Here is some background.
================================== COMPUTER IDENTIFICATION (RFID) TAGS IN PRODUCTS A number of new consumer products from companies such as Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and Prada will come with embedded RFID (radio frequency identification) "tags" (actually, tiny computer chips), that will contain scannable information such as the product's serial number. The goal is to dramatically improve inventory processes, and other big companies poised to join the RFID movement are Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Home Depot and Target. Within a year or two RFID tags will be included in all kinds of products, including Michelin and Goodyear tires (to tell where a tire was made). Privacy groups are expressing fears that thieves will buy or make chip scanners that can crack security controls to scan shoppers' bags and know what they bought. (USA Today 28 Jan 2003) http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-01-27-rfid_x.htm E-tags in clothes raise PRIVACY/SURVEILLANCE concerns THE prospect of embedding tiny chips into personal items and merchandise has watchdog groups raising concerns over privacy and security. Embedded processor technologies, such as RFID, or radio frequency identification, will allow companies that use the system to keep consumer belongings under surveillance in stores, in homes and on the street. A Gartner analyst has predicted a hidden interface between computers and physical objects would become a widespread phenomenon starting in 2007 and privacy issues would be inevitable, although not necessarily dramatic. Gartner's Paolo Magrassi said RFID tags, or e-tags, were already used in a number of applications, from hazardous waste management to livestock tracking and feeding, as well as in electronic toll collection, inventory management and logistics. He said applications, such as tags in airline tickets and boarding passes and in clothes, shoes, jewellery and banknotes, would be practical but would lead to serious privacy concerns. ( Source: http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5861056%5E15321%5E%5Enbv%5E1 5306,00.html -----Original Message----- From: Stephen Straker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 8:58 AM To: futurework Subject: Re: [Futurework] Wal-Mart - Little Brother > WAL-MART EMBEDDING > RADIO FREQUENCY ID SENSORS > INTO CERTAIN RETAIL PRODUCTS ... > These chips, researched at M.I.T.'s Auto-ID Center are > about the size of a grain of sand. Chipsters say the > technology will only be used to help retailers keep track > of inventory --- like bar codes. But privacy-loving > consumers question the very concept of a device that sends > out radio waves to "readers" that not only identify the > article, but where and with whom it's going. !!??? This has to be a paranoid hoax of some kind ... Or have I fallen so far behind that I don't realize that it's obsolete to ask how in the world a thing the size of a grain of sand could find the energy to broadcast rf waves to anybody even if across the room? Inquiring old minds want to know. Stephen Straker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vancouver, B.C. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
