| XXVIII. | Human Microchip Implants: Omnipresent, Ubiquitous RFID Readers |
| Posted: February 20, 2004 |
| Human microchip implants are candidates for the Biblical mark of the beast technology. With regard to human microchip implants, the main significance of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips or tags is that the spread of RFID tags in consumer goods will mean an accompanying spread of RFID readers. These RFID readers then would then provide the infrastructure to provide ubiquitous readers of human RFID microchip implants. |
| A. | Widespread Presence of Readers Required for Human Microchip Implant System. |
| Any widespread, human microchip implant-based electronic identification system used for identification, in generalÑor buying and selling, specificallyÑwould require an extensive, if not universal, presence of microchip readers. |
| B. | Pet Chipping Business Model Based on Free Distribution of Readers |
| The business model for pets was based on the free distribution of scanners to veterinarians and animal shelters. |
| C. | Human Microchip Implant Business Model Initially Based on Widespread Distribution of Readers via Medical Community |
| The business model for chipping people was similar to that for pets, which was based on the widespread free distribution of scanners to veterinarians and animal shelters. |
| 1. | Business Model Based on Widespread Distribution of Scanners: The Register: June 10, 2002 |
| [QUOTE] | The people business model is based, according to Applied Digital, on Digital Angel's HomeAgain animal identification system. Vets and animal shelters were given free scanners, and there you go, some kind of critical mass brewing. It's also significant that three of the company's execs have been chipped, not because they have any ailments (not disclosed ones, anyway), but because they wanted "to demonstrate to the world our complete confidence in the success of this exciting, life-enhancing technology." |
| So although vertical markets are being targeted initially, really they want people to accept it as natural on the basis that's it's entirely positive, and everybody should have it done. The security potential is substantial, and the privacy issues come clanking along behind.422[UNQUOTE] |
| 2. | Goal Is for 90 Percent of U.S. Hospitals, Clinics and Paramedics to Have Scanners: Palm Beach Post Staff Writer: Friday, May 10, 2002 |
| A May 10, 2002 article by Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Deborah Circelli reported on plans for human microchip implant chip scanners to be available nationwide. |
| [QUOTE] | The VeriChip process also is similar to one started by St. Paul, Minn.-based Destron Fearing Inc., which was bought by Applied Digital in 2000. |
| The company is hoping Destron's expertise and experience implanting ID chips in more than 10 million pets throughout the country will be helpful with the VeriChip. |
| To help bolster the VeriChip's appeal, Applied Digital is distributing the $1,200 scanners free to hospitals in Palm Beach and Broward counties... |
| In two to three years, however, the company's [Applied Digital Solutions] goal is for 90 percent of U.S. hospitals, clinics and paramedics to have the scanners. The company hopes one day it will become routine for all hospitals to scan patients who come into emergency rooms unable to speak, or having Alzheimer's. |
| About 4,000 people worldwide have registered with the company to be implanted with the VeriChip, [President Scott] Silverman said423[UNQUOTE] |
| D. | Human Microchip Implant Business Model Based on Distribution of Readers via Medical Community May Be Affected by FDA Warning |
| A November 2002 FDA warning not to market the VeriChip "with claims of medical utility" would, at that time, on the face of it, seem to have an influence on any plans to build a market for human microchip implants based on the nationwide distribution of human microchip scanners via the medical community. |
| E. | Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Reader System Conceptualized in Number of Ways |
| RFID systems that are being designed to provide universal microchip readers have been conceptualized and named in a variety of ways. |
| 1. | Wireless IDs424 |
| 2. | Internet of Things425 |
| 3. | A Network of Trillions of Things426 |
| 4. | Silent Commerce427 |
| 5. | Reality Online428 |
| 6. | A Virtual Double of the Real World429 |
| 7. | Universal Commerce; U-Commerce430 |
| 8. | Ubiquitous RFID; Ubiquitous ID; Ubiquitous Computing431 |
| 9. | Radar for Everyday Products432 |
| 10. | Track-and-Trace433 |
| 11. | Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS)434 |
| 12. | The Next Computer Revolution435 |
| 13. | A New Global Infrastructure—A Layer on Top of The Internet436 |
| F. | Historical Note: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) First Developed in World War II: Reuters: April 8, 2003 |
| A Reuters article reported that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) was first developed in World War II. |
| [QUOTE] | First developed in World War II as a way to help radar operators distinguish between friendly and enemy aircraft, RFID tags are already used to track cattle, identify lost pets, and enable commuters to drive through tollbooths without pausing.437[UNQUOTE] |
| G. | Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Readers: RFID Readers May Become Omnipresent to Read both RFID Tagged Items in Retail Outlets, and Potentially, RFID Human Microchip Implants |
