loss rate of passport but then say that you've no figures to back that statement up with.

Yeah, I have spent some time searching. Best I have now is interpreting US state data. If you take Ohio's data 7.8 million licenses mostly on a 4 year cycle should render 1.9 million cards issued yearly but they're doing 2.5 million. That is about a 7-8% extra rate which should consist of replacement cards.

>But surely a counterfeit passport maker could just get a legally obtained traditional passport/card and reverse engineer it?

If the counterfeiter is in Ireland. That would be rare. Identity document counterfeiting is largely done in China and Eastern Europe.

They have to get their hands on a genuine document. Perhaps there are a few who are well connected enough to get them from someone in Ireland. Most I suspect make their way through the black market, either people losing the document, or selling them.

A few might also have access to the government samples. (My understanding is when the government introduces a new passport they print a whole bunch of samples to send to other countries so their immigration departments know what the document is like. I think it's reasonable to believe that a few countries "lose" the samples.)

Ireland is a bit unique to have its own little printer. I actually think that's a good thing, because most countries end up relying on a big company, such as Morpho, Thales or Gemalto. When you have a company that prints passports for a bunch of countries, you get the cross-document counterfeiting problem (counterfeiting one country's passport is largely the same process as another country's passport.)

>It maybe likely that it is unencrypted but you don't know that for a fact, it seems.

This is indeed my guess. This is because the primary encryption method for passport RFID (basic access control) requires the details from the ID page, which isn't accessible when the document is closed (the terminology "basic access control" is quite literal here.) Perhaps they did put in BAC anyway though obviously that is not as good on a document which is always open.

I decided to add that section in spite of not being sure because I feel people should know it's a possibility as early as possible. I hope to confirm more with time.

I've not personally put an RFID on a laptop (though they appear to be cheap), but many android phones have them and the app for reading is free.

And if you do have such a phone on the list, I'm curious to know what happens when you put it to a current or previous gen Irish passport. I haven't had the chance to try one.

If you have a NFC capable Smartphone you can read the ID of the card.

For Android I would recommend NFC Reader