p2pnet - rss feed: Consumer Alert !!!
Does RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology represent another step along the way to Big Brother, Big Time, when THEY will know where YOU are every minute of every day because of tiny transmitters embedded in your zippers, watch - or even something you’ve eaten?
RFID chips were at the centre of a major scandal during the recent World Summit on the Information Society when more than 50 prime ministers, presidents and other high-level officials from 174 countries, including the US, were bugged by badges they were wearing.
Now, RFID chips are set to replace your friendly, neighbourhood bar codes, courtesy of VeriSign of domain name fame. Or infamy, depending on where you sit.
"The company that manages the Internet’s core directory - and has been criticized for trying to take undue advantage of its position - has been hired to perform a similar role in the developing system for radio-frequency identification tags on consumer products," says an Associated Press report here.
It was selected as the directory manager by EPCglobal, "a venture formed to administer the radio-frequency tagging network that is expected to begin replacing bar codes as product identifiers over the rest of the decade. Financial terms of the deal, which is being announced today, were not disclosed."
VeriSign executives are quoted as saying the deal is valuable primarily because it’ll give the company a leg up in providing Internet-related services to retailers and manufacturers who embrace RFID. and, "One big impetus for RFID is expected to come from Wal-Mart Stores’ demand that its top 100 suppliers incorporate the technology on supply pallets by early next year."
The Pentagon is also into it. Its decision to go for RFID will cover virtually everything bought by the US military, from beans to bullets and from toothpaste to tank parts, says Computerworld here.
"The so-called passive RFID tags will be used to track the movements of about 45 million line items, said Alan Estevez, assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense for supply chain integration."
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the PTBs (Powers that Be) will soon be saying, Hmmmm. If we’re already using RFID chips to track things, why not - people?’
And whatever the Pentagon does, the FBI and anagrams everywhere will soon want to do.
Estevez "couldn’t quantify" the number of suppliers that will be affected by the RFID policy, "which was set out in a document signed by Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of Defense for logistics", but, "the Defense Logistics Agency, which bought an estimated $24 billion worth of goods last year, currently does business with 23,642 suppliers, according to a spokeswoman."
"Eventually, individual products will have RFID tags instead of bar codes, revealing instant data about the items and their route from factory to store," says the AP report.
Or your route from work to home, and so on.
"Privacy advocates, however, have questioned whether the tags could be used to track shoppers."
Indeed. Are you there, John Poindexter?
"VeriSign performs a similar function on the Internet as the key operator of the Domain Name System, the main directory for Internet addresses," AP goes on. "It controls the master list of all the Internet’s domain name suffixes, along with the entire directories for ‘.com’ and ‘.net,’ the two most popular endings.
"VeriSign has been accused of trying to unfairly profit from its Internet position - for instance, using its inside knowledge of domain names expiring to beat competitors to reselling lucrative names. VeriSign has insisted it keeps the directory and registration businesses separate and recently sold the latter."
Not only but also, as The Register’s John Leyden points out here, "Verisign has turned domain name typos into an advertising opportunity. Critics believe this is an abuse of Verisign’s role, via acquired company Network Solutions, in administering the .com and .net registry DNS servers."
And, "Already a backlash is building, with Net admins being urged to block Verisign’s catch-all domain," he adds. "This could all get very messy."
Sue Hutchinson, product manager for EPCglobal, said VeriSign was chosen for the RFID contract because of its worldwide reach and ability to handle millions of Internet transactions at once.
EPCglobal is a standard-setting group jointly run by EAN International and the Uniform Code Council, the same entities that manage the network of product bar codes.
"For now," says AP, "the RFID network has only about 100 members, including consumer giants Gillette and Procter & Gamble, but is expected to gain tens of thousands more as RFID use becomes widespread."