| Scanners that read RFID microchips may become omnipresent in stores if RFID tagged items are introduced in retail establishments on a broadscale basis. Following are indications of the spread of RFID readers and RFID tagged items. Presumably, omnipresent, ubiquitous RFID readers will be able to read non-contact RFID smart cards, and passive or active RFID human microchip implants. |
| 1. | An RFID Test, a Planned RFID Rollout, and RFID Use in Books: InformationWeek: June 18, 2001 |
| Cheryl Rosen, writing in InformationWeek covered an RFID experiment in Tulsa, Okla., "one of the first major commercial rollouts of RFID technology," and "a market for RFID in more than 30 libraries and universities." |
| [QUOTE] | Tulsa, Okla., is the site of this summer's most innovative experiment in inventory management. A group of retailers, manufacturers, and vendors-dubbed the Auto-ID Center-is wiring the entire city with analog radio-frequency gear that can track packages equipped with microchips. |
| The system will make it possible to track inventory as it moves from point to point across the city. "We're putting RFID [radio-frequency identification] chips on everything that moves," says John Balboni, VP of E-business at International Paper Co. in Stamford, Conn... |
| Eventually, the wireless IDs are likely to replace many bar-code applications, in which retailers and manufacturers continue to invest... |
| ...San Francisco International Airport...next month will begin one of the first major commercial rollouts of RFID technology. Its new baggage-tracking system will use a high-frequency system from SCS Corp. that includes a chip and microwave antenna on an adhesive-backed strip... |
| ...When a receiver finds an RFID-tagged bag, it triggers levers to automatically direct the bag to a security area... |
| [Mark] Denari[, the airport's operations security coordinator,] says the airport will begin passing along the cost of the devices to the airlines. Eventually, he sees the airport generating revenue by offering RFID tracking of all luggage as an outsourced service. |
| Checkpoint Systems Inc., a supplier of security tags and radio-frequency devices, has...also found a market for RFID in more than 30 libraries and universities. Last week, the University of Connecticut announced that it's putting tags on every book. Rockefeller University's library in New York has added them to 112,000 books and journals...438[UNQUOTE] |
| 2. | "A Radar for Everyday Products": Newsweek: March 18, 2002 |
| Scott Kirsner, a technology columnist for The Boston Globe writing in Newsweek, provided an overview of RFID as of the March 18, 2992 issue of Newsweek. |
| [QUOTE] | [Kevin] Ashton is a Procter & Gamble brand manager on loan to MIT, where he serves as director of the Auto-ID Center. His mission: to reinvent the quarter-century-old bar code used at checkout counters everywhere... |
| The next-generation technology that Ashton's group is developing, a cheap microchip affixed to the container, would tell all... Ashton refers to it as "radar for everyday products"... |
| With inexpensive electronic tags embedded in products and a network of wirelessly linked tag readers tracking those products, store managers would have a real-time tally of the products on their shelves... |
| One promising sign: the Uniform Code Council—keeper of the bar code—has endorsed the Auto-ID Center's efforts, and Ashton says the group is on track to have its technological specifications finished and released by October 2003.439[UNQUOTE] |
| 3. | "The Internet of Things": Forbes.com: March 18, 2002 |
| Forbes wrote about radio frequency ID chips in March 2002. |
| [QUOTE] | Much as the humble bar code helped companies understand what they were selling, these new tags, which bear a unique number known as an electronic product code, will let businesses track what customers are buying... |
| And once these radio-frequency ID chips are ubiquitous, more advanced uses are expected to emerge, making retailers omniscient about every product moving through the supply chain... |
| Much of this new work is under way at the two-year-old AutoID Center at MIT, which has $9 million in research funding from a consortium of big companies and government agencies, including Pepsi, Johnson & Johnson, UPS and the Department of Defense. Kevin Ashton, the Procter & Gamble exec who heads the center, foresees RFID leading to complete automation of data collection. "We need an 'Internet-for-things', a standardized way for computers to understand the real world," says Ashton. |
| Radio chips have long been used to tag livestock and are immensely successful in highway toll-gathering schemes. ExxonMobil's SpeedPass wireless payment system allows drivers to pay by waving a key-chain fob next to the pump. It has already enlisted 6 million drivers... |
| The Gap, in conjunction with tagmaker Texas Instruments, recently tagged a suburban Atlanta store. It tracked jeans from the distribution center to the store shelves, which had embedded readers. Scanning at 50 tags per second allowed store personnel to get a computer snapshot of where every pair of boot-cut women's indigo jeans was located. |
| McDonald's is also trying out the tags. In Boise, Idaho 31 restaurants give out chip-embedded key chains carrying stored-value payment information, which is linked to a customer's credit card or checking account. The tags, from Wayne, Pa. startup FreedomPay, rack up rewards such as free sodas. |
| "You walk up, place your order, wave the wand, and in two seconds it's authorized and approved," says David Rosal, a strategy director for McDonald's, which is also testing ExxonMobil's SpeedPass in 450 Chicago restaurants... |
