RFID WATCH
RFID - Radio Frequency Identification and Privacy
Links 3 - Low Radio Frequency Chips - Coming to your store(s)...by the millions
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CNet - Nov 10/04 - Medical-supply company Henry Schein has agreed to distribute implantable radio frequency identification chips to doctors' offices across the country--the first major sales push for the technology since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for medical use last month.
The rice grain-size devices, called VeriChips, enable doctors and other medical staff to instantly retrieve patients' medical records by scanning chips injected into the fatty tissue in their arms--much like a clerk scanning a can of peas at the grocery store. The distribution deal, announced Wednesday, is a big one for VeriChip maker Applied Digital. Henry Schein, based in Melville, N.Y., sells medical supplies to nearly 115,000 private medical practices in the United States and booked $3.4 billion in sales last year.
Hit the road with home TV
Orb
software lets you watch all favorite channels
New U.S. passports will soon be read remotely at borders around the world, thanks to embedded chips that will broadcast on command an individual's name, address and digital photo to a computerized reader.
The State Department hopes the addition of the chips, which employ radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, will make passports more secure and harder to forge, according to spokeswoman Kelly Shannon
Privacy in a Networked Society
44,000 prison inmates to be RFID-chipped
August 02 2004
One US state reckons it's cracked how to keep track of all of its 44,000 prison inmates - RFID-chip them.
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRH) has approved a $415,000 contract to trial the tracking technology with Alanco Technologies.
The pilot project will run at the Ross Correctional Facility in Chillicothe, Ohio. If all goes well, the technology could be rolled out to all of the state's inmates in 33 separate facilities. Inmates will wear "wristwatch-sized" transmitters that can detect if prisoners have been trying to remove them and send an alert to prison computers.
RFID Coke Cans Concern U.S. Military Bases
Jul 1/04 - Specially rigged Coke cans, part of a summer promotion, contain
cell phones and global positioning chips. That has officials at some
installations worried the cans could be used to eavesdrop, and they are
instituting protective measures.
Coca-Cola Co. says such concerns are nothing but fizz.
Mart Martin, a Coca-cola spokesman, said no one would mistake one of the
winning cans from the company's "Unexpected Summer" promotion for a
regular Coke.
"The can is dramatically different looking," he said. The cans
have a recessed panel on the outside and a big red button. "It's very clear
that there's a cell phone device."
Winners activate it by pushing the button, which can only call Coke's
prize center, he said. Data from the GPS device can only be received by Coke's
prize center. Prizes include cash, a home entertainment center and an SUV.
"It cannot be an eavesdropping device," he said.
Nonetheless, military bases, including the U.S. Army Armor Center at Fort
Knox, Ky., are asking soldiers to examine their Coke cans before bringing them
in to classified meetings.
"We're asking people to open the cans and not bring it in if there's
a GPS in it," said Master Sgt. Jerry Meredith, a Fort Knox spokesman.
"It's not like we're examining cans at the store. It's a pretty commonsense
thing."
Myth: Security doesn't Matter: Security scare for business laptops
Full-text of
EU-US agreement on the transfer of personal data
Full story at: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/feb/01eu-us-pnr-agreement.htm
ACLU letter to
EU Commissioner Bolkestein - Northwest Airlines Privacy Violations
Full Story at: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/jan/18aclu-pnr-eu.htm
Google's
email 'violates privacy laws'
Gmail should not be able to store email in such a way that users cannot delete it, according to a privacy group, which has complained to the British Information Commissioner
A new Google email service that stores messages where users cannot delete them may violate Europe's privacy laws, a citizens' group has said after lodging a complaint with UK authorities.
Makers of Smart Phones, WebTVs, and other consumer information appliances using Windows CE want a new kind of manufacturing flexibility: The ability to produce a new digital device every time a shift in the market mood appears.
To do so, they are quietly collaborating with specialty chip design houses to produce new "processor cores" -- embedded chips that can be built quickly, to reduce design time and speed delivery of the myriad devices to market.
Full Story at: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,12567,00.html?tw=wn_story_related
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Thursday, August 21, 2003
FEDS TRACK THE HOMELESS -- BUT NOT AT PRIVATELY FUNDED
MINISTRIES
By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- Agencies
helping the homeless but receiving government funds to do so will soon be forced
to keep detailed information on their clientele.
These agencies are crying foul, telling WIRED
Magazine that the data required will put homeless people’s privacy
at risk and could be misused by local officials to harass the homeless for,
example, political reasons.
