The pet ID microchip was one of the earlier uses of RFID
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Now, radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology is being considered for library books, driver licenses and passports -- even implanting in humans. It has sparked Big Brother fears and concerns that identity thieves could abuse the technology.sw LG ZA h0
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RFID tags consist of a computer chip with an antenna. A reader scans the tag from a distance and transmits data from the tag to a computer.中国宠物医师网$n6j+s)V$iF#n&~5S v#j
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n+J3~|m_#O0The devices are revolutionizing the way everyday tasks are performed. Big-box stores and libraries use them to track inventory and to speed things up at the checkout line. RFID tags can carry more data than bar codes and magnetic strips, and an RFID reader can handle multiple tags at once. oU,Vr2y0Xz0
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The technology could also save lives. Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton is about to start a pilot project to implant the microchips under the skin of selected patients who have conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease, that may not allow them communicate with doctors and nurses in an emergency.中国宠物医师网 B1Y ~
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2Lla_J4l^0Privacy groups, however, worry that strangers with hand-held readers could skim personal information off the devices, inventory people's store purchases and the library books they borrow, and track people's movements, like blips on a radar screen..I$hh2g+Z:P X%c0
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"Skimming, inventorying and tracking, all of them, give strangers a chance to see who you are, what you have and what you are doing, and you do not have much control over it," said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit consumer-advocacy group.中国宠物医师网Q4g"AC`
{|'`1K4}(CLm0The technology's advocates said such fears are overblown. Government and businesses have taken steps to keep information private, through encryption and other safeguards, they said.中国宠物医师网+m Ls(zab s&w
Ip,g3YPW MKb0"I think people have a general visceral reaction that they're being spied upon. But there's a lot less capability to track people's movements and what they're doing through RFID than people automatically assume," said Anita Campbell, editor of The RFID Weblog, a Web site that seeks to educate business executives about the technology.G-~:y(}-fy(e0
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"If I were a bad guy, I'd probably look into hacking into an online database or pick their pocket and get their credit card," Campbell said.中国宠物医师网A_ eDD!\
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However, Douglas Thomas, a USC associate professor of communication who specializes in new technologies, said consumers more than ever need to be vigilant about how their information is being used.
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"It used to be follow the money. Now it's follow the data," Thomas said.中国宠物医师网'Ft5{
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"There are zero safeguards. We are living de facto in a surveillance society. There's no doubt about it," he said.中国宠物医师网?Uw2DoT_s ?
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The pet ID microchip was one of the earlier uses of radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology3NNm1A4@#zy w0
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RFID technology is everywhere.中国宠物医师网'b'S,@wIci
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It's widely used in identification badges. The FasTrak electronic highway-toll collection system in California uses the technology to read data from transponders placed in vehicles.中国宠物医师网'np&EJ3rHaD
D C W'OA Z'b0Last year, Wal-Mart's top 100 suppliers began attaching RFID tags to case and pallet shipments to help the company keep track of inventory from the warehouse to the store. The company said out-of-stock items were replenished three times faster using the new technology. About 200 more suppliers are scheduled to be on board this year. ~q;nX_hxu?V2w0
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| MCX0The U.S. Defense Department uses RFID to monitor the location of ammunition.hJ\9^4[G![&HQ~V ]8@0
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I0At least one Riverside-area grocery store has experimented with using the technology in shopping carts to track where shoppers go in the store and how much time they spend there, said Herb Sorensen, president of Sorensen and Associates, an Oregon-based shopping research company. Sorensen declined to identify the store.中国宠物医师网n*q l6A\-P x;`,Z
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Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula is considering installing RFID tags in some of its gaming chips within six months to a year, said Larry Miranda, the casino's vice president of table-game operations.${7Ick L#e0
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L)u+T:c8n g'D0Readers embedded in the table could track how much a player is betting and losing or winning, Miranda said. The casino tracks this information to determine whether to offer the players bonuses, such as complimentary dinners or rooms. w0oO _*b&S)T$}#G0
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uD'E8@1}0The technology also enables a library's staff to sort books more easily. An employee can scan an entire shelf with a reader and determine whether any books are out of place.中国宠物医师网 VP8@ D7K/e
hV^ {5A#@A0"If you can take staff off routine tasks ... that's more of an advantage to the public," said Riverside County Librarian Nancy Johnson.t"KS uJ#@0
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A veterinarian injects a data-storing microchip under the skin of a 3-year-old male cat at the Riverside City-County Animal Shelter. If the animal ever becomes lost, the microchip will help locate his owner. wGTv/o
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s m,yn#Iu iB^0Last year, Mexico's attorney general and 160 of his employees allowed chips to be implanted in their arms so they could have a secure way to gain access to certain areas of their building.M l.{L"r0
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Chip manufacturer VeriChip markets wearable and implantable chips that can provide quick information about patients in hospitals. The chips are useful in preventing infant abductions and baby switching, and they can alert a long-term care home when a resident has wandered away.中国宠物医师网0@ F{n4O'l B{ G*W
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More than 60 hospitals across the country, including Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, have agreed to adopt the technology in their emergency department, the company said.中国宠物医师网 @U\-B7H sY
