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New York Offers Drivers License with RFID Tag | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
Slowly but surely RFID is creeping up in our daily life…
On March 2007 issue of IEEE’s Spectrum magazine, Kenneth R. Foster and Jan Jaeger explain the advantages of RFID as follows…“an implantable RFID chip, which is durable and about the size of a grain of rice, can hold or link to information about the identity, physiological characteristics, health, nationality, and security clearances of the person it’s embedded in. The proximity of your hand could start your car or unlock your front door or let an emergency room physician know you are a diabetic even if you are unconscious. Once implanted, the chip and the information it contains are always with you—you’d never lose your keys again”
There are several disadvantages to RFID of course, but mainly security/privacy is the biggest issue. When RFID started to appear in the market, we read how great it is going to be to retail business. Inventories were going to be easier, shop lifting was going to be harder, and the list continued. We imagined in a year we were going to wait at the cash registers only for few seconds because our shopping carts were going to be scanned before we know it, yet no explanation was given about its security. How hard is it to hack into one of this chips that might be implanted in me? Can someone just walk by and scan your information? RFID’s can be read with RFID within certain range of chip. This makes them very risky.
Despite the privacy and security risks RFID brings, it was clear that manufacturers and government agencies are considering RFID for several applications. Its advantages are tremendous. There are several applications from shopping to airport security where RFID can play a big roll. Perhaps recognizing this, in May 2007
New York City’s move to offer RFID tag on driver license is just one of the proves that RFID are going to be part of our daily life.
New York Offers Drivers License with RFID Tag | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
California’s budget crisis could have ripple effect
After a record past due, California legislators finally came out with a compromise yesterday regarding our state’s budget. Those who advocated for no extra tax seeming to be on winning end of this deal; however, we still have to wait and see if the governor is going to approve the latest compromise. Although this will fix our budget temporarily, in a long run, we are more likely to face similar problems unless the systemic problem is fixed. Perhaps this might be time where voters need to step in and fix how our state budget is handled. With the 2/3-majority rule, we are more likely to be facing similar problems year after year. Cutting from education and other important social services might not be a way to keep our local economy going. It is important to understand that education is the backbone of our economy. Globalization has made education one of the most important assets to have in order to have sustainable economy.
California is the worlds 5th largest supplier of food and agriculture. It is understandable that our economic crisis will have a ripple affect towards the whole nation. I spoke with most of my neighbors who were worried about their pay being cut the federal minimum. Temporary and contract workers have already felt the budget crunch, as they were the first to receive pink slips. Just as we thought the mortgage crisis is about to get better, having such issues is disturbing. .
California voters need to think hard work towards fixing our budget issues before our budget deficit gets even bigger!
Amorphous Thoughts 