Erroneous material removed ---------- > From: The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> <<http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60898,00.html>> > > Three R's: Reading, Writing, RFID > > > By Julia Scheeres > 02:00 AM Oct. 24, 2003 PT > > Gary Stillman, the director of a small K-8 charter school in Buffalo, New > York, is an RFID believer. > > While privacy advocates fret that the embedded microchips will be used to > track people surreptitiously, Stillman said he believes that RFID tags > will make his inner city school safer and more efficient. > > Stillman has gone whole-hog for radio-frequency technology, which his > year-old Enterprise Charter School started using last month to record the > time of day students arrive in the morning. In the next months, he plans > to use RFID to track library loans, disciplinary records, cafeteria > purchases and visits to the nurse's office. Eventually he'd like to > expand the system to track students' punctuality (or lack thereof) for > every class and to verify the time they get on and off school buses. > > "That way, we could confirm that Johnny Jones got off at Oak and Hurtle > at 3:22," Stillman said. "All this relates to safety and keeping track of > kids.... Eventually it will become a monitoring tool for us." > > Radio-frequency identification tags -- which have been hailed as the > next-generation bar code -- consist of a microchip outfitted with a tiny > antenna that broadcasts an ID number to a reader unit. The reader > searches a database for the number and finds the related file, which > contains the tagged item's description, or in the case of Enterprise > Charter, the student's information. > > Unlike bar codes, which must be manually scanned, RFID-tagged items can > be read when they are in proximity to a reader unit, essentially scanning > themselves. The school uses passive RFID tags that are activated when > radio waves from the reader reach the chip's antenna. (Active RFID tags > incorporate a battery that constantly broadcasts the chip's ID number and > are much more expensive.) > > The technology has raised a ruckus in recent months, as companies such as > Wal-Mart move from bar codes to RFID to track merchandise and libraries > place the chips in books to streamline loans. Privacy advocates worry > that the technology will be used to track people without their knowledge. > > > But for Stillman, whose public school is located in a gritty Buffalo > neighborhood, RFID is about accounting for the whereabouts of his charges > and streamlining functions. > > "Before, everything was done manually -- each teacher would take > attendance and send it down to the office," he said. "Now it's automatic, > and it saves us a lot of time." > > The charter school's 422 students wear small plastic cards around their > necks that have their photograph, name and grade printed on them, and > include an embedded RFID chip. As the children enter the school, they > approach a kiosk where a reader activates the chip's signal and displays > their photograph. The students touch their picture, and the time of their > entry into the building is recorded in a database. A school staffer > oversees the check-in process. > > The school spent $25,000 on the ID system. The $3 ID tags students wear > around their necks at all times incorporate the same Texas Instruments > smart labels used in the wristbands worn by inmates at the Pima County > jail in Texas. Similar wristbands are used to track wounded U.S. soldiers > and POWs in Iraq and by the Magic Waters theme park in Illinois for > cashless purchases. > > But the Buffalo school is believed to be the first facility to use the > technology to identify and track children. > Stillman was tipped off to RFID by the vice principal's husband, who > works at a Buffalo Web design studio that is partnered with Intuitek, the > company that designed the school's system. > > Stillman originally wanted the RFID tags sewn directly into the students' > uniforms, but teachers feared that the kids might simply swap uniforms to > dupe the system, so he decided to have students wear the picture tags > around their necks instead. > > Privacy experts expressed dismay at the idea of using RFID tags on > children. > > "I think the Buffalo experiment is getting children ready for the brave > new world, where people are watched 24/7 in the name of security," said > Richard Smith, an Internet privacy and security consultant. "My main > concern is that once we start carrying around RFID-tagged items on our > person such as access cards, cell phones, loyalty cards, clothing, etc., > we can be tracked without our knowledge or permission by a network of > RFID readers attached to the Internet." > > Lee Tien, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- who has > vehemently opposed a San Francisco Public Library Commission plan to use > the chips to track its inventory -- was also critical of the program. > > "In general, all person-location-tracking technologies raise privacy > issues, from hiding beepers on people's cars or in people's clothing to > video surveillance," Tien said. "Insecure location-tracking technologies > raise the further question of who is tracking, as well as who has access > to any tracking records kept by the system." > > Intuitek President David M. Straitiff said his company built privacy > protections into the school's RFID system, including limiting the reading > range of the kiosks to less than 20 inches and making students touch the > kiosk screen instead of passively being scanned by it. He pooh-poohed the > notion that the system would be abused. > > "(It's) the same as swiping a mag-strip card for access control, or > presenting a photo ID badge to a security guard, both of which are > commonplace occurrences," Straitiff said. > > Additionally, Stillman said that the RFID-linked databases would require > separate passwords to access students' disciplinary, attendance, health, > library and cafeteria records. > > "It's as private as anything else can be when your information is stored > on a server," he said. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
