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wrbones
06-09-03, 05:05 PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030609-122709-8176r.htm

Tiny IDs can track almost anything


By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES



Computer chips the size of grains of sand have become the latest trend among manufacturers seeking to track everything from automobiles to underwear to razor blades.
The new technology can fix the exact location of virtually any consumer product and the humans who wear and carry the items.
The radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips now in mass production are affixed to postage-stamp-size labels. Merchandisers, led by Wal-Mart, will soon use them to track goods inside the store. Shelf antennae will alert staff to restock products, or turn on surveillance cameras if shoplifting is suspected.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Auto-ID Center, the leading research organization on RFIDs, says in its literature that the simple concept has "enormous implications.
"Put a tag — a microchip with an antenna — on a can of Coke or a car axle, and suddenly a computer can 'see' it. Put tags on every can of Coke and every car axle, and suddenly the world changes. No more inventory counts. No more lost or misdirected shipments. No more guessing how much material is in the supply chain, or how much product is on the store shelves."
The global infrastructure that MIT envisions is an Internet tool "that will make it possible for computers to identify any object anywhere in the world instantly. This network will not just provide the means to feed reliable, accurate, real-time information into existing business applications; it will usher in a whole new era of innovation and opportunity."
And that is what worries some privacy advocates, who fear the Big Brother technology attached to clothing will follow customers out of the store and be used to track people through the items they purchase.
"If misused, the potential for abuse is so tremendous," said Katherine Albrecht, director of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion And Numbering (CASPIAN).
The consumer-watchdog group initiated a boycott against Benetton, an Italian clothing maker and store that says it plans to implant the technology on "smart labels" on its Sisley brand of underwear.
The company admitted in a written statement it "is currently analyzing RFID technology to evaluate its technical characteristics," but "emphasizes that no feasibility studies have yet been undertaken with a view to the possible industrial introduction of this technology."
"On completion of all studies on this matter, including careful analysis of potential implications relating to individual privacy, the company reserves the right to take the most appropriate decision to generate maximum value for its stakeholders and customers," the statement said.
Advocates of the new technology say the identifying number on the chip can be erased, easing some privacy concerns, and that safeguards are being developed to completely turn the chip off before it leaves the store.
But opponents say they are not convinced that the safeguards are enough, arguing that the chips may not be deactivated — potentially leading to abuse of power similar to that in totalitarian regimes.
"If Hitler had access to this technology, there would not be a whole lot of Jewish people alive today. This is the ultimate form of power," Mrs. Albrecht said.
She said that the technology also offers X-ray vision capable of reading personal items in handbags, brief cases and pockets.
Advocates of the new technology say it will enable manufacturerers to reduce thefts and increase profits, and field tests have already tracked inventory shipped from all over the country to the loading dock of a Sam's Club in Tulsa, Okla. Also, an amusement park did real-time tracking of children wearing bracelets with the tiny technology.
Numerous companies have the technical ability to produce the chips at various costs, but Alien Technology Corp. of California is at the forefront with a contract from Gillette Co. to produce 500 million tags, at about 25 cents apiece, to track the firm's shaving products.
"This is a landmark agreement," Stav Prodromou, Alien chief executive, said in announcing the deal. He said the affordable prices will ensure widespread adoption of the technology.
Alien spokesman Tom Pound said that within a few years, the tags will be produced for just pennies apiece.
"We have the technology and a roadmap that takes us there," Mr. Pound said.
Some companies are already moving past consumer use and marketing the technology for military and homeland-security applications.
The military used the technology to track food and equipment headed to the war in Iraq, said Mark Roberti, editor of RFID Journal. "In the first Gulf war, they sent 20,000 containers and had to open 16,000 to find out what was inside," he said.
In this year's war, chips sewn into wristbands followed wounded military personnel and triage records as they moved through field hospitals.
ActiveWave says its RFID system can aid homeland security by real-time tracking of airport employees working in secure areas by their identification cards, and passengers by airline tickets.
To expedite border crossing, the Homeland Security Department is already using the chips, embedded on identification cards.

Devildogg4ever
06-09-03, 06:30 PM
bones, you joggled the brain-housing-group with that one! When I was at Fuji, they were talking about having all of us tattoo our service number on our forearms for body ID. We didn't say much at first, not untill we heard tales of a type of chip they might put in the tattoo! We all raised cane, and reminded them thats what dog tags are for and if we had to, we would mutney! Well the bluff or the good Lord worked for us cause they never said no more about it!

Catz1611
06-09-03, 08:46 PM
Really interesting stuff..sounds like something really similar to what's in the Book of Revelation.. where people won't be able to buy or sell anything unless they have the mark of the beast in their right hand or forehead..
If the technology for these tracking devises is there and they are already putting them to use..what's next?? makes you think..

wrbones
06-09-03, 09:12 PM
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6368&highlight=nanotech


http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6239&highlight=nanotech

We got all kinds a stuff posted around here! ;)

lurchenstein
06-10-03, 12:59 AM
May already be using this technology (or earlier form) to ID horses and possibly other forms of livestock and pets.

yellowwing
06-10-03, 03:38 AM
Britain and France spent 10 million to develop the delivery of this technology. They set up the admin, supply, training, and the monitoring of implanted pets crossing the Channel.

The chip contains the animal's complete medical record plus memory to spare for future applications.

It wouldn't take much more to transition this process to humans!

Devildogg4ever
06-10-03, 04:04 AM
Catz, have you noticed the signs, Revelation, are already here? I have learned to expect anything, now!

Catz1611
06-10-03, 05:36 AM
Catz, have you noticed the signs, Revelation, are already here? I have learned to expect anything, now Yup..and I'd say we were right at the end of ch. 3..:) ( or so I hope) like you, nothing much surprises me...although I did get a good one the other day..but I'll leave that for another post..:bunny: (that bunny is CUTE..)

richgitz
06-19-03, 06:48 PM
This is very interesting. I've heard of this before but not to the
extent wrbones has brought to light. If this tecnogoly is used
it will definally be abused. I'll bet the BIG GOVERMENT- BIG wigs
won't have any chips in their asses. this s**t is giving me goose
bumps, just thinking about it. I think I'll have a few BEER's and ponder this situation.