| Privacy advocates are also quaking over the possibility that anyone with a radio-frequency reader, including the government, could find out where a passerby had purchased his shoes. It would be easy for Wal-Mart, say, to use its in-store readers to figure out which competitors its customers frequented. Even scarier, some credit-card issuers are considering implanting radio tags into their plastic cards. |
| "It's quite serious," cautions Tien, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco watchdog group. "Once you go down that road, one has to consider the possibility that while Wal-Mart and Kmart might not share that information with each other, there will be times when that information will be demanded by the government for purposes of investigation." |
| It's a long way since the first bar-coded item, a ten-pack of Wrigley's gum, was scanned in 1974. Ten years from now that package may well have a chip inside.440[UNQUOTE] |
| 4. | Tags Will Be on Everything: USA Today: April 11, 2002 |
| Kevin Maney, writing for USA Today, comments on the extent to which objects will be chipped. |
| [QUOTE] | Each tag will contain a computer chip, storing a small amount of data, and a minuscule antenna that lets the chip communicate with a network. |
| In time, when billions of tags are out there and communicating, the technology will infiltrate business and everyday life to a greater extent than today's personal computers, cell phones or e-mail. In decades to come, its impact might be as fundamental as the invention of the light bulb. |
| Those tags will someday be on everything — egg cartons, eyeglasses, books, toys, trucks, money and so on. All those items will be able to wirelessly connect to networks or the Internet, sending information to computers, home appliances or other electronic devices.441[UNQUOTE] |
| 5. | RFID Tags: Inevitable and Can't Un-invent: USA Today: April 11, 2002 |
| Kevin Maney, writing for USA Today, reports that some see RFID tags inevitable. |
| [QUOTE] | "This idea is seeming less and less crazy and more and more desirable," says Auto-ID's [Kevin] Ashton [executive director of the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. "Technological breakthroughs show it's not only desirable, but inevitable"... |
| Privacy "is an issue. There will have to be a social discourse about what we want and don't want, " says Accenture's [Glover] Ferguson [chief scientist at consulting firm Accenture]. "But the technology isn't going away: You can't un-invent it."442[UNQUOTE] |
| 6. | "The Manhattan Project: Excessive Secrecy Could Be the Auto-Id Center's Achilles Heel": RFID Journal: July 22, 2002 |
| In an "Opinion" piece, RFID Journal observed that the RFID Electronic Product Code, designed to succeed the Universal Product Code (UPC), was developed secretively. |
| [QUOTE] | During my interview with Alan Haberman, who was closely involved in the development of the bar code 25 years ago, for this week's feature, he mentioned something interesting. All of the meetings that the committees and subcommittees involved in the effort were open to not just people in the industry, but also to the press and public. Haberman said the minutes from the meeting were written up and distributed. And when the bar code and Universal Product Code were finally presented to the industry, there were companies ready to implement it immediately. |
| This struck me because it contrasts so sharply with the Auto-ID Center's current posture. The center is highly secretive. So secretive, in fact, that I've begun to think of it as the Manhattan Project. The difference in attitude towards releasing information is related to the difference in the effort to create the UPC and the effort to create the Electronic Product Code that is designed to succeed it.443[UNQUOTE] |
| 7. | Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., Research Firm Issues New Report, Entitled "RFID: The Smart Product (R)evolution": RFID Journal: September 4, 2002 |
| In a news article, RFID Journal covered Forrester Research's new report. |
| [QUOTE] | Christine Spivey Overby, the Forrester CPG analyst who wrote the report, says the aim was to clarify some of the confusion surrounding RFID... |
| [Overby says,] "The big question is whether or not we get to the point where the economics let us cross the chasm from pallet- and case-level to item-level tagging"... |
| Among the factors needed to foster wide-scale adoption are global standards, low-cost tags, affordable multi-frequency readers, and successful pilots, such as the Auto-ID Center's field test. Overby also says that "power retailers" like Wal-Mart and Ahold will have to drive adoption.444[UNQUOTE] |
| 8. | "Seize the Day: The Silent Commerce Imperative": Accenture: September 20, 2002 |
| An Accenture report's introductory page indicates that, globally, a number of companies are using RFID. |
| [QUOTE] | At Accenture, we keep close tabs on the future, looking for companies that are implementing silent commerce technologies in both predictable and surprising ways. In this report, we take a close look at a number of companies (ExxonMobil, Figleaves.com, Ford Motor Company, Marks and Spencer, Shell and others) in a wide range of industries (automobile manufacturing, distribution, energy, retail, and others) that are currently using a core silent commerce technology, radio frequency identification (RFID)... |