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Arrowhead's pilot program will begin soon and involve about 50 patients. A chip will be implanted between the elbow and shoulder of each of the patients. The hospital is targeting patients, such as those who have had a stroke or have Alzheimer's disease, who may not be able to convey critical information to doctors when they're taken to the hospital. t_5D&\X#gx };M? K0
dK!@MG RK _1a0"It's almost like a tag in the supermarket," said Dr. Dev Gnanadev, the center's medical director. X3N{ ]9K4v x0
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About 900 hospitals across North America offer VeriChip's ankle bracelet for babies, the company said. If a baby wearing the device is taken out of a specific area, an alarm is triggered.中国宠物医师网X(X ]y-Q,N1\
K U iP$n W4t cE9h8u0The device was credited with thwarting an attempt to abduct a baby last year at a North Carolina hospital.$If:O4S a#z2N0
yI+y g8AB2fD#}D0The technology's human-tracking potential doesn't stop at the hospital door. Now, there's talk about putting it in U.S. passports and driver licenses as a way to combat the counterfeiting of the documents. St4Z V\.~*iv7z0
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By October, the U.S. State Department plans to issue new electronic passports with embedded RFID chips to everyone who applies for a passport, officials say.中国宠物医师网/r Pqzn&v$X
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Critics are worried because personal information, such as names, nationality and dates of birth, will be stored directly on the RFID chips. They also fear it will enable terrorists to track U.S. citizens abroad.3_j|!Pt8a'Z8q"E v8HT0
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e#?0But Janelle Hironimus, a State Department spokeswoman, said the only way to gain access to the data is to open the passport and scan the information. She said the reader device has to be within about 4 inches of the tag.中国宠物医师网]rN;bnC"d)F
-@.SIn th*N0Anti-skimming material has been added to the front cover and spine of the passport to reduce the threat of skimming from distances greater than 4 inches.中国宠物医师网JBO@#_N)D0d`
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Still, that has done little to quell fears about embedding identification materials on RFID tags.'y%q!L-\ev0
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"My daughter is 14, and she's going to have a driver's license in two years," said the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Tien. "It will have her name, height, date of birth. Do I want everyone to have that? If all that data is on our driver's licenses, people are going to suck that out."`P#i A;Cd0
!F j(Fn V s0Tien isn't just concerned about identity theft. He's worried that people will be able to create detailed profiles of consumers based on their retail transactions.3P q^&Tu4t gQ0
;f7dP,rn n0What happens if an ID tag is embedded in a Nordstrom bomber jacket, or a pair of jeans, or medicines, or a home-pregnancy kit?)@(G)I3J?&F0
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"You may not care that someone knows you wear Levis size-8 jeans," Tien said. "But, gee, those medications are for HIV or bipolar disorder. Or that bra size is not your wife's, is it?"!`/t a:b w0
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Whether it's books about gays or the Bible or Osama bin Laden, it would not be hard for someone to build a list of someone else's reading preferences, Tien said.中国宠物医师网B1a8S)F ?B_a!s\
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"The point is, the things you carry around with you can be very revealing about a person that you may not want the rest of the world to know," Tien said.中国宠物医师网c-K0pS8]&N
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The final threat is tracking, Tien said. Imagine a scenario similar to a movie scene with dots moving across a radar screen, Tien said.中国宠物医师网J^\X%ci1T)YhI(J
Y"mg.J@|*x4U0"What RFID does is makes you that dot," Tien said.:@x(g,X;@0
8s&ZR0p1ZC ^0Suppose shopping malls begin installing RFID readers, at the entrance to the mall, in front of stores, in bathrooms, he said. If there are RFID tags on your clothes or on your ID, it's conceivable your movements through the mall could be traced -- where you shopped and for how long, he said. Who's to say that sort of information isn't being swapped with other businesses, Tien asked.:n r y0mL:V~4X:Y0
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State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, wants a three-year moratorium on RFID on personal identification cards. He also wants anyone caught using RFID readers to steal someone's personal information to be punished criminally.中国宠物医师网4ha,k%z0o L$Q
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Simitian said he was moved to action after the RFID debate exploded about a year ago in a tiny Northern California town. Elementary-school students in Sutter were forced to wear new badges that contained RFID tags as a way to track attendance. Parents protested, and the program was scrapped.中国宠物医师网v-`2pY&i
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The High-Tech Trust Coalition, an ad hoc consortium of businesses and trade associations, is opposed to the Simitian's bill. It said the proposed law is an overly broad assault on the technology.中国宠物医师网Q-|)r k F td3J~qY+W
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The bill moved through the Assembly with bipartisan support but stalled in September. Simitian said he has made some minor changes to the bill and is optimistic that it will pass this year.中国宠物医师网#i(\f ZX+J AU
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The lawmaker is unaware of any cases in California of someone accessing an individual's personal information by skimming it with an RFID reader, said Rei Onishi, a Simitian legislative aide who specializes in technology.
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s8l4A0Ak'z0Simitian's legislation is in anticipation of those potential pirates in the age of identity theft. Last year, researchers managed to crack a major fuel company's speed-pass system to illustrate that such information can be stolen, Onishi said.中国宠物医师网YT.})| YDd%b0O j9?
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Simitian's bill does not deal with RFID in the business sector, such as Wal-Mart using it to track its pallets. He said he wants to see how well the privacy protections work before RFID goes on people's licenses.中国宠物医师网 j/~q,Pu
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Simitian, the son of a computer programmer and a past Silicon Valley legislator of the year, also considers himself a privacy-rights advocate.中国宠物医师网t9q A(OB'~ A
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Suppose you went to an anti-war rally at UC Riverside, Simitian said.中国宠物医师网 _ R3B)d
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7zbw!rI sfh0If someone skimmed information, they could create a list, he said.中国宠物医师网 F ^e K~5vWXu
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The same could happen at a gun show at a county fairground, Simitian said. Law enforcement could say there are concerns about unlawful gun sales and then set up their RFID readers.中国宠物医师网SP)LY:c6X F#?|
