Regardless of whether it's being used nefariously or not(it exists, so odds are it is), the reason things such as WOL exist are purely economical.  If you boot up a thousand machines each morning when people you're sure are too stupid to turn their own on show up for work, you don't want to do it manually a machine at a time.

One could argue that people can turn their own damned machines on and it's a superfluous exercise in stupidity by management, but it still has efficiency savings, and efficiency is what gets the corporate world wet.  Intel designs architecture first and foremost, for corporations.  The typical consumer purchaser buys a Dell or something, has no idea of it's actual capabilities, what it ships with, etc.  A fortune 500 company has a team of engineers telling them whether the hundred thousand units they're going to order are actually going to be worth it.

They may not actually be accurate in their assessments all of the time, if ever, but they still do things based on the perception that this or that feature will save them money in the form of efficiency gains. 

No reason to believe the firmware in smartphones is any more 'secure' either.  Or your WiFi router, for that matter.

I learned something while at a solicitor's office yesterday!  I don't know about other Australian states/territories, but Queensland drivers licences are encoded with a chip that allows authorities to know where a particular Queensland license holder is at any time, and that's not just within the state but Australia wide..... if the person has the license on their person, that is. 

State law, though, does require license holders to carry it upon the at all times, particularly when driving, so should a driver or wanted person with a drivers license be picked up without it in their immediate possession it is an offence which carries large fines and even imprisonment, depending on the circumstances... eg, deliberate evasion, etc.

Hmmm, it seems that Australia, well more Queensland in this case, has been infected by the 'big brother is watching' bug [pun intended] more than I first thought.  Now it might not alarm those with 'nothing to hide, but I find it somewhat disturbing that more and more aspects of our lives are coming under greater surveillance and/or scrutiny by the powers that be.  I mean, where does it stop... with CCTV in our homes watching out every move... being 'chipped' like pets so government and its agents know all about our heritage, where we come from, what we're doing and where we're going?

What is reading that chip? I sincerely doubt it has GPS and transmission capability.

I have no idea what reads it or how, I was just told by a lawyer in converstation that a client of his was located 2 states away via his drivers license, and that the gov't issued photo ID I'm seeking will likely have the same chip implemented, according to legislation just passed in the parliament.  I really don't like the idea, but I currently have no acceptable photo ID and I really need it since the new 'security' measures of late.... not that it's really about beefing up security.  That's the excuse but it's more about beefing up government coffers at 60 bucks a hit.

Just get out of the 'deep north'....what sun you get there in between storms and floods [that prevents you from having daylight saving cos it fades the blinds and confuses the cows] just pickles your [collective] brain.

In Vic you are 'required' to carry your licence when driving...but if you don't have it you can just show it at your local cop shop within 7 days.

Of course, I can cite the number from memory and they can always look it up with the onboard comp.... but it's no hassle to carry...been doing so for 42 years...

Having a photo-ID at hand comes in handy often, anyway.

I've never heard of any GPS-type chip being put on any licence in Oz.  That's pure tinfoil hat territory...

When it comes to tracking chips, it's not GPS, it's an RFID.  GPS tracking is a battery burner, it can't be done passively like you need for a credit card size application.

Oz isn't using any yet though, they have a biometrics chip in Queensland, which would fit the lawyer's commentary.  You go into a gas station or something, scan your license to buy some booze, and they've got your position.  Any place you'd end up verifying your ID at gives them a data point when they go looking to see where you've been.  It is not, however, transmitting.  If you're using credit/debit to make a purchase, you're not even giving any new tracking data to be had.

I'm not so sure it is... tinfoil hat territory, that is.  A Lawyer with a recent experience was the source.  He also indicated that police equpped with scanners can tell if a chipped license is valid and if there are any breaches/warrants attached to it before the driver is pulled over/stops the car.... it apparently has a range of 200 metres.

Like I said, I'm not sure, but given recent events and advancements in tech... how fechen nosey gov't and its agents are, nothing would surprise me anymore.

There was a front page article in the New York Times yesterday (5/30/15) about new laws in China focused on restoring 'rule of law' - read homeland security - that requires mandatory backdoors just like these on all foreign software introduced into their market.

I disapprove of the FBI inserting backdoors, simply on civil liberty grounds. Yet the one reason for surveillance/engineered vulnerabilities that rarely comes up in media, and actually seems like it MIGHT be a good one, is that we are in a Cyber War with China. And it seems absolutely in China's interest to destabilize our economy through cyber harassment.

So the FBI thinks that these backdoors allow them to catch Chinese hackers during industrial espionage/sabotage. I might actually support that goal. But as mentioned above, introducing security vulnerabilities will makes ALL systems LESS secure in the long run. The Chinese just need to get their hands on the backdoor keys!

Are the FBI turning to backdoors because they are completely out of ideas?

U.N. report recommends against encryption backdoors

Here in Uncle Sam land photo ID and drivers license is the same. No drivers license you need a photo ID issued by the state you live in.  

Probably should clarify....Australia's Drivers Licences are photo-IDs.... that's why having one with you is always handy.

Can be problematic when your eyesight prevents you from getting a licence.....and it's thus harder to demonstrate who you are....just ask my missus...

Same issue different cause for me.  Being that my legs are pretty much useless when I'm sitting in the drivers seat, and the Dep't of Transport blocked all my attempts for vehicle modifications, I am unable to get a drivers license here in Queensland.  Put bluntly, they're a bunch of bureaucratic pricks... cos the preferred expletive is not acceptable here.

It just seems that whatever I go in there for, they have a 'reason' to deny it to me... like the 18-Plus photo ID I've been trying to get for years now.  And when I go to my local MP for assistance, his minder at the front desk blocks my path and fobs me off with: "The Law is the law"

I have managed to get a form of photo ID by getting a passport photo attached to a statutory declaration and signed by a lawyer who identified mefrom the very documents the Transport Dep't rejected.... namely my expired passport, which clearly proves who I am, and several other gov't issued documents pertaining to me.  The lawyer pretty much said that the Transport Dep't is a bunch of pricks who are being unnecessarily difficult when I have more than ample proof of who I am.

Anyway, the ID I have is acceptable for the purposes I most need it, and the lawyer believes it should be more than enough to get the 18-Plus card.... and if they reject it this time I am to get them to call him... and he is the sort of bloke to rip 'em a new arsehole if they insist on being contrary.

Motor Reg/Transport Dept/Vicroads etc are just mindless followers of 'rules'....'ve ver only followink orderz'...

I had a run-in with Vicroads regarding vehicular access to a unit development I was doing...on a state-legislated road [not council managed].  They said I could not have a crossing giving access to the site.

Apart from the fact it already had a crossing I asked them 'what is the property title address of the land?'...to which they conceded Ballarat Road was its legal address... so I explained they cannot deny access or amenity to the property as that is governed by the Land/property title and they'd need an act of Govt to alter it.

They gave in....and I got my crossing...

Jafo

reply 29

Motor Reg/Transport Dept/Vicroads etc are just mindless followers of 'rules'....'ve ver only followink orderz'...

I had a run-in with Vicroads regarding vehicular access to a unit development I was doing...on a state-legislated road [not council managed].  They said I could not have a crossing giving access to the site.

Apart from the fact it already had a crossing I asked them 'what is the property title address of the land?'...to which they conceded Ballarat Road was its legal address... so I explained they cannot deny access or amenity to the property as that is governed by the Land/property title and they'd need an act of Govt to alter it.

They gave in....and I got my crossing...

Your pricks are obviously not as mindlessly stubborn as our pricks... and some bureaucrat with half a brain [I'm being overly generous here] advised them to approve it.