| As our examples from Asia, Europe and the United States illustrate, many successful companies are finding innovative ways to use RFID technology and leverage the power of resulting information to meet and create customer demand. We believe that silent commerce will help companies around the world do the same.445[UNQUOTE] |
| 9. | Alien Technology to Mass Produce Low-Cost RFID Tags: RFID Journal: September 24, 2002 |
| In a news article, RFID Journal reported on Alien Technology's plans to mass produce low-cost RFID tags. |
| [QUOTE] | For more than a year, Alien Technology, a Morgan Hill, Calif., startup, has been getting a lot of press based on its ability to mass produce microchips the size of a grain of pepper for low-cost RFID tags... |
| [Jeff] Jacobsen [Jacobsen, Alien's senior vice president of new market development] said that Alien sold 300,000 tags to the Auto-ID Center's field test for 20 cents a piece. The company plans to drop the price by 2 cents per quarter, which means that by the time the Auto-ID Center launches its technology late next year, the tags would cost about ten cents. But strategic partners buying hundreds of millions of tags may get them for that price before then. |
| Alien also showed off a tiny RFID strap, a chip in a bow tie-like band that could be attached to an antenna printed with conductive ink... |
| But Alien envisions the ink being mixed with regular packaging ink to create antennas on boxes of cereal and other disposable packaging... |
| Jacobsen says that within two years, Alien could be selling the RFID straps to packaging companies for about two cents if they are buying tens of millions per year. "With these things you could literally tag a pack of chewing gum," he said.446[UNQUOTE] |
| 10. | "Power Paper Plans to Design Battery-Powered Labels": RFID Journal: October 29, 2002 |
| The RFID Journal reported on "flexible batteries to power smart labels that actively broadcast information" |
| [QUOTE] | One problem with RFID has always been its performance in the real world. When a forklift zooms through a dock door, the reader isn't always able to read a passive tag. Power Paper, a five-year-old company based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, hopes to change that by using its thin, flexible batteries to power smart labels that actively broadcast information. |
| The company has created a new division called PowerID. Baruch Levanon, Power Paper's founder and executive director, will head the division... |
| Power Paper's battery is printed and can be made to almost any shape. It is just 0.5 mm thick, provides 1.5 volts of power and is guaranteed to last up to two and a half years. Increasing the battery size can extend the shelf life. |
| Levanon says Power Paper's battery has greater storage capacity than the thin-film battery recently unveiled by Cymbet Corp. (see Thin-Film Battery May Energize RFID). Unlike Cymbet's product, however, Power Paper's battery is not rechargeable. But Levanon says the company is working to develop a rechargeable version. |
| Thin-film batteries are ideal for certain RFID applications because they can be used in labels, just like passive tags... |
| ...Levanon says Power Paper should have an active smart label on the market by the end of 2004. He adds that the battery will add only two cents to the cost of the label, when manufacturing billions per year.447[UNQUOTE] |
| 11. | "Gillette to Buy 500 Million EPC Tags": RFID Journal: November 15, 2002 |
| In an "Exclusive" news article, RFID Journal reported on Gillette's plans for a large-scale purchase of RFID tags. |
| [QUOTE] | At the Auto-ID Center's board meeting yesterday, there was one piece of news that everyone was talking about. Just before the representatives from 83 sponsor companies broke for lunch, Dick Cantwell, Gillette's VP of worldwide beauty care products, told the group that his company plans to purchase 500 million RFID tags from Alien Technology, the Morgan Hill, Calif. Startup. |
| Cantwell said...shipments of the tags, which will be compliant with the Auto-ID Center's specification, should begin in March. |
| The news is stunning because of the sheer size of the order. No one has good market numbers, but half a billion tags is probably more than the total number of RFID tags in use today. "People couldn't stop talking about it over lunch," says one person present, who didn't want to be identified. |
| Gillette was a founding sponsor of the Auto-ID Center, and Cantwell serves as chairman of the MIT-based organization. So it's probably no surprise that the company is the first to actually commit to using the tags, which will carry the Auto-ID Center's electronic product code. Still, the news came as a surprise because no one expected a major company to make a purchase this soon. |
| Cantwell told the sponsors how important RFID is to his company and to the consumer packaged goods industry. He said Gillette would tag pallets and cases... |
| The purchase by Gillette, when it is made official, will mark a major milestone in the commercialization of low-cost RFID tags and the development of the Auto-ID Center's EPC network.448[UNQUOTE] |
| 12. | "The World Just Changed": RFID Journal: November 15, 2002 |
| [QUOTE] | In an "Opinion" piece, RFID Journal commented on Gillette's plans for a large-scale purchase of RFID tags.On Nov. 15, we reported exclusively that The Gillette Company plans to buy half a billion RFID tags from Alien Technology (see Gillette to Purchase 500 Million EPC Tags). It is not only the most important news that RFID Journal has broken; it's the most important news this industry has ever seen... |
| We now have some clarity in the market... |
