Spy chips under discussion
p2pnet.net News:- As a p2pnet reader recently posted, “soon when kids get vacinated theyll also be getting a spy-chip shot – into their arm”.
Extreme? Maybe not,depending on where you happen to live.
Be that as it may, there’s no question RFID (radio frequency identification) chips are useful for all kinds of purposes – so much so that IBM, for one, plans to invest $250m over the next five years in sensor products and services, including RFID tags, and HP says it’s partnering with BearingPoint on RFID services targeted at the retail industry.
And Procter & Gamble cio Steve David is quoted as saying the company uses spy chips to tell genuine products from counterfeit one, and to identify and recall outdated products – “customer attitudes about products can decline if their toothpaste doesn’t taste fresh or their laundry soap has lost its scent,” says Computer World, reporting on .the EPCglobal US Conference 2004.
“Although the future of RFID and the companies lining up to supply it looks bright, a number of unresolved issues are keeping discussions more sober than giddy at the nascent industry’s annual convention,” said a ZDNet story.
However, although privacy concerns may not have been front and centre, you can bet they were a major discussion point behind closed doors.
“Privacy activists worry that consumers could leave stores broadcasting all kinds of information about their belongings for anyone with the right tools to see,” ZDNet said, going on: “Another concern is that people’s belongings would leave an electronic trail of their whereabouts and activities for government officials, lawyers or marketers to collect.
“Several people have lost divorce cases after lawyers subpeonaed data from RFID systems used in EasyPass express toll systems and used it as evidence against them, noted panel moderator David Kirkpatrick, senior editor of Fortune magazine.
“Yet several speakers at the conference, including an official from Department of Defense and a Michelin executive, dismissed the issue. ‘Taxpayers should be happy I’m managing supplies with RFID,’ Defense Department official Alan Estevez said. ‘I don’t want to discount people’s concerns, but I think they’re overblown’.”
==================
See:-
vacinated – Wannado spy chips, p2pnet, September 16, 2004
$250m – Conference promises RFID update, Computer Weekly, September 29, 2004
taste fresh – Speakers debate RFID benefits, challenges, Computer World, September 29, 2004
sober than giddy – RFID gets a reality check, ZDNet, September 29, 2004
