With the development of RFID technology in its usage and designs, it becomes one of the technology that plays a vital role in business industry. There are more practical uses of RFID that have emerged with the continuing of technology development. The innovation in RFID is for example like product tracking, transport payments, automotive, inventory systems, smart cards, retailing and medical industry continues to evolve in its usage which i am going to share with u below. Nowadays RFID made a big impact in e-Commerce compare to e-Commerce during the olden days. It affects in a way that it can bring customers and businesses the mobility, convenience and fast way in doing business transactions.
RFID is a technology that can transmit, process and store data for its consumers and also for its businesses. These applies that a company are able to do multi task transaction in between with the usage of RFID. For example a company that controls transport payments, customers are able to pay their toll by just passing by the reader of the RFID without any hassle (easy, fast & convenience)
Basically, the current usage of RFID in the world e-Commerce:
· Transport Payments
· Product tracking (disease tracking in animal, shipping, books, baggage)
· Automotive (tires of car, car keys-theft protection)
· Inventory system (tracking of inventory)
· Smart cards (payment or accessibility)
· Medical industry...& whole lots more....
Come & think of RFID in casino which features product associated with RFID that can change the face of gaming devices as with the one we played today. In this way, RFID will able to save the house money & make gaming fun for customers which a win-win deal for everybody in the casino!!!!Its easy for both customers and the casino itself as chips are inventorized without touching or running them through counter. Machines, customers, food or anything that needed to be accounted can be identified, instant head count of casino patrons in emergency situations. Instant & iinovative!!!!Right????
How about RFID in advertisements??? Visualize that u r driving thru a new town where signs direct u to a business by using RFID dash mounted receiver that may speaks in multi languages.
In the near future, Real Estate signs may be outfitted with RFID tags so you can park in front of them and enablesyour audible in-car-reader that will display all the pertinant information about the house in the comfort and safty of your car! RFID devices for advertising are only limited by your imagination. Imagine RFID signs can sell your product as you drive by them!!!Less cost for business company, does not pollute the environment with ads lying around and convenience for customers. moreover it benefits in creating awareness in the memory of customers.
E-Commerce is a world where both technology and transactions are involved. Technology makes it better and convenience for customers to do business transactions more conveniently and that is why technologies like RFID emerge in e-Commerce offering multi benefits to customers like easy items returns, smart appliances, personalization and easy shopping.
References:
RSA Laboratories, “RFID, A Vision in the Future”, viewed 25 August 2008, http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2117
28 comments:
Since this topic is about the Innovation and Technology, and it seems that Mayi is more towards the side of RFID. So, I decided to comments on RFID, which is also part of the technology. Here, my discussions will be more towards the RFID that used in Wal-Mart Company. I hope this little comment will able to help you on your proposal and report writing.
In recent years, Wal-Mart had imposed the radio frequency identification technology – RFID, in the business. This RFID will work more capable than a bar code which enables the suppliers to know the movements of the stocks in the stores. It can even trace the locations of the stocks immediately in a split second. Of course, this has to work closely with the improvement of the satellite systems in order to maintain it. In addition, this radio frequency identification technology is still lack of basic infrastructure especially for the stores that are located in the outskirts area. This has to be overcome by expanding the systems which will cost a lot to widen its coverage. The RFID technology is still not fully been used by all the suppliers on the stocks as it need to cost millions and millions of capital to impose this new technological system.
Besides that, the Wal-Mart was using the universal bar code, which allowed the retailer to generate all kinds of information including subtle shift of power from manufacturers to retailers (Wilbert, C., 2007). Recently, Wal-Mart is developing on RFID which used to transmit data stored on small tags attached to pallets or individual products. The radio frequency identification technology tags hold much more data than bar codes (Wilbert, C., 2007).
The advantages of imposing RFID by Wal-Mart is enable to trace where are the stocks, whether on warehouse, store shelf, loading dock, or still on the assembly line. With the used of radio frequency identification technology, it can improve on accuracy, efficiency, and prevent hand-counting and even minimizing theft (Wood, M.B., 2004). Not only that, Tom Torre, associate director of business-to-business supply chain innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., the radio frequency identification technology has the ability to capture data from retailers as the key potential benefit. It also could give Procter & Gamble better insight about sales on Wal-Mart (Carol, S., & Bob, B., 2004). In addition, the radio frequency identification technology individual item on tag will probably raise the privacy issues. For example, it can attach to the shopper’s children when they do shopping in Wal-Mart. If their children happened to be lost in the stores, they can be easily be tracked in minutes or even seconds (Turban, E., et al, 2006).
In addition, Wal-Mart expects to gain more benefits from the use of RFID which they had been invested so much money in it. Thus, in order to cooperate all its business partners to cooperate with the company on this to enable the success of the RFID technology into action. Therefore, those related business partners will be able to get reimbursement which includes the retailers, customers, the management itself, and other parties as well.
In conclusion, even thought Wal-Mart Company do realized that this implementation of RFID technology requires a lot of capital investments, but they believes that it will produce the long-run benefits to the company, suppliers and even the customers at large.
Reference:
Carol, S. & Bob, B., 2004, “RFID Tests Wal-Mart Suppliers”, Computerworld, vol. 38, no. 14, pp.1-45, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, AN12886528, viewed 31st August 2008.
Turban, E., King, D., Viehland, D & Lee, L., 2006, “Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective”, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Wilbert, C., 2007, “Introduction to How Wal-Mart Works”, HowStuffWorks Inc., viewed 31st August 2008, http://money.howstuffworks.com/wal-mart.htm.
Wood, M.B., 2004, “Marketing Planning: principles into practice”, Prentice Hall, Gosport.
It is great and innovative if RFID can be used in casino. On the other hand, I like the way that Sunway Lagoon amusement park in Malaysia, issues RFID wristbands for admission, purchases and so on because it changes the way that we are having fun. For me, I think Sunway Lagoon is quite successful in adopting this kind of innovation and emerging technology. I’m proud because it is a Malaysian example rather than foreign ones. Based on my experience as a visitor, I can surf on a replicated beach, explore a wildlife zoo, careen down a facsimile of an Africa waterfall, pay for goods and services by only using a waterproof wristband without bringing my purse in danger of either getting soaked or eating by a reptile. Furthermore, I do no longer have to wait for cash vendors to make change for me. It is really convenient for me.
Besides that, it is hard for an unauthorized visitor to enter the amusement park and it benefits the owner(s) of Sunway Lagoon. It is because a visitor needs to hold his or her wristband within a few inches of an interrogator mounted in a turnstile at that particular entrance before they can enter an area of the amusement park (O'Connor, 2007). Once the visitor is authorized to access the area, the turnstile will open immediately. By using wristband system, Sunway Lagoon can analyze visitors’ purchasing habits and the amount of time necessary to perform every transaction in order to attract more visitors and even improve its staffs’ performances and services (O'Connor, 2007).