| Gillette's decision makes it clear to end users that the Auto-ID Center's technology is real, works and is a viable option when implementing RFID... |
| And Gillette is not alone. Several other major multi-nationals that belong to the Auto-ID Center will likely place orders for RFID tags within the next couple of months, as they ramp up pilots. In other words, your company is probably at least a year behind.449[UNQUOTE] |
| 13. | Auto-ID Center: "About The Center," "About The Technology," "The Latest News," and "Q&A" |
| The Auto-ID Center Web site has sections entitled, "About The Center," "About The Technology," "The Latest News," and "Q&A," among others. Following is information from these three sections. |
| a. | "About the Center": Auto-ID Center |
| 1) | Overview |
| The Auto-ID Center provided overview information about the Auto-ID Center, including information about "cheap agile readers" on the autoidcenter.org Web site. |
| [QUOTE] | Founded in 1999, the Auto-ID Center is a unique partnership between more than 87 global companies and three of the world's leading research universities; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, the University of Cambridge in the UK and the University of Adelaide in Australia. Together they are creating the standards and assembling the building blocks needed to create an "Internet of things." |
| Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a simple concept with enormous implications. Put a tag - a microchip with an antenna - on a can of Coke or a car axle, and suddenly a computer can "see" it. Put tags on every can of Coke and every car axle, and suddenly the world changes... |
| The Auto-ID Center is designing, building, testing and deploying a global infrastructure - a layer on top of the Internet - that will make it possible for computers to identify any object anywhere in the world instantly... |
| The Auto-ID Center is designing the critical elements of the new network. These elements include: Electronic Product Code or EPC, specification for cheap tags and cheap agile readers...450[UNQUOTE] |
| 2) | "The New Network: Identify Any Object Anywhere Automatically" |
| The Auto-ID Center's "About the Auto-ID" Web page included a "Click here to Download a Brochure" option.451 That option led to a pdf document entitled, "The New Network: Identify Any Object Anywhere Automatically." "The New Network" includes an informative comment by Dick Heyman, Global Head of Life Science & Consumer Product Industries, Sun Microsystems Inc. |
| [QUOTE] | In the near future, every single object will be connected to the Internet through a wireless address and unique identifier. The Auto-ID Center is creating the standards that will shape this new age."452[UNQUOTE] |
| 3) | "Our Sponsors" |
| The Auto-ID Center's "Our Sponsors" Web page included the following information about the Center's Board of Overseers and the Technology Board, as well as a listing of members of each Board via a "View members for" "Board of Overseers," and "Technology Board" drop-down list box. |
| [QUOTE] | End-user sponsors - those that will buy EPC-related technologies - are eligible to join the Center's Board of Overseers. All Overseers are required to make a one-time donation of $300,000. Vendors that plan to sell EPC-related technologies or services are eligible to join the Technology Board. All technology vendors are required to donate $50,000 to $150,000, depending on their annual sales.453[UNQUOTE] |
| a) | Auto-ID Center Board of Overseers |
| Accessing the Auto-ID Center "Board of Overseers" drop-down list box on March 19, 2003 yielded a list of 40 entities, 29 of which are listed below. |
| [QUOTE] | Abbott Laboratories, Best Buy Corporation, Canon Inc., Coca-Cola, CVS, Department of Defense, Eastman Kodak, Home Depot, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg's Corporation, Kimberly Clark Corporation, Kraft, Lowes Companies, Inc., Nestle, Pepsi, Pfizer, Philip Morris USA, Procter and Gamble Company, Sara Lee, Target Corp., Tesco Stores Ltd., The Gillette Company, Unilever, United States Postal Service, UPS, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., and Westvaco.[UNQUOTE] |
| b) | Auto-ID Center Technology Board |
| Accessing the Auto-ID Center "Technology Board" drop-down list box on March 19, 2003 yielded a list of 52 entities, 11 of which are listed below. |
| [QUOTE] | ACNielsen, Alien Technology, Avery Dennison, British Telecommunications (BT), IBM Business Consulting Services, Intel, NCR Corporation, Nihon Unisys Ltd., Philips Semiconductors, Sun Microsystems, Zebra Technologies Corporation.455[UNQUOTE] |
| b. | "About The Technology": Auto-ID Center |
| The Auto-ID Center provided six segments about the technology related to the work of the Auto-ID Center on the autoidcenter.org Web site. |
| 1) | "Introduction" |
| The first section, entitled, "Introduction" includes the following observations. |
| [QUOTE] | The Auto-ID Center aims to change the world. By creating an open global network that can identify anything, anywhere, automatically, it seeks to give companies something that, until now, they have only dreamed of: near-perfect supply chain visibility.456[UNQUOTE] |
| 2) | "What is Automatic Identification?" |
| The second section, entitled, "What is Automatic Identification?" includes the following observations. |
| [QUOTE] | Automatic identification, or Auto-ID for short, is the broad term given to a host of technologies that are used to help machines identify objects... |
