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Joel Lubi

Study Says Chips in ID Tags Are Vulnerable to Viruses - 1 views

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    RFID is a technology which can create many new possibilities, as well as build upon existing ones. The technology can be applied to a variety of scenarios, but concerns rise due to problems with privacy and lack of security as it has been proven that viruses can be stored on the small 128 character capacity of the RFID chip. These viruses can be used to exploit whatever it is that the technology is implemented in. This could potentially cause problems such as some tags not getting scanned, or even all tags not getting scanned. The risk increases in other scenarios such as airports, where RFID technology could be very useful for streamlining and organizing the baggage transport process, but a single virus and the whole thing would be disrupted. Just as with computers, I'm sure that people will eventually figure out a way to protect from RFID-bound viruses to implement them for great purposes.
Mariam B

Another Day, Another RFID Trial-Debate about using RFID on DVDs - 0 views

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    This article discusses the issue of individual security and invasion of ones privacy through the use of RFID tags. With RFID tags on almost ever retail item, customers who are main stake holders, are questioning the motives of these tracking codes. A major item that is being tracked is a DVD from when it is first put into its cover and sent to the store, till the costumer purchases it. However the question remains, What is the purpose of this? Is it necessary to track how the costumer uses the items that they buy? Other stake holders include the large business corporations such as Walmart, who use these RFID codes to profit from studying the purchases and trends in other stores and areas. Additionally another stakeholder that is seen as a threat is the government who may eventually be able to spy or track down individuals based on these RFID codes on the items that they purchase. This issue relates to business and employment because companies are able to economically profit through this even though the individual privacy remains a threat. These RFID tags allow businesses to profit because they can use the codes to efficiently organize the purchasing of stock and selling of items. The RFID can be considered a network that allows the hardware which is the actual code to work. Without the network tracking and creating the code, the device is unable to function. Although the customer is able to open the wrapper such as in the case of buying a DVD and throw it away, the thought still remains of what will happen in the future with these tags? There is constant dispute and consideration on how the alternate user who is the customer that purchases these items, may become a victim of privacy invasion.
Rubayeth M

New Hospital Tagging System Should End Patient Mixups - 0 views

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    At the NHS in England, hospitals are using these new "IT programme" telling them to start labeling their patients. In 2006 approximately 25,000 patients were saying that they they weren't given the right treatment. These were cases due to the misreading of the patient's tags, papers and other identification papers.(These misreadings were due to the legibility of the handwriting. Then the idea of barcodes and RFID were introduced this February by the UK healthcare manager, Roger Lamb who is now using this NHS 10 digit patient ID number and RFID tags which will modernize the NHS hospital in England. RFID's will be upon their wristband which will contain all their personal records (there will also be a photograph if the patient is unable to speak). This can only be accessed by the doctors from his/her PDA. 2.4_health 3.1_hardware: RFID and 10 digit barcodes 3.7_databases: that holds patient's records (Keep in mind this article was written in 2007.)
nicholas n

iPhone Application Tracks Runners in the New York City Marathon - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    This articles shows the conventional uses of RFID, and you me personally the fears of doing using such technologies. This article tells the reader that in the latest new york city marathon, the people watching wanted to track certain runners(stakeholder). So for the race each runner placed an RFID tag (Hardware 3.1) on the shoes, and on the track (set intervals) sensors would pick up these RFID tags and record the information to each individual runner. To obtain this information one would need an Iphone and 4 dollars to pay for an app that can give you up to date information. There was an issue of reliability present from the perspectives of the cell companies(AT&T). That issue was reliability, to overcome this issue they put temporary cell tower around the track. While no major issue was sparked, I was scared of what it could potentially do. This may do into the realm of sci-fi but my own issue would be survaillence, what if one day everyone was forced to where one of these, there will be these seners at every door or entry way tracking our every move(1984-George Orwell Big brother). Maybe we will have less crime since everything is monatered, but we will lose all privacy. It may be an exaggerated case but not impossible. In reality I can see it being place in our passports, ensuring more security at our flights, but what are we losing
Noreen C

TAGSYS Develops Airline Industry's First Reusable RFID Baggage Tag for Qantas | Busines... - 1 views