Last but not least, all RFID readers installed in the amusement park are under ISO 1443 standard and also, the wristband system makes use of data encryption in order to avoid the data or tag ID encoded to every wristband from being read secretly (O'Connor, 2007). Therefore, it improves security and privacy as well.
Reference:
O'Connor, MC 2007, ‘Sunway Lagoon Issues RFID Wristbands for Admission, Purchases’, RFID Journal LLC, viewed 1 September 2008,
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3469/1/1/
RFID is a useful device that can help the companies to provide valuable services to its customers. The small device enables companies to store data of the products for easier tracking and identification. It can help to increase sales and win a good reputation when a store or company can provide its customers what they want to know clearly and efficiently. The US Prada “epicenter” stores have RFID tag attached at their items for sale (Turban et al., 2005). When customers want to know about a particular item, they can move with the item towards one of the displays around the store and get the item information on its color, cut, fabric, materials, and availability, and also watch through the sketches and video clips of model wearing the item (Turban et al., 2005). The RFID tag also works when customers take garments on dressing room. Tags are automatically scanned and detected via antenna embedded in dressing room and the information about the item will be automatically displayed on the dressing room’s interactive touch screen (Turban et al., 2005). Customers are showed with a slow play back video for their images of the trying garment which are captured when they turn around in front of the “Magic Mirror” in the dressing room (Turban et al., 2005). RFID helps to fulfill much of the customers’ needs, for instance, they are given an opportunity to have an integrated view for the effect when they try on the garment. It provides a significant self-service environment where customers can get the item information on their own with less sales people involvement. It also increase the possibility of selling the items as customers are able to explore the item faster through the store display without have to get the sales people to answer all of their questions regarding the items they are interested on. With a traditional business practice, customers will only focus on certain items for detail information and will miss out other items they may also have interest on as they feel inconvenient to get through all those items and there are lack of visual attract display facility to promote the items. Moreover, RFID will help to solve customer dissatisfaction in that the sales people are not able to serve each customers well as some customers have to wait behind the customers that the sales people is serving at that moment.
On the other hand, RFID also helps people to be able to reach their destinations in most efficient way. In Singapore, RFID are used in Electronic Road Pricing system that charging different price to drive on different roads at different time in order to encourage drivers to stay off buys road at busy time (Turban et al., 2005). Car drivers can know the road situation through RFID in their car that communicates card readers on major road (Turban et al., 2005). This helps to avoid unnecessary waste in time and money in term of more consumption of petrol when having traffic jam at the road. It will also reduce air pollution from the vehicles that emit polluted gas to the air. In addition, by reducing unnecessary time waste, the citizens can use the time to do more beneficial things that can help to increase the country productivity.
RFID is also used in libraries and bookstores book tracking (Lim, 2008). If this also applies to our university, it can help us to find books we would like to search for easier and faster. We just have to tell the system what book we are looking for and it will tell us the exact location of the book and its availability. Besides that, RFID tags can also use in building access control (Lim, 2008). Our ID card can include RFID to enable us to use it to access to the university facilities, such as lecture halls and tutorial rooms, computer labs, library facilities, etc. it can be used to take the class attendance as when students swap their cards, the system will automatically have a record on it. Misuse of facility will be known as the student identity is recognized.
References:
Lim, R 2008, Emerging Technologies: Securing the Future of eCommerce with Technological Advances [slide], Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak.
Turban, E, Rainer, RK & Potter, RE 2005, Introduction to Information System, 3rd Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., USA.
Thanx gals for leaving comments on RFID which gives me ideas that helps me in my proposal and report. I have choosen RFID for this innovation and technology because it will emerge in its usage where its usage will not reach any limitation that can enable me to do further research and enabling discussion from all of HBM370 students. Thanks for your support
RFID is a system that facilitates the tracking of objects primarily for inventory tracking via a three-part technology comprised of a reader, a transceiver with decoder and a transponder (RF Tag). RFDI is a wireless system that works in conjunction with an organization’s information technology infrastructure to improve business processes such as inventory management and efficiency in supply chain management.
Usage of RFID
Glovis, an affiliated company of Hyundai/Kia Motors Group, is in charge of Hyundai/Kia’s automotive parts supply chain management (SCM), which will now become RFID-enabled. In March 2007, Glovis will begin receiving RFID tagged boxes of automotive parts from more than 200 suppliers to Hyundai/Kia Motors. RFID tags will be used annually to track all boxes and containers of automotive parts through the supply chain. The project’s scope will also be broadened to include Hyundai/Kia Motors’ Slovakia factory as well as another major manufacturing site. In the RFID-enabled supply chain management, the completion reports for each process are automatically collected by passing the parts boxes through an RFID interrogator gate. Especially in the repacking phase, workers can check for errors by comparing data from the RFID tags against order information. In addition, the information system automatically provides delivery status reports for dispatch from the distribution centre, readiness at port for export and arrival overseas at Hyundai/Kia Motors’ factory, among others. With RFIC technology, Glovis also offers real-time distribution information to Hyundai/Kia Motors’ secondary suppliers, third party logistics companies and other manufacturers to optimize their inventory and production plans. The RFID supply chain management system can make a more competitive company globally. RFID technology can minimize loss from dispatch errors and revolutionarily cut costs. Glovis seeks to be the global pacesetter in logistics with this pioneering effort.”
General Hospital, in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco is installing active Wi-Fi -based RFID technology to track patients, staff and assets. Several Wi-Fi access points have since been installed, enabling staff members to track patients wearing RFID wristbands as they move from their rooms to other areas, such as the imaging department. Two large LCD displays, affixed to walls, provide employees with an instant view of patients' locations, represented by icons on the screens. Caregivers can also check patient locations via hospital computers and their MCAs. General Hospital will install the RTLS which will then begin tagging a variety of assets, including wheelchairs, stretchers and infusion pumps. The hospital believes the RTLS has already helped improve patient care. The hospital staff says they've already accomplished better care because they have the ability to know when patients are moved from one place to another. That way, they are better able to serve the patients.
An RFID reader emits a radio wave to scan the chip via an attached antenna. Unlike bar codes which have to be scanned one at a time. An RFID reader can theoretically scan every item in a shopping basket, case or pallet which at one glance, at a distance, even in rotten conditions like inside a freezer or in a sandstorm. Place an RFID reader in a series of gateways, and it can follow supplies from assembly line to store shelves and right out the door with the customer. RFID technology is based on embedding a small chip with an antenna into a tag. The RFID holds much more data than any other bar code symbology and can be read and written to thousands of times, acting as a portable database. Unlike bar codes, RFDI tags do not require line of sight to be read so that they can very quickly and easily be read without the extra time and labor to reorient the item the code is on. Tags can be read through a variety. RFID technology provides fast and reliable data recording. RFID tags can be read as long as they are within range of reader. RFID can also be read in challenging circumstances at remarkable speeds.