| RFID is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify individual items. There are several methods of identifying objects using RFID, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a product, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the chip and the antenna together are called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag). The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification information to a reader. The reader converts the radio waves returned from the RFID tag into a form that can then be passed on to computers that can make use of it. This is the technology the Auto-ID Center has chosen to focus on.457[UNQUOTE] |
| 3) | "Why Focus on Radio Frequency Identification?" |
| The third section, entitled, "Why Focus on Radio Frequency Identification?" includes the following observations. |
| [QUOTE] | [B]ar codes have one big shortcoming: they are line-of-sight technology... Radio frequency identification, by contrast, doesn't require line of sight. RFID tags can be read as long as they are within range of a reader... And standard bar codes identify only the manufacturer and product, not the unique item. |
| RFID is a proven technology that's been around since the Second World War. Up to now, it's been too expensive and too limited to be practical for many commercial applications. But if tags can be made cheaply enough, they can solve many of the problems associated with bar codes.458[UNQUOTE] |
| 4) | "The Importance of Tracking Individual Items" |
| The fourth section, entitled, "The Importance of Tracking Individual Items," includes the following observation. |
| [QUOTE] | [C]ompanies will be able to know exactly where every item in their supply chain is at any moment in time.459[UNQUOTE] |
| 5) | "Creating an Internet of Things" |
| The fifth section, entitled, "Creating an Internet of Things," includes the following observations. |
| [QUOTE] | The Internet connects computers to one another. What the Auto-ID Center aims to do, in effect, is develop a network that connects computers to objects - boxes of laundry detergent, pairs of jeans, airplane engines. We are not creating just the hardware (RIFD tags and readers) or just the software to run the network... |
| Creating one, open global network for RFID... also means that manufacturers of RFID equipment can make equipment in vast quantities, since it will work with anyone's system, which will help bring down the price of both tags and readers.460[UNQUOTE] |
| 6) | "Identifying Trillions of Items" |
| The sixth section, entitled, "Identifying Trillions of Items," includes the following pertinent observations. |
| a) | "How do you distinguish between one can of Coke and another?" |
| A response to the question, "How do you distinguish between one can of Coke and another?" states: |
| [QUOTE] | There are a number of ways, but the best solution we've found is to give each item a unique number - a license plate, if you will. The Auto-ID Center has proposed a universal standard for product "license plates" - the Electronic Product Code.[UNQUOTE] |
| b) | "How do you track the item using the license plate?" |
| A response to the question, "How do you track the item using the license plate?" states: |
| [QUOTE] | The answer is to create a network of RFID readers (sometimes called interrogators).461[UNQUOTE] |
| c. | "The Latest News": Auto-ID Center: Jan/Feb 2003 |
| 1) | "The Latest News": Auto-ID Center: Jan/Feb 2003 |
| "The Latest News" Jan/Feb 2003 section of the Auto-ID Center Web site had reports on a number of topics. Following is information from two topics of "The Latest News" Jan/Feb 2003 section. |
| a) | "Auto-ID Center Launches New Website" |
| The Auto-ID Center provided information about a new Website launched "the 27th of January." |
| [QUOTE] | The Auto-ID Center has updated its Website to include the very latest information and resources... |
| The new site was launched on Monday the 27th of January - check it out at: |
| http://www.autoidcenter.org/main.asp462[UNQUOTE] |
| b) | "Auto-ID Center Opens Lab in Japan" |
| The Auto-ID Center provided information about the opening of an Auto-ID Center research lab in Japan." |
| [QUOTE] | The Auto-ID Center announced the opening of its fourth research lab at Keio University in Japan on January 22nd 2003.463[UNQUOTE] |
| 2) | "The Latest News": Auto-ID Center: Mar/Apr 2003 |
| "The Latest News" Mar/Apr 2003 section of the Auto-ID Center Web site had reports on a number of topics. Following is information from one topic, "Auto-ID Center and Tokyo Ubiquitous ID Center Plan Alliance," of "The Latest News" Mar/Apr 2003 section. |
| [QUOTE] | Talks are underway between the Auto-ID Center and the University of Tokyo's new Ubiquitous ID Center about joint research and a possible alliance. The Ubiquitous-ID Center is led by Professor Ken SakamuraÉ, inventor of the TRON real-time operating system and a leader in the emerging field of Ubiquitous Computing. The Auto-ID Center's Executive Director Kevin Ashton met with Professor Sakamura in Tokyo at the beginning of March to discuss the plan, which could see the Ubiquitous ID project working closely with the Auto-ID Center's Keio University Lab in Tokyo, headed by Professor Jun Murai. "Professor Sakamura has an incredible track record in envisioning the future and making it real," said Ashton. "We had a very positive meeting, and I think we are all very excited by the prospect of working together to make ubiquitous automatic identification a success."464[UNQUOTE] |
| d. | "Q&A": Auto-ID Center |
| The "Q&A", i.e., Question and Answer, section of the Auto-ID Center Web site has subsections entitled, "Field Test" and "About the Center," among others. Following is information from these two subsections of the Q&A section. |