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    In airports nationally and internationally, flyers have to stand in line to wait to check in. The process is anything but welcoming for those who are running late, dislike crowds, and are just simply impatient. The process is just has grueling for the workers who have to deal witht the annoyed customers day after day. Luckily, the ticket kiosks have made the check in time shorter, being great for those who have no luggage to check in, but still just a part of the process for those who do. With RFID tags, the check in process isn't as dreadful. Companies are now begining to use reusable RFID tags that can track up to four flights at a time for each luggage, and can be programmed to track upcoming flights. This technology reduces the check in time, and increases effciency as the luggage is already associated with the flyer, and it's location is known at all times. Lost luggage can be found easier, and the manual labor needed for check in is cut down. There is also less paper being used, since the RFID tags only involve electronic mediums. For both the flyer and the company, the RFID tags can be a bright future. However, with more and more ways to eliminate time and human error, it is possible that the jobs of the people at the check in will be reduced. This seems to be a problem with many technologies, but this is the way in which our future is going. But, even though technology seems to be super efficient and a lot better than humans, it has it's flaws. RFID tags are read by radio rignals. If the tags are broken, or placed in an area where the radio signals cannot reach, then the tags are useless. There also needs to be new technology that allows airline companies to begin to use the tags, which may be costly. Another major issue is that in order to increase efficiency, all of the customers must be on board. There is no guarantee that this will happen any time soon, or that all of the airline companies will wish to use the technolgy.
Daniell S

Security risk found in new credit cards - Technology - International Herald Tribune - 1 views

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    In this article it talks about the idea of putting RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification technology into a credit card. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. It would be a good thing because it would totally change the way a business could work. It would decrease the amount of time a person spends in a store. A person could simply walk in and out of the supermarket with the items they wanted and the amount of money would be charged directly to the persons credit card. However, this could result in an increase in credit card abuse. with RFID technology the signal could be picked up by any radio frequency. This can result in identity theft, and credit card fraud. This is a a violation of the social and ethical issue Security. The stakeholders in this situation would be the credit card users, and the companies issuing the credit card. The users would become angered that their credit cards could be maxed out without them using it more than once and the companies could be sued for each credit card they issued.
Noreen C

New Toolkit for Disaster Response: Social Media, Mobile Tools & Telehealth - Features -... - 1 views

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    According to Alexander Vo, an associate professor in preventive medicine and community health, telemedicine is a helpful measure to be taken in order to help patients from a remote location. However, he says that problems have arose when telemedicine was used in relation to diaster relief. One example given is the earthquake in Haiti, when many technologies were donated by companies in order to promote the use of telemedicine for immediate disaster relief. Vo says that this technology was not used, especially within the first few weeks, because the locations were staffed with enough doctors. Further, even if the technology could be used, the doctors were not trained to use it, and there was no time to train them at that moment.Only after the voluntary doctors went back to their home towns could they be of any use in regard to telemedicine. The patients in need of special care could then connect with the doctors in the remote areas, however, there could be problems if the internet was down, or if the necessary hardware was destroyed due to the diaster. Even though the egagement in telemedicine was not the best for Haiti, it was seen to be of great help for a hurricane in Texas recently. Vo explains that telemedicine was successful because it was already established within the communities. The technology was available throughout the affected areas, and could be put to use immediately. The use of cell phones was also crucial, because many of the patients had pre-established access to doctors who could help diagnose and alleviate the problems of the patients in affected areas. Because the protocols were established prior to the disasters, the care was planed out to be available to the most amount of patients. Plans in advance can also taken into account the problem of damaged internet service, cables, and networks, and determine what the best plan of action is given the situation. Thus, the relief would allow the affected area to be back on track quickly, and efficientl
Mohammad A