Data to be tracked will include Social Security numbers, mental health histories
and HIV status.
You might be surprised, but as a conservative Christian I’m not at all upset.
Typically, agencies which receive these funds are liberal and non faith-based,
with a philosophy that the homeless person is never regarded as being
responsible for the consequences of his or her actions. The homeless are
regarded as victims; the fact they are homeless is always someone else’s fault
and the universal panacea is always to pump more government money into the
problem. That needs to stop.
Once this new legislation is enacted, individuals choosing to avail themselves
of the secularistic services offered by those agencies will be forced to measure
up to at least some level of scrutiny by exposing information about themselves.
After all, this is PUBLIC money and the government not only has a right, but a
responsibility, to see where these funds are being used appropriately.
However, there is still a choice. Those people who don’t want to provide that
information the government is now demanding can obtain services offered at a
privately funded faith-based ministry. Granted there is much more personal
accountability and the expectations are higher, but those not wanting that
option have an alternative: they can give all their personal information to the
federal government.
In view of the inordinately high amount of money the government squanders on
non- working programs for the homeless, I don’t see what else could be done
other than to launch a tracking program like the one being proposed. HUD says it
will help establish an accurate count of the country’s homeless, reduce fraud
and streamline services.
Some measure of accountability had to start somewhere and with secular,
government- funded agencies placing such low expectations on their client base a
move like this was necessary. However, in as much as it was a necessary solution
it is still a second best step.
The best choice for a homeless person is to stay at a faith- based ministry,
enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ and get back on his or her feet
again without revealing personal data to the government.
Faith-based ministries are not like social service agencies that deal only with
physical hunger and need. They do so much more.
In case you’re not quite sure what the term “faith-based” means, it is an
umbrella term for a charitable group whose goal is to save souls as well as
bodies. As University of Texas Professor Marvin Olasky pointed out in his book
“The Tragedy of American Compassion,” as opposed to the typical governmental
“anything goes,” approach, faith- based ministries use a tough love that
demands accountability, adherence to moral standards and changes in behavior.
It is this core set of beliefs that undergirds the success of every faith- based
ministry in America. The needy men, women and families who crowd into rescue
missions nationwide know that drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, lying and other life
controlling behaviors have helped them become homeless.
Now if we could educate the government into understanding that and show
left-leaning liberals that they’re on the wrong side of the fence, we would
have more success helping the needy than we are currently experiencing. In the
meantime, we’re stuck with HUD’s “Homeless Management Information
Systems” (www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/hmis/index.cfm).
Granted it’s not the best choice, but it beats doing nothing.
[note: XOFC believes that attempts to track the homeless is another step which is unproductive and unnecessarily bureaucratic ]
Please download the Government Report on what they Plan to do (PDF)
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Michelin Embeds
RFID Tags in Tires
The tire maker has begun testing a UHF transponder that it adapted for use inside rubber sidewalls.
Jan 17, 2003 - Michelin this week revealed that it has begun fleet testing of an RFID transponder embedded in its tires to enable them to be tracked electronically.
... Michelin will begin offering automakers the option of purchasing tires with embedded transponders.
Michelin's RFID tag
The US Congress passed the TREAD (Transportation, Recall, Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) Act in the wake of the Firestone/Ford Explorer debacle. The act mandates that car makers closely track tires from the 2004 model year on, so they can be recalled if there's a problem.
Full Story at http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/269/1/1/
Decades in jail for minor theft
in Los Angeles
Monday March 8, 2004
The Guardian
Brian A Smith didn't know the two women who were shoplifting. They were caught on security cameras stealing sheets at the Los Cerritos mall in Los Angeles and received a two-year sentence.
But Smith was seen standing near the shoplifters as they committed their crime. Despite having no stolen goods, he was convicted of aiding and abetting them.
Under California's three strikes law, which marked its 10th anniversary on Sunday, the 30 year old received a 25-year-to-life sentence.
Full
Story Here
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Next Generation Bar Code(s)
http://www.frontlinemagazine.com/rfidonline/w-p/1036.htm
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Technology Meets New Tire Tracking Application Standard; Result Is Industry's First RFID Item-Level Application Standard.
Placed on the inside of the vehicle's tires by the tire manufacturers, the UHF-based, 128 byte, read/write RFID tag provides the ability to associate that tire with a specific vehicle.
