Nokia Unveils RFID Phone ReaderThe world's largest provider of cell phones is offering a kit that will enable workers to scan tags remotely and transmit data via their cell phones.
March 17, 2004—Nokia, the Finnish cell phone maker, today unveiled the world's first RFID-enabled GSM cell phone at the CeBIT2004 trade show in Germany. The Nokia Mobile RFID Kit features two RFID reader shells—plastic housings that fit over a cell phone—20 13.56 MHz tags and software to enable mobile workers to scan tags and access information remotely.
Nokia expects the kit to appeal to companies such as
Halliburton and Schlumberger, which provide field services for the oil and gas industry, as well to utilities and companies providing security for buildings.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/834/1/13/SpyChips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFIDWhile consumers might be able to avoid spychipped clothing brands for now, they could be forced to wear RFID-enabled work clothes to earn a living. Already uniform companies like AmeriPride and Cintas are embedding RFID tracking tags into their clothes that can withstand high temperature commercial washings.
Don't have to wear a chipped uniform to work? Your RFID-enabled employee badge could do the spying instead. One day, these devices could tell management who you're chatting with at the water cooler and how long you've spent in the restroom—even whether or not you've washed your hands. There's already a product called iHygiene that can monitor the handwashing habits of RFID-tagged employees during bathroom visits.
Our next generation of workers could be conditioned to obediently accept this degrading surveillance through forced early exposure. Some schools are already requiring students to wear spychipped identification badges around their necks to keep closer tabs on their daily activities. If Johnny is one-minute late for math class, the system knows. It's always watching.
Hitting the open road will no longer be the "get away from it all" experience many of us crave. You may already be under surveillance, courtesy of your RFID-enabled highway toll transponder. Some highways, like those in the Houston area, have set up readers that probe the tag's information every few miles. But that's child's play compared to what they've got planned. The Federal Highway Administration is joining with states and vehicle manufacturers to promote "intelligent vehicles" that can be monitored and tracked through built-in RFID devices (Minority Report-style).
RFID spychips in your shoes and car tires will make it possible for strangers to track you as you walk and drive through public and private spaces, betraying your habits and the deepest secrets even your own mother has no right knowing. Pair RFID devices with global positioning (GPS) technology, and you could literally be pinpointed on the globe in real time, creating a borderless tracking system that already has law enforcement, governments, stalkers, and voyeurs salivating.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Department of Defense is also requiring suppliers to use RFID. In fact, government cheerleaders can't fall over themselves fast enough to support the technology. The Department of Homeland Security is testing the use of RFID in visas, and the Social Security Administration is using spychips to track citizen files. Not to be outdone, the Food and Drug Administration wants RFID on all prescription drugs, and the makers of Oxycontin and Viagra have already begun to comply. The FDA has also approved the use of subcutaneous RFID implants for managing patient medical records—the same implants being used to track bar patrons.
http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/lfb/lfb1.htmlFeds to Fund Controversial School Surveillance Catherine Sanders, a spokesperson with the NIJ, would not elaborate on the specific technology that could be proposed to qualify for the grant money. She said doing so would create an uneven playing field for applicants. However, the types of technology solutions described by the NIJ are similar to RFID surveillance and biometric data programs. Companies that manufacture these products often describe "cooperative and non-cooperative tracking" components of their systems.
Such technologies have already been implemented in some school districts. North of Houston, Texas, 16,000 elementary students in the Spring Independent School District wear RFID tags, embedded with chips that indicate their locations on a computerized map. The school also has 750 surveillance cameras mounted throughout its facilities, with plans to install 300 more.
In New York, RFID systems are also being used in schools. The Brockport Central School District in northern New York is testing school bus fleet monitoring with GPS technology and scanning students IDs as they enter and exit the bus. Students at the Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo wave their RFID tags in front of two kiosks at the school entrance which automatically transmit attendance to teachers and administrators.
The use of RFID tracking technology in schools is troubling to electronic privacy advocates. They say it further compromises the already minimal civil rights of students while reinforcing a demeaning environment that erodes trust and respect between young people and adults.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=2632
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