Limitations of RFID
One of the largest limitations facing the RFID industry has been the cost of the equipment, especially the tags. Applying the tags to thousands of items has been an expensive task. Besides, technical limitation facing RFID adoption is the inability of Radio Frequency (RF) waves to be read through certain materials. For example, some liquids absorb RF waves while other liquids are permeable. Certain metals such as steel can also cause complications and inaccurate readings because of their reflective nature. The adoption of standards or lack of standards has also been a topic of contention. There is an emerging standard (EPC) that addresses the movement of products through the supply chain. This standard is new and is just now being implemented. There are also other standards that are associated with different industries.
New Trends of RFID
BloodCenter of Wisconsin, in cooperation with several business and technology partners, will begin testing this month (Sept 2007) to determine whether RFID has any harmful effects on blood products. The testing will be part of an ongoing initiative to develop RFID standards for labeling and tracking blood in the global supply chain, from donor to patient. The initiative will seek to develop a standard for RFID tag size and data layout, which it will present next month to the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) for review. The ISBT is a scientific society that helps guide research, processes and standards for blood transfusion and transfusion medicine around the world.
Shipper DHL is working with a major pharmaceutical manufacturer to track temperature-controlled products during shipment. In this application, the manufacturer is liable for ensuring that vaccines remain within a specific temperature range from the factory to the end customer. Today, the pharmaceutical manufacturer installs a data logger on a pallet before its loaded onto a truck. At the distribution center, the pallet is placed in quarantine while the data logger is sent to a lab for analyzing, a process that can take up to three days.
There is complexity and cost in administering the solution. In addition, inventory is tied up for three days and if something does happen in route, they can’t do anything about it. Soon the pallets will be tagged with an RFID tag and temperature sensor. The tag sends an update to a GPS unit equipped with a GPRS modem on the outside of the truck. If the temperature goes out of range while in transit, an alert is sent to the driver who can take action to make sure the heating or cooling unit is working properly. If nothing goes wrong, the shipment can be released immediately.
Conclusion
Driving efficiencies throughout supply chain and increasing the velocity of items through the supply chain from creation to consumer is more than a business mandate today, it is a matter of business survival. If the company doesn’t do it, the competition will. RFID is a true next-generation technology which ready, available and being implemented today that is transforming how companies manage and extract more business value from their supply chain operations. Whether in manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retailing, travel and transportation or throughout government, RFID will drive profitability, increase revenue, reduce operating expenses and shrink inventory levels.
REFERENCES
http://www.itaa.org/rfid/docs/rfid.pdf
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3613/
http://www.time.com/time/globalbusiness/printout/0,8816,485764,00.html
http://epsfiles.intermec.com/eps_files/eps_wp/AutoIndustrialSC_wp_web.pdf
http://www.coridian.com/pdfs/Coridian_RFID_White_Paper.pdf
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3604/1/1/
http://www.mmh.com/article/CA6457462.html?industryid=21966
I also like what Sunway Lagoon Park issues RFID which had been mentioned by Geok Ling. Using RFID wristbands which had been waterproof, visitors can enjoy their playing without worrying their ID or wallet been soaking.
I have another opinion of RFID system which is used in mountain. This mountain is Sno Mountain which is a resort and summer Water Park located in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. It has implemented an RFID system allowing visitors to use RFID for prepay money for food or other items they might want to purchase late such as rent equipment and access lifts. It will write onto RFID bracelet’s tag. This allowing visitor not needs to bring any money or wallet in their pocket during a rest day. Therefore, they can more enjoyable for playing in resort by without worry anything missing.
Besides that, staff can ensuring all the equipment rented had been correctly return. As all the equipment rented to visitors will record in their RFID bracelet. Additional, the money left on their bracelets tag when they leave the resort can be refund.
In my opinion, this RFID system is quit useful in large resort. We know that a resort or mountain have a large or billion distance. Staff or employees can’t pay attention any corner of the resort. Therefore, using this RFID system can know where the visitor is going. They can convenient to detect where the person is missing in resort especially incident happen in the corner of resort.
Advertisement using RFID system is also quit good idea for future especially for Japan. In Japan, most of products or advertisements are print in their languages. For tourist, it is so difficult to know what the product function is. It is really difficult to buy things. In my opinion, country which has different language can create a RFID system for tourist such as wristband. It can translate language directly when tourists come near the products or advertisements. It quite creative and innovate for RFID in future.
References:
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3008/2/1/
Radio frequency identification, RFID, is a system that allows device to read information and provides a method to transmit and receive data from one point to another either through a connection with wireless or wired device. It allows important data such as identification, location information, date of purchase to be transmitted from the tag to the reader, for example, libraries card or car keys.
There are two types of RFID tags which are active and passive. Active tags have a power supply and are quite expensive compare to passive as they normally use battery as their source of power. Passive tags receive power when they move into a radio field generated by the reader. This is more cost effective compare to active tags. Basically, RFID can be used in various fields.
First of all, RFID can be use in medical field as tags are placed on prescription pill bottles for the patient. Special readers provide audible information on the name, instructions and warnings of the prescription. Besides, it can be use as tracking too. Almost every supermarket, hypermarket, libraries own a device to track library books, ID tags, warehouse inventory or even credit cards. This is a very helpful device as it can alarm security guards if there are some shoplifting cases happened. In the automotive field, Michelin has spearheaded a program to embed RFID tags in their tires. This will help track down problems should a recall have to be utilized. That’s why nowadays Michelin has achieved good result on the F1 track.
RFID system can be implemented in various fields therefore the benefits of it are to be utilized. The main benefit of RFID is the increase in productivity. Checkout becomes a much faster process as even though as stacks of products have to be checked or cleared, a scanner can do it without the need to open the record books to check. RFID do has the potential of using smart card to increase services to patrons when information can be embedded in the card including prepaid dollars or other useful information needed for checkout, bus fees, and so on. RFID also improves security. Al items can be checked out using the self checkout units as no electromagnetic desensitizing occurs that can damage the sensitive audiovisual materials. Therefore, tracking of lost items becomes easier by using the portable readers. Being such a utility system, RFID has no limit on the data capacity and allow authorized users to write only making it robust and very secure.
In year 2008, RFID has accepted a new challenge which is to have it implemented into Olympics Games. Sixteen millions of RFID embedded tickets are sold during Olympics Games. It is environment friendly as there are made of papers and silver ink. RFID has benefits Olympics Games in few ways. One of the many ways is that it helps solving the counterfeit tickets as well as helping to spread the use of new technology or better technology, the RFID. Besides, this will also lead to generation of business opportunities for RFID industry in China and other countries.
In conclusion, RFID should be implemented in our daily life as it does help to improve our life and not to say it’s cheap to produce and can be environment friendly too.
References:
Martz, C n.d., RFID - Radio Frequency Identification Device, Birds-eye.net, viewed 2nd September 2008, http://www.birds-eye.net/definition/r/rfid-radio_frequency_identification_device.shtml
McGregor, R 2007, Critical issues: the benefits of RFID technology, Manufacturing and logistics IT, viewed 2nd September 2008, http://www.logisticsit.com/absolutenm/templates/article-critical.aspx?articleid=2883&zoneid=31.