Tech Companies Push to Digitalize Patients' Records - 0 views

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    This article is regarding the use of Electronic Health Records, and digitalizing medical documents for the "betterment" of the medical staff, and the ease of use that databases provide as a solution to the IT issues that these facilities face. Many health care policy makers within the government, including President Obama, are advocating for the major shift in the use of electronic health records, and digitalizing patient information. However, only a small percentage of medical treatment offices have done so (approximately 17%). Basically, electronic health records document personal information of the patients, for example name, address, age, and medical issues that they face, making it much more easier for doctors and medical staff members to get into the use of e-prescriptions, providing treatment electronically. However, as information becomes digitalized, often times, major issues such as reliability of the IT equipment becomes and important aspect of the scenario. Major companies such as Dell and IBM are in the run to provide electronic health record databases for medical facilities to use. To these major stakeholders, these databases, when set-up properly, are basically a tool for health care providers to use; they can reduce costs and improve the type of care that is provided for patients. They also have the patient's entire medical history, and other medications, along with lab tests that if properly connected to databases, can ease the treatment guidelines. Thus the benefits include less trivial tests, reduced health related errors, and better care with less costs for patients. The IT systems that are provided, including faster networks with improved wireless connections and more financially affordable computers are what will basically be used within the medical facilities running on electronic health records with digitalized information. Also, there will be more space for these new machines to be placed in, since all
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    continued... the paper documents are now going to be taking no physical space; entirely stored digitally. However these devices do not provide the solution of reliability that staff members may face when on the wireless networks and/or dealing with digital data. One solution that the article provides is the new Internet-based service model, known as cloud computing, in which much of the computing firepower and data reside in remote data centers, which doctors, nurses and staff would use via the Web browsers on their personal computers. Through cloud-computing, there is a more reliable and efficient way for medical staff members to document data without having system failures, and also if they ever plan on outsourcing, they can easily work with the database online.
Elisavet M

An Unforeseen Complication of Electronic Medical Records - 0 views

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    This article focuses specifically upon the negative implications that surface with the installation and adaptation of electronic medical records (EMR) for medical professionals targeting specifically the level of doctor/patient relationships. The author, a medical specialist within a facility, talks about his experience with the proven efficiency of the EMR system's effective retrieval of patient medical history and advanced medical database, but further accentuates emphasis on the system's flawed influence upon medical professional and patient relations. One of the primary stakeholders, the medical doctors and physicians complain that the system itself places limitations upon doctors' interactions with patients during the time of consultation (a critical part of constructing medical diagnoses); the author places emphasis upon the way he had to consistently go back and forth from the patient to the computer, in order to type in the retrieved information gained from the conversation. The act of going back and forth between patient and technological system (EMR) discouraged and urged the patient into silence, thus limiting conversation with the doctor, due to the lack of complete face to face, non interrupted evaluation and reflection of medical symptoms, history, prior experiences from the perspective of the patient. Thus, the second primary stakeholder, the patient himself, feels that he or she is not properly or fully being examined; more importantly this places the patient into the position of feeling less significant, as if his/her perspective doesn't truly matter when in reality it is the patient's responsibility to be clear and coherent with the medical professional, to help navigate the doctor into generating the correct diagnosis that will help save patient lives. The IT system involved is the EMR (electronic medical record) system that operated with the help of dozens of computer terminals that were positioned in individual workstations (hardware com
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    (continuation) component) and worked on the same networking service. The software programming that came with the system helped improve the retrieval and sharing of patient medical history, organization of data, efficiency and flexibility of keying in and updating medical information etc. In connection to the scenario of Health, the limiting influence forced upon doctor/patient relationships sourced from the integration of EMR systems targets a flaw in the advantage of having instant connection to patient medical information. Not only are doctors forced to focus on correctly typing in the necessary information, thus avoiding or diminishing patient relations, but the great magnitude of medical information stored and available in EMR systems, "can push some doctors into what one EMR expert refers to as "cognitive overload" while trying to balance patient input with medical history data on the spot. Furthermore, the system's software tool, such as the fee-for-service payment system, which helps tabulate symptoms while simultaneously facilitating the billing process, continues to discourage doctors from executing patient consultation. One major issue that surfaces is reliability; the EMR system itself consists of hardware and software components that transition the doctor's attention from the patient directly onto the transferring of information into the system while in the mode of confrontation. The correspondence of data with the real world comes into significance, as the data may become unreliable due to the fact that it may be entered incorrectly (the doctor may have been focusing more upon data transmission, rather than what the patient actually stated), and additionally the use of EMR systems increase the risk of data becoming outdated, for it is solely up to the doctor's skills and attention that medical history, symptoms, side effects of the patient be kept at a steady consistency once entered into the system. Thus, although physicians and he
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