Secure card maker HID Corp. is objecting to a demonstration of a hacking tool at this week's Black Hat Federal security conference in Washington, D.C. that could make it easy to clone a wide range of so-called "proximity" door access cards.
HID has sent a letter to IOActive, a security consulting firm, accusing Chris Paget, IOActive's director of research and development, of possible patent infringement over a planned presentation, "RFID for beginners," on Wednesday, a move that could lead to legal action should the talk go forward, according to Jeff Moss, founder and director of Black Hat.
Intellectual Property laws are again being abused to silence security research. Patents do not cover presentations of technical information. They are a matter of public record. You can look them up online. Patents cover products. This claim is totally frivolous and the company fronting it is, I presume, betting yet again that the victim doesn't have the economic resources to defend himself. The worst part is that they have the audacity to accuse the researcher of being irresponsible. These issues are well understood. What is irresponsible is the willful malpractice of law in the pursuit of a loophole around the first amendment.