RFIDWeblog 2008, How RFID will benefit from Beijing Olympics 2008, RFIDWeblog, viewed 2nd September 2008, http://www.rfid-weblog.com/50226711/how_rfid_will_benefit_from_beijing_olympics_2008.php.
Viewed 2nd September 2008, http://www.rfident.org/#RFID%20in%20Wal-Mart.
Viewed 2nd September 2008, http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/libr500/04-05-wt2/www/T_Gnissios/benefits.htm.
What comes into mind when you hear these brands; MaNGo, Topshop, and Zara? These are all designers label all relating to fashion. For those readers whom have shop in these stores; the ladies in particular, have you notice how often the computers are used to check for the sizes that you ask for, the availability of the color of clothes you desire, and so on. Imagine what would it be if the shop assistants have to rush back to the store and spent around half an hour just to check for the clothes that you want? You won’t have to wait any longer.
As we are well informed, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being used in almost everything today. What interest me most; and probably might interest fellow Swinburne fashionistas, is the use of the RFID technology in the fashion industry.
Then again, what we generally know about the usage of the RFID technology in the fashion industry would be to check for inventories, price, and such. On the other hand, what we don’t know is that how this technology has been an immense help to store managers doing its business activity such as inventory checking.
Gardeur; an international fashion label originated from Germany, which produce high quality men and ladies clothing line, adapts the RFID technology a few years back; 2003 to be exact. The company’s investment decision was deemed to be a success due to its quick return on its investment. What does this mean? This mean that the company’s return on the money it invested on the usage of the RFID technology for its business is shorter than the estimated time it had expected.
How can this be? Gardeur saves plenty of time in its inventory checking department. Common sense would tell us that time saving leads to efficiency, efficiency means better productivity, better productivity leads to profitability. Gardeur’s implantation of the RFID technology allows them to promise their customers of Never-Out-of-Stock (NOS) lines, and also attachment of anti-theft labels. This two promising attributes alone gives Gardeur a head start of utilizing technology in fashion.
After reading the Gardeur case study, it seems to me that the RFID technology is indeed useful and most importantly seems to be a profitable investment in the long run. However, what Mr. Rodney mentioned a few weeks back regarding another designer label; Prada which failed to assimilate the RFID technology in its daily commerce seems to bother me. What went wrong to Prada? Why Gardeur don’t seem to have this problem?
References:
RFID in Fashion 2008 has Concluded, RFID Journal
http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/fashion/
Wessel, R., Clothing manufacturer Invests Its ROI in RFID, RFID Journal
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2547/
Gardeur Ag
http://www.gardeur.de/en_microsite.htm
Retail, Gardeur Ag
http://www.gardeur.de/public_en/default.aspx?pduid=pag_20051217T160459426
Hey, I just came across one of the article on the usefulness of RFID. It is not only on goods, but it also can be located on human. To add on what I had mention about having the RFID tag on children when they enter Wal-Mart to avoid missing in the store. Here, I would like to add on the information on RFID tag help on elderly. I think this should start impose in Malaysia since we always have cases of elderly missing due to their sickness of forgetful -- Alzheimer.
As we know that, most families are having elderly people at home when they go out for work or study. By leaving the elderly at home is very dangerous as they might not be able to take care of themselves due to old ages and sickness. Therefore, most of the working children will sent their elderly parents to the care center during the day for their social life or some elderly do stay at elderly care center for their rest of the life due to certain reasons. As we know that elderly care center do have many elderly people live in there with limited numbers of nurses available. Therefore, it is unlikely that nurses have full attention on each of those old people around.
In that article (Wi-Fi-Based RFID Improves Elderly Care), the center could keep track of the visibility of each and every elderly people in the center by having a RFID tag on their body. This RFID not only allow the management to trace the place, time and activities of the elderly people but also to know their current status of health. For example, some old people who suffered from the Alzheimer sickness and do not know the place back to the room. The nurses could use the tag to keep track and view their position. Those Alzheimer sick people might not know what they are doing and may caused life danger to themselves without having them realise it.
Not only that, nurses also having a RFID tag on themselves too. It is to enable the nurses to get immediate help from others by pressing an emergency button located at the tag whenever needed. This is great as the rescue teams will not need to spent additional time to look for the victims in order to provide assistances.
In my point of view, I think that this RFID technology on elderly should be implemented on most the elderly people who have those sicknesses like Alzheimer. This is to avoid the elderly people being lost or cause danger to their life. Lastly, I hope this little issue information could you by providing you little help on either giving you some ideas or info in report writing.
Reference:
Bacheldor, B., 2007, “Wi-Fi-Based RFID Improves Elderly Care”, RFID Journals, News, viewed 3rd September 2008, http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3551/1/1/
I would like to add on some consequences which Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) would face. The threats faced would be security and privacy. As good like it is, RFID also has its disadvantages. As RFID technology evolves, security and privacy threats will therefore evolve. The RFID chips may scare many people as the tags that optimize supply chains are able to ‘abuse’ one person’s privacy by tracking the tagged item’s. For example, an attacker with RFID readers could scan crowds for high-value banknotes and also terrorist could scan digital passports to target specific nationalities. This could bring-up passport easily be clone.
An article related, http://www.naturalnews.com/019883.html
However, in order to minimize the misusage of RFID, cryptography is one of the ways to recognize ‘unwanted’ RFID. If I wasn’t mistaken, IFF is being used in military to overcome the ‘unwanted’ RFID.
Another issue that I would like to discuss is what being mention by Ai Ling Ong regarding implanting RFID chip into humans’ body. An article said that RFID implants could cause cancer. Well, even though it is just a study. But, do you think that implanting chips into human body especially the elderly would be a good idea???
References
RFID Technology, The Evolution of RFID Security,
http://autoid.mit.edu/pickup/RFID_Papers/027.pdf, viewed 3 September 2008.
S, Charlie, 2007, RFID Implants Could Cause Cancer, Gadget Lab,
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/09/study-rfid-impl.html, viewed 3 September 2008
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has become increasingly popular due to its broader usage and we can discuss RFID in various aspects. To be more specific, I will be focusing the discussion on the challenges of adopting RFID in China instead of general current usage as what we all have learnt from the lecture session. It has been said that in China, the government has put a lot of efforts to support RFID industries and RFID technology is also one of the national plans in China. The study has stated that “the size of China's RFID industry is growing rapidly and the market scale of China's ultra-high RFID industry is expected to reach CNY3.73 billion in 2010” (Research in China 2008). It shows that China government believes that the development of RFID can help the economic growth in the country and so, China is willingly to invest in this technology with the objective that RFID can bring in lots of benefits for the country in the near future.
IDTechEx (2008) has indicated that “China has become the world's largest market for RFID by value due to the peak in delivery of national identification cards in China before 2008 Olympics with the expenditures of $1.9 billion on RFID”. As RFID system can be used to transmit and store data, it is useful to incorporate into the national identification cards to identify each individual. As we know, China has a large number of populations, with the RFID incorporated into identification cards, the country will be able to recognize its citizens easily and also can prevent someone to forge a fake identification card.
