The IT security community is buzzing with interest over a legal spat that broke out on Feb. 27, one day ahead of the start of the Black Hat DC 2007 conference.

Officials with Seattle-based IOActive were forced to cancel a planned presentation at the government-themed security trade show in which an expert from the company was to have detailed a technique for hacking data transmitted by HID's popular proximity identification cards used by millions of people nationwide.'

Chris Paget, IOActive's director of research and development, had planned to show off an RFID "cloning" device that could be used to steal access codes from HID-brand proximity cards, store them, then use the stolen codes to fool an HID card reader.

According to show organizers, HID quashed the session by threatening to file a patent infringement suit against IOActive over the use of HID's source code in the demonstration.

Despite the Black Hat lecture's cancellation, U.S. lawmakers say the debate over use of similar RFID security technologies in the government space is far from over.