Group items tagged

New face recognition scanners which work with biometric passports are being trialled at Manchester airport to help increase security and prevent passenger congestion.

New face recognition scanners which work with biometric passports are being trialled at Manchester airport to help increase security and prevent passenger congestion.

A relatively old news article, that details concerns and issues about RFID tags that remain relevant, or have become more relevant over time. The article clearly defines law enforcement agents, criminals, marketing corporations, and the average consumer as stakeholders in the development and widespread use of RFID tags. The article describes the issue of privacy and unauthorized or undetected monitoring, whether for illegal use or law enforcement or for marketing schemes as rising from the continued functionality of RFID tags after they have served their purpose -- outside of the stores and past the RFID scanners. The article mentions several concerns, including the more widespread adoption of long-range RFID scanners by non-commercial groups or people, and their ability to be used as an invasion of privacy. Evidently, the technology that makes the continued functionality of RFID tags a privacy issue is in the way that each tag, which can be as small as a few centimeters long, can store various bits of data, such as when the item was bought, where the item was bought, for what price, and who bought it, in combination with the ability to use long-range RFID scanners to scan and detect this information outside of a store.

In this article Walt Augustinowicz has shown and proved many people in the public how they can be pick pocketed with out a single finger being laid upon them. They can have their credit cards, debit cards, and passports information stolen quite easily with a simply passing by of the scanner. With this advanced technology that makes paying for things easier, also makes it easier for others to pay for their things using the same card. The card number, the expiration date, the type of card, and even the person's name can be found out. This can show how the social/ethical issue involved is thus privacy - security is another possible issue. The IT system is the RFID tags/microchips. The stakeholders are the people whose information is getting stolen and the people who are stealing the information - people who make the RFID tags/microchips are also possible stakeholders. The area of impact is politics and government - but also can be business and employment. People's private information is at stake and electronic pickpockets can easily steal the information and order products.

This article talks about the security concerns related to RFID technology. RFID technology is susceptible to theft because it broadcasts radio frequencies about the information embedded in the card. This makes it very easy for thieves in possession of a card reader. A person with intent to steal information could just walk past a card carrier with a card reader and pick up the theft victim's credit card numbers, expiration dates and sometimes even the card owner's name. 20% of the card information that was stolen in an experiment has RFID chips. RFID technology increases the chance of identity theft, even passports have RFID implemented in them, this makes them very vulnerable. Passports carry very sensitive information and anyone with a RFID card scanner could wake pass a passport carrier and gain his or her personal information. The stakeholders in this issue include the card carrier or passport carrier whose security is endangered, the information thief who is gaining unauthorized access to a person's personal information and the businesses such as Visa or MasterCard whose reliability is being endangered. This is a security issue that has hampered the positive buzz surrounding RFID technology and its convenience.

"The African Medical Research and Education Foundation, is putting Computer Aid International PCs, together with scanners and digital cameras, into rural health clinics in some of the most isolated communities in Africa. From there, nurses and newly qualified doctors can email pictures via the internet to clinical specialists for instant expert diagnosis. By this mechanism people living in rural areas can have access to the best clinical diagnosis available and medical conditions can be treated promptly and accurately with life-saving consequences. "

"A Japanese rail firm has introduced a system to check that staff are smiling enough at all times. Computerised scanners around 15 Tokyo stations will measure the smile's curvature to ensure it is broad enough."

What will the Japanese think of next?

In big corporations such as Wal-Mart, the use of RFIDs has increased, but the disadvantages of RFID is now a serious issue. With the use of RFIDs on items, the customer is able to avoid waiting at a register, and the RFID will charge the person's credit-card. Yet the tags embedded in the items bought, such as clothing, can be tracked down by the store management systems, risking customers' security and privacy. Since RFIDs do not require a power supply or batteries to operate, all that is needed is a wireless scanner, which Wal-Mart's managing system uses to keep track of the items. Privacy has now become a major issue within the use of RFIDs for many Wal-Mart customers. Also, in many credit cards and "gas-cards", RFIDs are being used, yet the information on the tags also stays within the system. At airports, many modern passports are now using RFID tags that can be scanned from a range as far as 30 feet. Thus this results in chaos for the passengers, and an issue in being able to control the airport security properly.

Large scale businesses like Wal-mart and government authorities in passport make use of sophisticated RFIDs which make the data stored in them or to be accesses through them safe, which helps them keep their business data or data of the clients(in some cases passport holders) safe, however many corporates make use of cheap RFIDs which have a weak encryption code to protect them. This code can be broken easily and hence the client of that RFID is vulnerable to hackers. Ford for example makes use of RFIDs manufactured by Texas Instruments, in their car keys. These RFIDs are protected by very weak codes, hence it is easy for thieves to break the code and steal cars.

This is a video I found online which relates to our case study. It deals with telemedicine in Kenya and how it has greatly helped clinics and patients in receiving medical care simply through the use of a camera, scanner, and computer.