Although adoption of RFID is a big project for China and it brings various advantages for the country, the government would have to take into consideration of possible challenges that might face in the long-term. The challenges include standards, cost, business environment, business models, untested market and others. Lai, Hutchinson & Zhang (2005) have stated that, “It is hard for the Chinese government to decide which standard, UID or EPC, should be followed as a framework for its RFID standards, especially since neither EPC (Electronic Product Code) nor UID (Unique ID) is accepted as international RFID standards”. Thus, it is necessary for government work out the plan to ensure that RFID standards are comply with international standards.
ChinaTechNews.com (2006) has also stated that “incompatible RFID standards remain obstacles for an open supply chain that crosses industries and territories. And tag prices are still relatively expensive, ranging from a low of around US$0.15 to a high of over US$200”. Based on this statement, we can know that not only standard, the cost of RFID tag is another main concern for the government too. However, China may need a longer period to handle this burden as the costs are highly dependent on global market demand. The business environment and business model can be referred as working environment, business structure and the perception of companies in China towards the benefits of RFID. It is said that in China, the majority of companies are concerned only their own business operations and interests of their companies. In general, most of them are reluctant to share their knowledge and information with their supply chain partners.
Indeed, the companies should work together in order to implement the RFID technology effectively as this technology would need the co-operation of all parties. Besides that challenge, markets in China do not seem to have a high demand for the adoption of RFID technology compared to USA and Europe. The government would have to take appropriate actions to ensure the Chinese companies understand the functions of RFID and the benefits it will bring to their businesses in the long-term period. There are also other challenges that would faced by companies in China like security and privacy issues as well as political and social issues as mentioned by Lai, Hutchinson & Zhang (2005). The country has to make sure that the adoption of RFID technology would not caused the unemployment rate to increase unreasonably as well as privacy of individuals will not be threaten.
All in all, I believe that it is the government responsibility to eliminate some foreseeable threats in the process of implementing RFID technology in the country and certain experts’ opinion regarding the RFID technology should take into account as a point of reference in adopting RFID in China.
References
Lai, FJ, Hutchinson, J & Zhang GX 2005, ‘Radio frequency identification (RFID) in China: opportunities and challenges’, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 905-916, Emerald, ISSN 0959-0552, viewed 3 September 2008.
Research in China 2008, ‘Company Study of Invengo Information Technology Co., Ltd., 2008 (Chinese Version)’, Research and Markets, April, viewed 3 September 2008, http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=603914
IDTechEx 2008, ‘RFID in China 2008-2018’, Research and Markets, May, viewed 3 September 2008, http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=590995
ChinaTechNews.com 2006, ‘Nearly 3 Billion RFID Tags Shipped In China By 2009’, ChinaTechNews.com, viewed 3 September 2008, http://www.chinatechnews.com/2006/03/09/3652-nearly-3-billion-rfid-tags-shipped-in-china-by-2009/
Referring to the post which Hazel stated, I would like to say that in the future, there might be high possibility that implementing chips to every single person is a “Must”.
It may not be surprise this kind of things happen for the reasons of security and conveniences in identification in certain situation. Even in America now, there is a company named Verichip who have currently sold more than 7000 of human implantable chips and 2000 of them have been implanted on humans. Verichip offer chips for Patient Identification, Infant Protection, Emergency Management, etc. Due to those reasons of solution, most of the patient in the hospital agreed to be implanted RFID. And due to the rapid development of technology, I think in the future, the researchers and RFID experts company such as Verichip would be able to figure out a way to make human implantable RFID chips have no side effect and harmless to human body. In Japan, RFID is being used to track truancy problem students. An RFID is implanted on the student personal belongings such as backpack, pen, book, clothes, etc. The survey shows that 70% of the parents agreed this kind of RFID system being used.
Another issue here which related to the ubiquitous Internet Technology is important to be discussed as well is about the privacy and the security which is often in dispute. On the article I found about Bruce Schneier which talks about Security and Privacy issues, he stated that according to the recent pools that Security has proven more important than the privacy. 51 to 29 Percent of people choose security over privacy. The reason is security is vital to survival. Donald Keer, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, stated that “privacy no longer can mean anonymity”. Means that it is the government who has the “Right” to give each person a control of what they deserve to control.
The issue here is: are we moving toward a right direction? Should the government really be the one to control over our liberty with the reasons of security? Have we used the power of ubiquitous Internet the right way?
Reference:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/24/verichips-human-implatable-rfid-chips-clonable-sez-hackers/ viewed on September 4, 2008
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/security_vs_pri.html viewed on September 4, 2008
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3276/ viewed on September 4, 2008
dear Dharwin,
basically i think that governments do not have the rights to control on our liberty since that we have our own rights in living in a democratic country or so called it is. However this issue may be different for other country. Laws are laws but laws like implanting RFID into human by breached the rights either we as human would like something implanted into our body. Security for me is a no reason to do something so disgusting.
My personal thought of RFID is a technology that basically to differentiate and grouping. Dealing with similarity is not an easy job to do. That is why human creates something unique for easier identification or differentiation. RFID is base on radio frequency usually planted in a chip and use it as the unique pattern to differentiate the similarity. It was first used in products as a tool to differentiation to increase productivity and convenient.
Current RFID usage
RFID mostly used in manufacture base company to differentiate their goods. It increase efficiency and it help to organize and tracking the products. It is a great tool for industrial mass production business which is part of the commerce. I agree with Mayi that it is also used in Automotive as auto-theft prevention. Even Malaysian RTD (road transport department) has started to implement the RFID in the car plate to prevent the auto-theft. It is also used by the scientist to tracking animals for their research. I am not sure whether it is used to track disease and used in smart card because smart card use chip to store identification information, not by radio frequency, correct me if I am wrong, but it is definitely used in medical industry for identification for the equipment and products.
What can we do with RFID?
Since RFID could store some information without taking too many spaces for the devices, it could replace a lot of identification system in the world. In e-Commerce, Digital Identification is important for tracking and identifying purposes. In e-Commerce, that digital identification will be stored and process to be information that is needed as one of the important part in making a decision. All the identification system like passport, ID card, ATM card, Discount Card, etc could be replaced and integrated in one small device. Imagine how convenient it will be. All your money that already used digitally like credit card or PayPal system etc (not cash), could be stored inside and you can use it in even more convenient way. Where could you use it? All possible way to spend non cash money could be done.
Future RFID
RFID is great tools but it does not mean it is perfect. Using radio frequency as the main feature has a disadvantages that probably could not be used much in future. It is still ok since it is only used only for products. But if there are a lot of them, let say it is implemented to all devices and even inside human like we ever discussed it in the class, RFID will face a problem in “Harsh Environment”. Even though it is better performance in harsh environment compare to bar code, but these problems will be major if almost all things implemented with RFID. People have found the solution which is “RuBee Protocols”. It is a similar technology but it uses magnetic signal as opposed to radio frequency. It could perform better in “Harsh Environment”, a lot cheaper in cost, but it relatively slow in tracking moving products. My mind start to think, maybe it will work great if we combine this two. But it is a no longer integration. That makes it not really efficient since you will need two scanners for each and you will confuse (which use what?)