| 1) | "Field Test" |
| The Auto-ID Center provided information about a "Field Test" on the "Q&A" section of the autoidcenter.org Web site. The "Field Test" material is organized in response to the following three questions. |
| a) | "I've read about a test that the Auto-ID Center is conducting. What is being tested?" |
| Following is an excerpt from the answer to this question. |
| [QUOTE] | On October 1, 2001 the Auto-ID Center and a group of its sponsors started a field test of prototype, supply-chain technology. Elements of this technology... |
| ...will be combined with a network of tags, readers, and computers - assembled from existing technologies - to track pallets and cases of products as they move across a limited supply chain.465[UNQUOTE] |
| b) | "Where is the field test located, and who is participating?" |
| Following is an excerpt from the answer to this question. |
| [QUOTE] | The supply chain, specially selected for this test, will include several distribution centers and two retail outlets...The retail outlets will include a Sam's Club and Wal-Mart store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
| Test collaborators include the Auto-ID Center, CHEP, International Paper, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Savi Technologies, Unilever, Wal-Mart, Sun Microsystems, Coca-Cola and others.466[UNQUOTE] |
| c) | "When will the test be done, and what are you hoping to accomplish from it?" |
| Following is an excerpt from the answer to this question. |
| [QUOTE] | The test began on October 1, 2001, and will proceed in two phases over the course of eight-plus months... |
| If these technologies can be proven in the field (outside the lab), they have the potential to significantly improve supply-chain management.467[UNQUOTE] |
| 2) | "About the Center" |
| The Auto-ID Center provided information "About the Center" on the "Q&A" section of the autoidcenter.org Web site. Following were answers to two of the "About the Center" questions. |
| a) | "What will the Center actually deliver and when?" |
| Following is an excerpt from the answer to this question. |
| [QUOTE] | By the end of 2003, we will have enabled vendors and users to start investing in EPC-related technology with reasonable assurance that the technology works, that there are compelling commercial reasons to do so, and that the public will be comfortable with the technology.468[UNQUOTE] |
| b) | "What makes the Auto-ID Center unique? Is there any competition?" |
| Following is an excerpt from the answer to this question that notes a "global network for... low-cost RFID tags and readers." |
| [QUOTE] | ...[T]he Auto-ID Center may be the first time in history that companies from different industries and different regions of the world have come together to develop technology they feel would benefit their businesses — and their competitors' businesses. There are groups of RFID vendors that have come together to propose standards or to foster the development in the RFID industry in other ways. These are not, however, the Auto-ID Center's competitors. None are focused on developing an open, global network for tracking individual items with low-cost RFID tags and readers.469[UNQUOTE] |
| 14. | Microsoft Joining Auto-ID Inc.: RFID Journal: June 11, 2003 |
| The RFID Journal reported that, "Microsoft announced that it is joining Auto-ID Inc." |
| [QUOTE] | Microsoft announced that it is joining Auto-ID Inc., saying it will develop software for RFID applications. Microsoft has been in talks with the Auto-ID Center for months. It is interested in not just supplying software, but also tracking its Xbox, which has been a hit with gamers.470[UNQUOTE] |
| 15. | Widescale RFID Project to Be Announced: USA Today: January 27, 2003 |
| Michelle Kessler, writing for USA Today, reports that a widescale RFID Project is expected to be announced. |
| [QUOTE] | By the end of the year, a host of consumer products will, for the first time, be sold with tiny computer chips known as RFID tags in them... |
| Next month, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Auto-ID research center, which designs the chip technology, is expected to announce a widescale RFID project, involving big partners such as Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Home Depot and Target. The center has not yet specified which products will be tested in which stores.471[UNQUOTE] |
| 16. | Seismic Shift: RFID: Line56: February 13, 2003 |
| An article in Line56, "RFID Rising," reported on "the first seismic shift" occurring with regard to RFID. |
| [QUOTE] | We have been watching for awhile, but it was just five months ago that we introduced our own readers to the topic of radio frequency identification, (RFID) passive and active semiconductor chips that could be embedded in products and read on the fly to help track goods in the supply chain, and reduce theft and counterfeiting. (Older readers might recall being fascinated 25 years ago by the barcodes and security devices RFID is just beginning to replace.) |
| Now the game is afoot, and companies quick to the mark are looking pretty smart for it. We're mere months from the first standards release (driven by the folks at MIT, thank goodness) the stars are aligning, and companies are not waiting. The latest vision was last month's commitment by Gillette to buy 500 million RFID tags from privately held Alien Technology. Five hundred million is a lot of anything, but it's really the tip of the iceberg. |
