Legitimate Global Village RFID Applications April 28, 2006
After scouring a few RFID weblogs and websites recently, I came to the realization that there are actually numerous RFID applications that do not fall into the “tracking human beings” category. Such example applications including the teaching of English and preventing incorrect usage of prescribed medicines. Certainly these are legitimate, even noble applications of RFID.
Other non-privacy-invading applications include supply chain systems, preventing lost baggage at airports, animal/ pet tracking, and even validating/ authenticating poker chips at casinos. Or imagine forklifts that can operate on their own, and know what flats they have to pick up and move. Of …
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Happy Earth Day To You - Or What To Do With Your Old Cell Phone April 27, 2006
With Earth Day (Apr 22) just gone by, I was lamenting that I once again didn’t do anything significant or “green”. (I did, however, go to the first year of Earth Day celebrations when I lived in Toronto many years ago.) This thought was particularly triggered when I read how some of the large European smartcard vendors are rushing out half-baked cell phone products with SIM cards that have been rewired , just to meet deadlines. Their publicly state intent is to fix the problem with later releases of the cell phone model.
So where, then, does that leave people who …
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Quantizing Humans And Tracking Supermen - RFID Chips Go Cyborg April 11, 2006
In a recent episode of Smallville, the TV show about young Clark Kent before he becomes Superman, Chloe and Clark are trying to find Lana Lang, who’s developed a deadly addiction to a drug made from Kryptonite. Chloe goes on about how she can find Lana if Lana is carrying her student id card. According to her, new college student id cards have tracking enabled.
I’m assuming that they’re talking RFID chips, and the show is of course fiction, but this is the first I’ve heard of such use of student id cards. Imagine, if you’re a parent, you could keep …
