IP: No hiding place for anyone

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2001 14:59:30 -0500
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> From: Stephen Galliver <stephen () galliver cx>
>
> Wow.  Have you seen this?  Sorry if this is old news to you.
>
> > http://www.economist.com/printedition/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=779580
> >
> > No hiding place for anyone
> >
> > Sep 20th 2001
> >
> > Embedded in bank notes or designer labels, the "mu-chip" can beep out the 
> > owner's location and details to marketers and thieves alike
> >
> > IN TODAY'S information age, everybody leaves an electronic trail in their 
> > wake. With every credit-card purchase, ATM transaction, telephone call 
> > and Internet logon, they create an electronic portrait of themselves that 
> > grows clearer at every step. Perhaps the only items that are still 
> > untraceable are people's clothes, cash and day-to-day movements. But with 
> > the introduction of Hitachi's new "mu-chip", even these could become 
> > common knowledge.
> >
> > The Hitachi chip is the world's smallest wireless identification device. 
> > It measures 0.4 millimetres square and is thin enough to be embedded in 
> > paper. It can hold only 128 bits of read-only memory, and do little more 
> > than spit out a unique identification number, when asked, to a distance 
> > of about 30 centimetres. It uses the same frequency band (2.45 gigahertz) 
> > as such longer-range wireless networking technologies as Bluetooth and 
> > 802.11b. But with the mu-chip's tiny size come some large implications.
> >
> > Until now, size and production cost were the main obstacles that stopped 
> > companies from embedding identification chips in everyday items. But 
> > Hitachi has managed to create an integrated circuit that is not only tiny 
> > but cheap. The company expects a single chip to cost less than ¥20 (16 cents).
> <snip>
>
> One (more) possible application could be clothing or jewelry for children 
> (or anyone, for that matter) which could be activated in the event of a 
> kidnapping.  As with any technology, how it's used is more important that 
> what it is.
>
> -- sdg
>
> Stephen D. Galliver :: My PGPkey may be found at http://www.keyserver.net
> stephen () galliver cx :: AE6A BD62 B2C7 7220 76C5  99EA 8AD0 93F7 4FEB 1C97
> =========================================================================
> What you do today will cost you a day of your life. Better make it count.



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