Opinion
Technology helps human live to be better and easier. It is also important in e-Commerce as a tool that makes everything better organize, easier, and more efficient. RFID is one of the technologies that help in identifying digitally. The digital information is really needed as a part of information system in the commerce. What possibility that could be done with RFID is not impossible to do. Human creates technology to make life easier. Maybe it is true that human creates technology because it can not because they need. But sometimes, people need to find out the technology first, and realize why they need it. The first airplane is created not because of human is already need an air transport. It is just an idea of people who try to fly like a bird. They found it, know what the advantages, and realize that they need it. Some technology found base on the older technology.
References:
Filiponnio.F , “Malaysia Implements e-plates with RFID to quell auto theft” , viewed on 4th September 2008, http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/12/malaysia-implements-e-plate-with-rfid-to-quell-auto-theft/
Blass.E, “RuBee protocols overcome RFID shortcomings” , viewed on 4th September 2008 , http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/13/rubee-protocol-overcomes-rfid-shortcomings/
Having headaches with problem student? Today I’m going to talk about RFID on students. As we all know that China has the largest population in the world, how are they going to know that whether their students are still at school or had just leave the school? What if they skip their school? To solve this problem, China starts to introduce the RFID of student safety arriving/leaving message service system to primary school and even secondary school.
Functions
Firstly, the school will let the student wears a tag with unique ID which can detect by the RFID of every gate in the school. The student ID provides student name, parent’s name, and parent’s contact numbers. Most of the students in China walk or ride to school. When they arrive to school, they enter the gate and the RFID reader will automatically detect the students’ ID and upload information and send instant message to their parents to inform them that their children have arrived to school. This also works same with when the students leave the school too. So that parents can know when their children arrive and leave the school as long as they have a handphone.
Besides, parents also can know what their children’s performances at school are through message system where parents are able to communicate with the teacher. Message system provides announcements like coming school events, student grades and behaviour in school, and school notice for payment and meeting etc. Student’s attendance also will automatically be recorded whereas teacher no need to tick every single student’s attendance which is time consuming.
Advantages
Although China population are large, there are 190 children are snatched everyday. To prevent and reduce the missing children case in China, most of the schools are concerned of the children’s safety and also avoid any disputes from parents and yet installed the RFID reader in every gate of the school. Besides, the school also wants to maintain their qualitative study standards by sending students’ grades and behaviour to their parents to let their parents understand more about their children at school.
The RFID reader server is supported by any PC or PC server, Windows2000 operating system. The system also structure with the CAT message mode which it can support sending and receiving message from the SIM card that is inserted into the RFID reader. The advantage of the RFID reader is that its installation fee is cheap and does not need any help from technician as its installation way is very easy. Besides, the software is very easy to be use and it does not require any communication network from the school.
Disadvantages
The disadvantage comes when the school introduces the RFID reader. Students become under pressure and have no freedom when they are at school. Imagine that if the student does not have freedom at home, and when come to school, school should be another space for them. But it end up like another prison for them too. It’s like every time every move has been watched by parents.
For the message system, it might be distractive for busy working parents as the messages comes everyday with unimportant notice such as school canteen’s day, teacher’s day, school cleaning competition and etc.
For the RFID reader itself, it is rather fragile and easily spoilt to physical/electrical damages due to environmental factors. It is also lost function when there is electricity black out in its area where student might take chance to leave the school etc.
References:
http://www.superrfid.net/english/index/view.asp?id=408 – Shanghai Super Ele&Tec Co. Ltd, SuperRfid, viewed on 3 September 2008.
http://www.tutorialsweb.com/rfid/introduction-to-radio-frequency-identification.htm#Disadvantages%20of%20RFID – RFID Radio Frequency Identification Sytem, TutorialsWeb, viewed on 4 September 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2007/sep/23/features.magazine77 - In China, 190 children are snatched everyday. Claire Dwyer reports |From the Observer| The Ob, Guardian.co.uk, The Observer, viewed on 4 Spetember 2008.
For addition, I had search that RFID system also started using in green-related applications. For example, AIM Global (the worldwide industry trade association and authority on automatic identification and mobility solutions) is using RFID technologies to increase environmentally friendly program.
RFID is being used to advance the efficiency and effectiveness of numerous important city, county, and statewide environmental programs, including the monitoring of vehicle emissions, the collection of recyclable materials, the reuse of packaging resources and electronic parts, and the disposal of electronic waste. Besides that, RFID technology is trying to reducing unnecessary transportation requirements and fuel usage. For example, Vehicle emissions monitoring using RFID are being implemented at this summer’s Summer Olympics in Beijing to help supervise air quality. Currently, Beijing is requiring the emissions testing before travelling in and out of city. To more convenience for traveler, vehicle can placed RFID tag in windshield when passes the emissions test. This can reduce pollution in the city.
Besides that, RFID labeling technology is identify reusable plastic containers used. For example, Kraft Foods has signed up with recycling program that uses RFID to track and reward consumers for recycling empty containers. This program is help by RecycleBank. RecycleBank provided a plastic RecycleBank bin which has an embedded active RFID tag to each consumer. The consumer can fill the recycle thing in this bin. Recycling truck will read RFID tag transmit all the weighing scale from the bin to the consumer account. Consumer can earn the reward point for discount coupons from Kraft Foods.
In my own point, the packaging of all the products or any containers will place on RFID tag which can directly separate different type of thing when it is in the recycle bin. It is really more convenience for consumer to separate the recycle things. On other hand, enhance environmental friendly can be occur.
http://www.aimglobal.org/members/news/templates/template.aspx?articleid=3240&zoneid=3
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3936/2/1/
In reply to Azel.
Yes, I agree that implant of RFID chips in human body may cause cancer.
In the scenario whereby implant chips in human body just to store all their personal information to be easier detect and recognised when needed. In my opinion, I think that this thinking is just for an easy way out whereby it could minimise the workload of human in their daily life. This method would not be highly encouraged to be use since it may bring disadvantages in life. However, it will still beneficial to certain extend whereby in the emergency use of those chips on human body. For example, as in America the first thing that the rescuer team will do is to check the availability of insurances status of the victim before providing help to them. Remember, the shorter team needed means higher chances of survive. Thus, can this consider RFID tag in human body worth to be implant even though it might bring side effect?
On the other hand, as I mention in my last comment that RFID tag could be implant in the elderly body especially those are suffering from the dieses of Alzheimer can be benefits them as they are totally lost or having brain damage in life. Thus, I think in this case the probability of having them getting cancel in life will be lesser compare to being lost daily. Haha… In addition to it, those elderly who had been suffer from Alzheimer might also in the golden age of life. Therefore, (to me) I would says that it will be better for us to keep track of them daily (prevent from being lost and cause danger to themselves and other) will be more relevant thinking rather than worrying about the side-effect may cause due to their old age. Haha…..
