Chipping away at your privacy

“Shoppers in a suburban Tulsa, Okla., Wal-Mart were unwitting guinea pigs earlier this year in a secret study that two of America’s largest corporations never expected you’d know about. In the study, uncovered by the Chicago Sun-Times, shelves in a Wal-Mart in Broken Arrow, Okla., were equipped with hidden electronics to track the Max Factor Lipfinity lipstick containers stacked on them. The shelves and Webcam images were viewed 750 miles away by Procter & Gamble researchers in Cincinnati who could tell when lipsticks were removed from the shelves and could even watch consumers in action.”

I can also confirm this story. I, along with other representatives, installed this shelf.  

Chipping away at your privacy

“these same super-small computer chips might also, for the convenience of retailers, be tucked into every shirt you wear, every book you buy and even every dollar bill you put in your wallet – and that could inadvertently create a profound threat to your personal privacy. A clever snoop, armed with a scanner that can read the radio signals coming from the microchips, could size you up in an instant while just strolling past you on the street.”

RFID Journal - RFID Touted for Drug Distribution

“The Healthcare Distribution Management Association, a nonprofit organization for distributors, recommended that distributors of pharmaceutical drugs and other healthcare products begin putting RFID tags carrying Electronic Product Codes (EPC) on cases beginning in 2005 and deploy related infrastructure needed to take advantage of those tags.”

Commentary: Think big on Wal-Mart tags | CNET News.com

Fascinating article by Forrester Research at CNet News on the impact of Wal-Mart’s supplier EPC mandate. Below, The RFID News editorial staff answers the same questions.

How will RFID (radio frequency identification) improve my business?

No one knows how RFID will improve the supply chain. The largest percentage of projected savings (according to eWeek, more than 80%) are a result of eliminating costs associated with scanning bar codes. Until read rates of RFID tags reach virtually 100%, today’s level of labor will be needed on the warehouse floor.

The US-based EPC-compliant RFID technology developer, Matrics Inc., has unveiled its new high-speed, low-cost RFID tag assembly system, ‘PICA’, which could act as a catalyst to transform the consumer goods supply chain.

Unlike web-based flip-chip assemblers that usually have a maximum chip-attaching capacity of 8,000 units per hour, one PICA (Parallel Integrated Chip Assembly) machine is able to produce tags at a rate of up to 12 million tags per hour - up to 1,500 times faster. Analogous to a printing press for RFID tags, an entire ‘page’ of RFID tags can be produced at once.

Can your razor blade spy on you? | csmonitor.com

“However, many of those involved in developing the technology are skeptical. “Is it possible? Yeah. Could my students build something like that? Yeah. Is there a business value to it? I don’t think so,” says Sanjay Sarma, research chair of the Auto-ID Center, the consortium based at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., that developed RFID. “Is it going to be economically feasible? I don’t think so.””

RFID Journal - Wal-Mart Opts for EPC Class 1, V2

“Wal-Mart tells its suppliers that they can use EPC Class 0 and Class 1 tags for now, but it will make Class 1 version 2 of the EPC specification its standard.”

Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport today announced an agreement with Matrics, Inc. to provide the RFID technology behind McCarran’s airport-wide baggage tracking system, which is planned for deployment in 2004.

Randall H. Walker, Director of Aviation for the airport, says the accuracy of the technology makes it an ideal solution. “This becomes a win for all concerned… by reducing the incidence of lost or mishandled bags while ensuring screened bags are delivered to the right place at the right time,” he says.