Category: RFID

WASHINGTON–The European Commission may have decided against imposing new rules on radio frequency identification tags for now, but a top official warned Monday that regulations are likely if future uses of the technology don’t protect fundamental privacy rights. Gerald Santucci, head of the European Commission unit whose domain includes RFID issues, said he feared that rushing to place restrictions on industries hoping to use the technology would choke its potentially valuable application in health care, business, transportation and other realms. For more info click here

update Not one senator voted against a 2005 emergency spending bill that created federalized ID cards. But two years later, skepticism on Capitol Hill about the wildly controversial Real ID rules is beginning to surface. Leaders of a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel joined a chorus of outsiders, including many state government officials, who have questioned the costs and privacy implications of the congressionally mandated shift to identification cards that must adhere to a bevy of national standards. For more info click here 

CONCORD, N.H.–A forthcoming national identification card will do little to thwart future terrorist attacks and instead will endanger Americans’ privacy, speakers at a conference here warned. The digital ID card requirements, scheduled to take effect in May 2008, are likely to spark a revolt among states concerned about the complexity of the federal rules and the cost of complying with them, said Jim Babka, president of DownsizeDC.org, at the Liberty Forum conference. For more info click here

For more info click here  SAN FRANCISCO–Two state officials said Thursday that a forthcoming national identification card should be kept intact or expanded, not scaled back in the face of a growing grassroots revolt. The 2005 Real ID Act currently says that driver’s licenses and other identification documents issued by state governments must comply with a stringent set of rules devised by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But some state legislatures are weighing whether to stand up to the federal government and oppose federalized identifications, which Maine’s legislature did two weeks ago.

For more info click here  Not surprisingly, the Food and Drug Administration’s determination that meat and dairy products from cloned animals are safe to eat has sparked no small controversy. Critics were quick to level a number of charges against the practice, including claims that animals involved in the process are harmed. In its 678-page draft risk assessment, the FDA sought to allay concerns about the welfare of cloned animals, stating: “(Somatic cell nuclear transfer) can pose an increased frequency of health risks to animals involved in the cloning process, but these do not differ qualitatively from

Big Blue’s RFID fix for drugs may stall | CNET News.com For more info click on above link IBM is betting on new software to make sense of the reams of data collected by radio frequency identification devices. But some legal maneuvering could dampen enthusiasm for the technology. On Friday, Big Blue introduced its WebSphere RFID Information Center software, which is designed to let interested parties–manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and government customs agencies–work with and share the data from the tracking tags.

Homeland Security chief defends Real ID plan | CNET News.com For more info click on above link WASHINGTON–U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Thursday defended forthcoming national ID cards as vital for security and consistent with privacy rights. Chertoff said one of his agency’s top goals next year is to forge ahead with recommendations for the controversial documents established by a federal law called the Real ID Act in May 2005. By 2008, Americans may be required to present such federally approved cards–which must be electronically readable–to travel on an airplane, open a bank