Well, this is just my point of view. My thank you to Azel for letting me knows about the side effect of implant RFID in human body. I would not know until her comments. Ok, looking forward to more insights.
Refer to the reply by Ms.Mayi al-b, I agree that there is no way we want to trade our privacy over security. Especially for a woman, to be published and be tracked without permission is a very rude thing to do. However, as I have mentioned, maybe not in our country yet, but in other country such as America, such act that have breached the privacy issue has been made legally due to the security reason. Scanners which can see through clothes have been invented and applied in Phoenix Sky-Harbor International Airport. Maybe in the future, our country might be attracted and influenced by those high technology machines and try to implement it as well.
Reference:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207400743&subSection=News
“RFID is also used in libraries and bookstores book tracking (Lim, 2008). If this also applies to our university, it can help us to find books we would like to search for easier and faster. We just have to tell the system what book we are looking for and it will tell us the exact location of the book and its availability.”
I would like to add some points base on the above-mentioned reply which was done by Annie Lee. Personally, I agree with her. RFID can really help us to search for library books easier. Not only that, it helps librarians, too. It can help them to reduce their stuffs and track books easier especially when they are lost or are not returned by students who borrow them. It will possibly be good if our university can deploy this kind of technology as long as it has enough money to do so. On the other hand, RFID tags can also be embedded in consumer items such as clothes or fashion labels (which mentioned by Alda). Can you imagine that your clothes have been sewn with RFID tags? How about will those tags breach our privacy? It would be shocked when Benetton announced that it planned to put RFID tags in all its clothes in order to pursue the supply chain efficiencies. However, on April 4, Benetton issued a press release in which it appeared to cancel its plans to tag 15 million items in its Sisley line of clothing due to consumer privacy concerns (Roberti, 2003). Although Benetton’s plan has not been succeeded, it serves as a wake up call to all companies that they want to put RFID tags in consumer items. Perhaps, companies (including Benetton) are able to deploy RFID technology to track their consumer items once the consumer privacy concerns have been solved or addressed.
After Benetton appeared to back away from its RFID plan, Marks & Spencer has announced that it plans to run a lead in which it will tag clothes at a store in order to improve customer service and increase profits from sales (RFID Journal, 2003). For example, with RFID, store staffs can be serving customers rather than being involved frequently in stock-taking operations. According to Pagdin (2003), Marks & Spencer will be looking into customers’ privacy concerns during the trial of putting RFID tags in clothes. In other words, once the trial has been succeeded and consumer privacy issue has been overcome, then ultimately, it will tag 350 million apparel items a year (RFID Journal, 2003).
References:
Roberti, M 2003, ‘A Setback for RFID?’, RFID Journal LLC, viewed 4 September 2008,
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/382/1/1/
RFID Journal 2003, ‘EPC in Fashion at Marks & Spencer’, viewed 4 September 2008,
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/377/1/1/
The usage of RFID is very useful but in a way, it can invade your daily life. Although some of usage are, but some usage are totally out of mind. I just get 3 out of 33 way of using RFID by BizNicheMedia that I found surprising an amazing.
The author from the article BizNicheMedia has found way to resolve bank robber and I found it quite useful to implementing it. He stated that, “robbing a bank is no longer a lucrative option, because every dollar in the bank has an embedded RFID chip that can be tracked anywhere on the globe”. But when I think on the negative side, the human privacy will be restricted. As all dollars are RFID-ed, the dollars will be managed and supervised thru databases, which in other word means that, banks will have the collection of demographic on human’s expenses. This might cause different organizations uses this data for market segmentation and end up users (consumers) been assaulted with spam. Besides that, bank itself will also that the opportunity to call the consumers and sending pamphlet of promotion which sooner or later will become annoying matters.
Concerning on the Lauren Scott of California, the introduce Smart Wear whereby RFID tag is sewn into the hems. The RFID’s readers placed in a house will be able to scan the tags within a 30-foot radius and trigger an alarm if boundaries are breached. This had help in effort to prevent child abductions. Quoted from the article on success of implementing RFID on clothing by InformationWeek stated that “SmartWear's Web site cites haunting statistics gathered from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Every 18 seconds, a child disappears from playgrounds, parks, schools, and homes, and many are taken by convicted sex offenders. Of the 876,289 people that went missing worldwide in 2004, 90% were children. The epidemic of child abductions increased 468% from 1982 to more than 876,213 in 2002.”
(Sullivan, L., “InformationWeek: Apparel Maker Tags RFID for Kid Sleepwear”, viewed 04 September 2008, http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/RFID/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=165701942)
Next, Can u imagine implanting a RFID chip into your own body? It looks disgusting and very unbelievable because it is l2mm long by 2mm in diameter and has a basic read range of two inches. From an article by Jordan Ginsberg, the interesting part is on how RFID governed the security of human. He said that “For me personally though, with the read range being only an inch, stealing my RFID tag ID would be a rather personal encounter. Getting that tag ID duplicated would be another difficult task for your average carjacker”. It basically sounds safer than using an Identification Card (IC), whereby we do not know when we will drop out wallet.
(Rinsberg, J., “One Step for Hand: Amal Graafstra Gets an RFID Implant”, viewed 04 September 2008, http://www.bmezine.com/news/presenttense/20050330.html)
Reference:
1. “RFID Lowdown: 33 Ways RFID Has Invaded Your Life”, viewed 04 September 2008, http://www.rfidlowdown.com/2006/09/33_ways_rfid_ha.html
In addition to the adoption of RFID in 2008 Olympics, Lanfranco (2008) has stated that radio frequency identification and global positioning systems (GPS) have been used to track the movement of sportspersons and audiences. With the RFID technology, it enables the country to easily keep track of all the individuals headed to Olympics. This would be helpful for China to ensure that the biggest game event ever will be held successfully and in safety. Besides that, individuals will also behave properly and the technology would be able to prevent terrorist attack during the Olympics as all of their actions are being watched by someone.
Apart from Olympics in China, RFID technology is also being used by European Union (EU) in postal services. It has been said that “Radio Frequency Identification chips have been already deployed by postal companies in around 50 countries across the world to measure the quality of their services” (EurActiv 2008). Thus, to follow the trend, EU has planned to implement RFID technology to make their postal services more effective and efficient. It is believe that the RFID chips would help in reducing the amount of missing mail that they faced over and over again in the past. As for Malaysia, I think that it is a need for our postal company, Pos Malaysia to wisely implement this technology in order to improve the postal services and to avoid the increasing number of mail or parcel lost.
