Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Big Blue Launches RFID Service

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 00:00:10 -0400

Big Blue Launches RFID Service
By Michael Y. Park
NewsFactor Network

September 15, 2003

IBM today unveiled a corporate radio-frequency identification service -- a
move that unleashes technology that business experts call a death knell for
the bar code. But privacy watchdogs are expressing mounting concerns.
IBM launched the RFID service, which uses specialized microchips attached to
products, at the Electronic Product Code Symposium in Chicago. Each
microchip transmits a unique code that includes information about its
current location, where it came from and where it is going, when the product
was purchased and how fresh it is.

RFID boosters predict it will nearly eliminate theft, cut down on breakage
and spare sore backs for warehouse loaders, who now have to lug gigantic
palettes of goods to scanners before sending them out.

Supply-Chain Nirvana

"It's leaps ahead of bar-code technology," RFID spokesperson Jan Walbridge
told NewsFactor Network from IBM Global Services  offices in Somers, New York.
"Folks in this
business estimate that there's (US)$40 billion of excess inventory in the
product-goods and retail supply chain, and a tremendous amount of
shrinkage -- lost products, stuff breaking, products being stolen. All that
goes away with this technology."

Geared specifically toward corporate clients, the IBM service has three
phases: a preliminary assessment costing $200,000 to $500,000; a 12-week
testing phase costing under $1 million; and the actual rollout, with a price
of several millions, depending on the size and needs of the company.

Paper-products company Kimberly-Clark announced that it already has signed
on for IBM's RFID service. Several other companies are investigating their
own potential for using RFID, including such retail companies as Wal-Mart
and Benetton.

Creating a Monster?

But privacy groups are worried. The same technology that could be used to
determine whether a dosage of ciprofloxacin was months too old or to track
down an errant DVD also could be used for unethical tracking of consumers'
movements.

"This is one area where the technology is racing out in front of privacy
protections," Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic
Information Privacy Center told NewsFactor. "A lot more work needs to 
be done before we know the consequences of RFID."

Walbridge said IBM researchers are looking into incorporating privacy
controls into its RFID line, including a possible automatic self-kill
command in the microchips.

http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22297.html

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/