Stephen,
CBC forwarded your request for additional information about a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Radio Frequency Identification RFP (request for proposal) I referenced. A PDF of that RFP is attached. (Note that the creation of the PDF altered some of the formatting.)
The "Goals" section of the RFP is particularly interesting. There's a laundry list of things DHS wants the technology to do, including "sense all tokens carried by travelers seated in a single automobile, truck, or bus at a distance of up to 25 ft while moving at speeds up to 55 mph."
According to this RFP, the DHS is trying to identify technology solutions that have "the potential to be used in other operational environments...and by other federal agencies," not just DHS's U.S. Visit program.
Imagine the privacy and civil liberties implications if this technology is one day incorporated into driver's licenses. It's a real concern here in the U.S. as the DHS recently got the right to set federal driver's license standards.
Hope this helps. Thanks for writing.
attached: 70 -- Radio RFI-05-01 Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology.pdf
Liz McIntyre
Co-author of
SPYCHIPS: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every
Move with RFID
============
www.spychips.com
============================================================
What critics are saying about "Spychips," the book:
============================================================
"Remarkable...A masterpiece of technocriticism."
- Technology Commentator Bruce Sterling
Spychips "make[s] a stunningly powerful argument against plans for RFID being mapped out by government agencies, retail and manufacturing companies." - Evan Schuman, CIO Insight
"Spychips is one of the best privacy books in many years....The privacy movement needs a book. I nominate Spychips." - Marc Rotenberg, EPIC
"Brilliantly written; so scary and depressing I want to put it down, so full of fascinating vignettes and facts that I can't put it down." - Author Claire Wolfe
Spychips "makes a very persuasive case that some of America's biggest companies want to embed tracking technology into virtually everything we own, and then study our usage patterns 24 hours a day. It's a truly creepy book and well worth reading." - Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe
"You REALLY want to read this book." - Laissez Faire============================================================ >>> redacted> 02/19/06 1:36 PM >>>
Stephen Samuel (samuel@bcgreen.com)
My Home Page
Powered by awp-hosting.com™
Mon Feb 20 16:43:37 PST 2006