British Big Brother: He Knows When You’ve Been Good Or Bad November 5, 2006
So be good for goodness sake… The year 1984 was a symbolic date that had everything to do with George Orwell’s 1949 novel of the same name. But Big Brother surveillance societies already are here, have been here, and will continue to be here. We’ve let it happen.
And it’s not just China, a country that actually wants all of their bloggers to register with the government, as if they were some sort of diseased creature harmful to the populace. (Websites there already have to be registered, legally speaking.) Privacy International, a civil liberties watchdog group, …
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Unwired - News About GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID, Bluetooth - May-27-2006 May 26, 2006
Here are some summaries related to wireless technologies (GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID, Bluetooth) for May 27, 2006:
- With the debate still on about illegal immigrant workers in the US, VeriChip Corporation board chairman Scott Silverman has suggest the government use his companies chips. These RFID chips are implanted under the skin. [via spychips.com] Suggestions of tracking human beings, particularly children, with RFID is a topic that is getting the backs up of a lot of people, especially civil libertarians. US President Bush has a “Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative” that includes a special RFID-enabled …
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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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 …
Robot Bugs? You’re Kidding, Right? March 17, 2006
From the “It’s Not April Fool’s” files… On the front cover of yesterday’s Globe and Mail newspaper (Canada) is a small headline about the Pentagon developing cyborg insects. These miniature cyborgs would be real bugs, with electronic devices inserted into them at the larval stage. The idea is to be able to control them remotely.
Sounds crazy? I seem to recall coming across one web page late last year where Japanese scientists were demonstrating how they could control the musculature of a woman. In fact, they could remotely control her arms and legs.
The idea with the cybugs is that they …
