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Although there are lingering concerns by privacy advocates over the use of RFID, there's no doubt that the use of RFID tags continues to increase. According to a new report from In-Stat, over 1 billion tags were produced last year, and by 2010, that total will rise to 33 billion. Wal-Mart's requiring of their suppliers to use RFID tags are certainly one reason for the projected growth, as well as potential applications in both the industrial and retail sectors, such as the tracking of inventory.

Although there have been issues raised by privacy groups over the use of RFID tags to track consumers and their buying habits, many more CIOs are urging their companies to adopt the technology to keep track of their inventories and their supply chains. However, there is the thought that some companies are being forced to use RFID, especially some vendors who have been "directed" by Wal-Mart to use tags on all of their shipments.

In addition, some analysts are saying that CIOs, especially those involved in the retail industry, should come up with a strategy to assure consumers that they are not being tracked with the use of these tags. It is recommended they do, or else consumers may end up with a slanted awareness of RFID from what they see, hear, and read from privacy advocates that may or may not be entirely accurate.

A new study from ABI Research indicates that RFID is definitely one of the hotter technologies and momentum continues to grow for its adoption by a number of companies in all sorts of applications. In addition, ABI notes that vendors who manufacture label converters will continue to postion themselves in the marketplace as they determine which applications to focus on, including retail inventory tracking, supply chain environments, or any other situation where the movement of goods or people is essential to track.

Forget about tattoos. It seems like the new thing to get planted (or implanted) into your skin are RFID chips that can be programmed to allow you to login to your computer with just a wave of your hand in front of an enabled reader. The chips can be implanted by a surgeon or anyone else "qualified" to do it. There seem to be other uses for them, and if you're so interested, you can check out this website and get more information. I'd rather just write my username and password on a post-it note instead of going through all of this pain just to be a little more technologically "advanced" than others.

The San Francisco International Airport will begin testing the reading of RFID-embedded passports from international travelers beginning in a few weeks. The test is being overseen by the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to increase security at various border crossings and international airports across the nation. This is all part of a directive from the State Department stating that all U.S. passports issued after October 2006 would feature RFID chips that carry the holder's personal data and digital photo.

Tests like these will occur more frequently over the next several months, and with immigration likely to be a hot topic in the upcoming congressional elections, this is an opportunity for RFID to prove its mettle as a useful technology in security-type applications.

OK, someone seems to have a lot of free time on his hands. Apparently, this guy is concerned about privacy and RFID, and has created what he calls an "RFID Blocking Duct Tape Wallet." He believes that combining aluminum foil and duct tape and placing it strategically in and around a wallet will secure his identity and keep his cards and other ID information from being read by RFID tags. Why not take the next step and hermetically seal yourself from the outside world in a plastic bubble in a bunker buried deep beneath your house? This paranoia about RFID has got to stop...

We're taking a break to enjoy the holiday today, but we wanted to pass along our best Christmas wishes to you and yours. We value your support and thank you for your continued readership of this blog as well as the other members of the Weblogs Inc. network. We look forward to serving you in the new year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A new system that will allow bus riders in Oulu, Finland to pay their fare by using mobile phones instead of transmit smart cards is currently being tested on a number of Buscom vehicles. The test involves Buscom employees using RFID-enabled Nokia 3220 phones that feature tags embbed in the shell that connect to an application located in the handset. Users then hold up their phones to a reader that recognizes the data stored in the phone. Plans call for passengers to be able to load prepayments onto their cellphones, either directly from a bank account or credit card. The trial is expected to last until this coming summer.

Wal-Mart has been one of the biggest proponents of RFID technology and, let’s face it, they are one of the dominant retailers in this country, so if you want to do business with them, you pretty much have to fall in line with their directives.

A location tracking system designed to locate children leveraging both WiFi and RFID has been deployed in a Japanese school district. AeroScout, along with a group of Japanese companies, including Nissan Motor Company, has developed a system that uses standard Cisco WiFi access points to locate children wearing tags as they walk to and from school. In addition, automobile drivers are alerted to the presence of nearby children through a voice service, to reduce accidents in residential city areas. When a child reaches pre-set points along their route, the system will notify their guardian. In addition, a kid can call for help by if a need arises by pressing the Call Button on the tag, which will immediately alert a designated recipient.

This is a really good idea and hopefully this will migrate our way in the near future.

A new report from market research firm Gartner Inc. says worldwide spending on RFID hardware and software will continue to grow for at least the next two years and should total over $3 billion by 2010. According to their research, Gartner believes that businesses are looking to use RFID tags in a number of data collection applications specific to their own industry, ranging from retail environments to hospitals, as well as what is currently being leveraged in warehouses to keep track of inventory and shipping. In addition, Garnter says there will be a greater use of RFID in pharmaceutical manufacturing in order to combat diverting and counterfeiting.

The growing deployment of RFID chips in a number of applications has spooked a number of privacy advocates, who believe that companies, retail outlets, and even government agencies will use data from these chips to keep tabs on people. To that end, the State of New Hampshire is considering whether to pass legislation to regulate the use of RFID chips in order to protect an individual's privacy. Efforts in other states, including Massachusetts and California, have fallen short, so it will be interesting to see if this bellwether state in the presidential primary process will take this step.

At this point, it doesn't seem likely that this bill will pass, only because legislators certainly aren't educated enough about RFID to believe that it will be abused by anyone else. If anyone in the general public has any knowledge about RFID, it's usually in the context of Wal-Mart's use of it to track inventory. Of course, as more details emerge about the potential abuses, then some serious debate will take place. At the same time, it's up to us to set aside the paranoic arguements from those who think that the use of RFID will turn our society into a "1984" scenario and really study what it's pros and cons are.

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The concept of a 24/7 networked society has come a bit closer to reality with NEC's announcement of a thin (0.012-inch thick), rechargeable battery that can be embedded in cards or clothes. For example, this could lead to people walking through ticket booths and having their tickets scanned without having to take them out of their pockets. (It'll be interesting to see if airlines and major commuter entities would be in support of this technology due to the likely extra security measures that have to be taken.)

In addition, NEC foresees the battery, which does not contain any harmful metals such as mercury, lead, or calcium, being used in applications including electronic paper to tags that trace retail goods in real-time.

Basically, it won't be long before all of us become walking batteries and the phrase "getting my batteries recharged" takes on a whole other meaning.