Full Story at: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0EIN/2001_August_28/77618035/p1/article.jhtml
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RFID Tags Gain Traction in Tire Tracking
August 28, 2001—When tomorrow's rubber meets the road, it will likely be carrying a small, electronic tracking device that will aid the verification of tire warranty, authenticity, and performance.
Full Story: http://209.35.212.232/news/2001/09_01/0905/rfid/news_main.htm
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Privacy Issues ?
http://www.privacyinternational.org/
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Myths & Facts about RFID
http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/RFIDposition.htm#Attach1
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Public Schools & RFID
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60898,00.html
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From the Auto-ID Center/Get While you Can !!!
Document 1
http://www.autoidcenter.org/media/fmi_2002.pdf
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Document 2
Tesco tests spy chip
technology
Tags in packs of razor blades
used to track buyers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0%2c3604%2c1001211%2c00.html
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April 2004: China & Technology
China develops core router for next-generation Internet
China has made new breakthrough in the development of key technology on the next generation of Internet. On CERNET2, a just opened trunk test network of the next-generation Net, China's first core router based on Ipv6 protocol operated
successfully.
Full Story at http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200403/30/eng20040330_138947.shtml
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Document 3
| RFID Tags on Mach3 Razorblades Snap Your Photo |
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/20/134258&mode=thread&tid=126
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Document 4
Gillette Tracking Customers through Razors with help from Stores
[Please note that Gillette has "reportedly stated" that it will "discontinue" this practice
on its "Mach 3" shavers. Whether this is true or not, we have no idea. Gillette is STILL
part of the RFID consortium. Gillette still has thousands of other items that it can place
its RFID chips in. How will they justify the investment they have already made, and the cameras
and consumer-monitoring equipment already installed in stores ???
Large companies often have policies to reverse early anti-consumer decisions...when people are no longer looking...don't be deceived. We encourage you to boycott companies that treat your personal information as their commodities.}
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Document 5
Target Stores to get
"loyalty" card
"purchase
surveillance cards" in a few
weeks
http://www.kioskmarketplace.com/news_story.htm?i=15963
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Document 6
LIFE
WITH BIG BROTHER
Technology
automatically IDs consumers
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33646
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April 2004
MANALAPAN, Fla. (AP) — One of the nation's wealthiest towns will soon have cameras and computers running background checks on every car and driver that passes through.
Police Chief Clay Walker said cameras will take infrared photos recording a car's tag number, then software will automatically run the numbers through law enforcement databases. A 911 dispatcher is alerted if the car is stolen or is the subject of a "be on the lookout" warning.
Next to the tag number, police will have a picture of the driver, taken with another set of cameras — upgraded versions of the standard surveillance cameras already in place.
Full
Story - USA TODAY/AP - Here
Document 7
The
Corporate Attack on Electronic PrivacyAn Interview with Chris Hoofnagle
Chris Hoofnagle is legislative counsel with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). He concentrates on government and consumer profiling.
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Document 8
Congressional Report -
Privacy Protection for Customer Financial Information
Some have suggested that if you were to write your Congressman/Senator and express your views, as well as the stores/chains in question (about RFID Chips), that this might be a very good idea. !!!
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Reasons
given for upholding the ban against Christians in England
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Electronic Privacy Information Center - Practical Privacy Tools
Microsoft XP Spying on You
Microsoft has programmed Windows XP to contact other computers and transfer information from the user's computer to the other computers:
a) If you have only three DVDs that your children watch sometimes on your home machine that is always connected to the Internet (through a broadband connection), you may not care that Microsoft knows when they watch them. If you seldom use the Windows XP help facility, you may not care that Microsoft is able to know the level of expertise of the people who use your computer.
However, if you are using Windows XP in a large corporation or a government, the fact that another organization believes that it can gather data from you may be completely unacceptable.
This article is support for your own investigation.
The Microsoft article tells how to disable the hidden downloading. However, the disabling is very time-consuming. Also, Microsoft has a history of using defect fixes and security fixes to change the operating system settings. This means that all the settings would need to be checked after every defect fix or security vulnerability fix.
Source: http://www.hevanet.com/peace/microsoft.htm
Article in Spanish http://www.hevanet.com/peace/microsoft-es.htm
Zone Alarm - Firewall Protection - Free version at:
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp
Webroot Spysweeper (look for Try It - Spy Sweeper)
Popup Blocker (Panicware) (look for the Free Version)
Spybot Search & Destroy (better for older systems)