References
Lanfranco, E 2008, ‘Securing China for the Olympics and beyond’, UPI Asia Online, August, viewed 3 September, http://www.upiasiaonline.com/Security/2008/08/04/securing_china_for_the_olympics_and_beyond/9149/
EurActiv 2008, ‘No missing mail with RFID tags, says Commission’, EurActiv.com, June, viewed 4 September 2008, http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/missing-mail-rfid-tags-commission/article-173478
For most people, implementation of RFID maybe would be a bridge for a new era. For me it would be an era that makes our life being so controlled by technology, isn’t it scary? Before discussing more on RFID, let’s take a look of what happened in our world. At the first glance, all the appearance of these new technologies seem to bring us to an easier life but slowly but sure, it is already take over our life. Let us see the simplest thing, handphone, could we really can life without it? Could we do our research faster and easier without Internet (or to be more specific, without Google)? That’s what I mean with technology begin to controlled our life. We, as human, already lost our ability to being alone and independent. Yes, I would say that we lost it. All the personalization on the Internet and online transaction that we can do online at home is another way for them to collect our information and getting know who we are. We are never alone now and more we are using those technologies, more we are being so dependable on them.
I agree that RFID could give us lots of advantages especially in the term of mobility. But in return, the mobility of RFID that offered will ask us to implant the RFID device to any item we possessed including our body. For your information, a single RFID device has an antenna, a transceiver (with decoder), and a transponder, it means we bring “antenna” to wherever we go. Yeah, it is right that we are now entering a new era of mobility but at the same time we also entering the era of turning ourselves to becoming a robot. It is not my intention to criticize so much about RFID; in fact on the other hand I believe that RFID would bring us to an easier life. But what I am trying to say, RFID technology is so human-less. We, as human, supposed to be a species that appreciate privacy the most, even the bank robber have their own privacy (even if it is not in a good term). It is not a good think for being able to be tracked by other persons. In conclusion, I want to add that let us not over-doing to implement all these tech-things in our life. We are human, not robot, there is still some issues that we need to maintain especially privacy. I want to say, “Always respect human values more than we respect anything else.”
Reference:
CNET Networks,Inc., RFID Chips: A Danger to Your Health?, viewed as 3 September 2008
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_26_22/ai_n27879262
Hi Mayi, I would like to share what I had found in an article related to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in advertising.
According to the article, a company named MINI USA launched an innovative technology called Mini Motorboards which relies on RFID technology. The company became the first in using RFID technology to communicate directly with its customers through billboard advertising.
So how does it work? RFID technology in Mini Cooper keyfobs (a remote control for locking/unlocking a car door, carried with the car keys) gets picked up by billboards which then reflect that information in little messages like "Hey Billy" and "Nice convertible." The RFID technology deployed allows users to be identified from up to 500 feet. It identifies you and reflects it on the billboard.
The billboards read information from the RFID tags of passers-by and seamlessly deliver highly personalized messages. However there is a privacy issue where there are some who discriminates the use of this technology. Therefore, the RFID tags do not contain any user data, and use cryptographic protocols to maximize customer privacy.
This RFID technology enables dynamic marketing today. As the technology is refined and advanced over the coming years, RFID applications will be likely to be seen impacting consumer behavior at a higher level.
References
“RFID Enables Personalized Billboard Display”, MINI USA, 2007, viewed 2 September 2008, http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=1288
Jonathan Goddard, “Mini use RFID tags in advertising”, Pocket-lint, 2007, viewed 2 September 2008,
http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/6496/7520/mini-interactive-rfid-advertising-billboard.phtml
In addition to the comments posted by Geok Lin (regarding Benetton and Marks & Spencer) and Alan Chiew (regarding Smart Wear), I would like to post some more comments and a couple of recommendations regarding the use of RFID in clothes, additional to my previous post on RFID in Fashion.
As Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is reported to be well assisting the seller is managing its products; such as improving time in stock takes and so on, the RFID technology has also benefit the buyer. How is this possible you might wonder? I recently read an article title “RFID at the Height of Fashion with Clothing, Shoe Companies”, whereby customers find that the technology makes them feel special. Dick Lockard; owner of thebigspace firm which is pioneering the use of RFID in displaying users information embedded into mirrors. This innovation; known as the Magicmirror, strongly suggest that the RFID helps building relationship between seller and buyer. The proper usage of RFID in the fashion industry promises satisfied customers which would eventually lead to customer loyalty. London based men’s couture suit shop; Nick Tentis gave a testimonial that the RFID has helped his business by making sure that they tailor to all their customers need and wants.
However, some consumers including the privacy advocates have railed against the use of RFID in tagging clothes. This posed a serious threat in continuing to apply the RFID technology. This issue has been addressed by Mark Roberti; the editor and founder of RFID Journal gave his insight on how the consumer privacy issue can be attended. I personally think that, his insight on advising the attendees to not use RFID in tracking customers’ movement is ridiculous. Does he really think that people will listen to his so-called advice? His statement and I quote “No one has ever been able to show what kind of business benefit a company can gain from doing that (using RFID to track customers’ movement)”. I strongly believe that no one is as naïve as Mr. Roberti. If this was the case, no one would have brought up the privacy intrusion matter in the first place.
To sum up everything, I personally believe that after doing extensive readings on the use of RFIDs in fashion, what people really need now is this couple of things:
1. Law to protect both the seller and buyer
-The responsible body should come up with a set of law to protect the seller’s right in using RFID for the sake of easing their business transaction. There should also be laws governing the buyers’ right to keep their detailed information private, in this case; seller should not be able to use the RFID without consent from the buyers themselves
2. Inform the buyer
-The buyer should be well-informed that the clothes that they purchased are tagged with RFID. If so, buyers will then be given the option to choose is they would like to un-tag the RFID upon purchase. (The consequence of doing so ultimately lies in the hand of the buyer because by removing the RFID tag, the seller would lose all the data about the buyer. Thus, the seller won’t be able to assist the buyer in its future purchase). On the other hand, if the buyer do opt for the option to allow seller to keep its information regarding the customer themselves then obviously the seller would not be liable for any unwanted intrusion or even leakage of private information.
This 2 ideas came up to me as I was reading my law book, and I decided to post it as I believe that proper law would bring this RFID problem to an end because I do think that there is no point of not using the technology to its fullest and to stop using a useful technology without thinking of any proper solution is not the answer. I do believe that by implementing the right law, both seller and buyer will have a better commerce experience, as seller will not jeopardize its company’s image by being unethical and excess one’s private data and on the other hand, buyer will feel more save when relying on the seller to safe-guard its data.
Trivia!
Do you know that the Levi’s that you are wearing now could be tagged with RFID?
To check if your clothes have these RFID tags, you can view the How-To’s at this link:
http://www.spychips.com/RFIDclothingstoredemo.html
References:
RFID at the Height of Fashion with Clothing, Shoes Companies, RFID
http://www.rfid.ae/rfid-at-the-height-of-fashion.asp
Albrecht, K., Manhattan Protest against RFID, Spychips
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/manhattan-rfid-protest.html
Lewan, T., Microchips Everywhere: a Future Vision, SeattleTimes
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004151388_apchippingamericaiii29.html?syndication=rss
American Eagle Outfitters Denies RFID Use
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/american-eagle-denies-rfid.html
First RFID tags on Levi’s Jeans
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/72511&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&o
Mr Dharwin,
Actually the company Verichip that you are talking about, that is the company that I was referring in my previous comment.
Very interesting discussion here! :)
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