| "When we saw Alien and Gillette coming, we just looked at each other and said well, here comes the first seismic shift that takes this from being on peripheral vision to something on radar," says Lyle Ginsburg, managing partner of technology innovation at Accenture Technology Labs in Chicago. |
| ...In Gillette's case, Ginsburg thinks risk is minimal since the company is working through a single consortium and standard going forward driven by 80-some of the top companies in the world. The global 'punch' of this is not to be underestimated. "Now they're saying, 'here's the way we are going to do this so everybody please start building this way.'"472[UNQUOTE] |
| 17. | Bologna, Italy, Company Designed RFID System for Tracking Garments: RFID Journal: February 19, 2003 |
| In a news article, RFID Journal reported that Lab ID has designed an RFID system for tracking garments and other items. |
| [QUOTE] | Marco Astorri wants to make RFID fashionable. The executive VP of Lab ID, based in Bologna, Italy, has been working on a complete radio frequency identification system to be used to track garments and other items. |
| Lab ID has spent 10 million Euros and 15 months developing tags, readers and antennas that operate at high frequency (13.56 MHz), as well as the software necessary to manage the readers... |
| Astorri says that Lab ID is also working with companies that make and sell consumer goods, electrical appliances, and electronics equipment. "We think these will become significant markets pretty soon," he says.473[UNQUOTE] |
| 18. | "A Radio Chip in Every Consumer Product": nytimes.com: February 25, 2003 |
| Claudia H. Deutsch and Barnaby J. Feder report in The New York Times about radio-frequency identification. |
| [QUOTE] | Such technology, known as radio-frequency identification — the same techniques that enable an electronic sensor to record data from an E-ZPass tag or an office door to open for people with chip-equipped cards in their pockets — could one day stymie pilferers. But it is also capable of doing much more for commerce. Beyond Gillette and Procter & Gamble, companies as diverse as International Paper and Canon USA are teaming up with retailers and customers to apply R.F.I.D., as it is known, to tracking products from the time they leave an assembly line to the time they leave the store. |
| The companies are tagging clothes, drugs, auto parts, copy machines and even mail with chips laden with information about content, origin and destination. They are also equipping shelves, doors and walls with sensors that can record that data when the products are near. "We want to track all of our merchandise, and that includes items that people are unlikely to steal," William C. Wertz, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores, said... |
| Even the United States Postal Service has gotten into the act. Last month, it promoted Charles E. Bravo, until then its chief technology officer, to the new job of senior vice president for intelligent mail and address quality, and charged him with studying tracking technologies.474[UNQUOTE] |
| 19. | "RFID Security Applications Attract Attention Post-September 11th, 2001": Frontline Solutions: February 18, 2003 |
| Frontline Solutions reported that September 11th, 2001, influenced the attention given to RFID security applications. |
| [QUOTE] | RFID security applications attract attention post-September 11th, 2001 -- the increased demand for security applications such as homeland security, employee identification, people tracking and access control exerted a strong influence on RFID shipments in 2002. VDC research says there was an increase in end user evaluation of, and spending for, RFID-enabled access control systems and employee tracking/identification programs across all economic sectors.475[UNQUOTE] |
| 20. | "RFID System Secures Idle PCs": RFID Journal: February 27, 2003 |
| In a news article, RFID Journal reported that "Access Denied Systems combines proximity cards with fingerprint authentication to lock up computers when users leave their keyboards." |
| [QUOTE] | As viewers of the film "Catch Me If You Can" know, identity theft can be tough to stop. Access Denied Systems, located in St. Louis, Missouri, has come out with an RFID security system that could verify that only authorized users get access to a company's computer terminals.476 |
| 21. | Handheld and Fixed RFID Electronic Product Code (EPC) Readers: RFID Journal: February 28, 2003 |
| In a news article, RFID Journal reported on Matrics' introduction of handheld and fixed RFID readers. |
| [QUOTE] | Matrics, an RFID equipment provider in Columbia, Maryland, has introduced a new handheld RFID reader and revealed plans to market the first fixed RFID reader that handles tags based on the Auto-ID Center's Class 0 and Class 1 specifications. |
| Matrics says its handheld can read up to 200 tags per second at a read range of up to 10 feet. Most UHF handheld readers operating in the UHF range have a read range of two to three feet. "That's huge in terms of efficiency because you can step back from items and scan fairly aggressively," says Matrics CEO Piyush Sodha... |
| Matrics has also introduced a new fixed reader, called Advanced RFID Reader... |
| Matrics says the reader can read more than 1,000 tags per second at a read range of up to 30 feet... |
| The handheld will be available from April. The fixed reader will begin shipping in June.477[UNQUOTE] |
| 22. | Brief Historical Overview of Human RFID Microchip Implants: "Chips in Alzheimer's Patients ... Most ...Publicly Acceptable Use of Human Implants with Which to Begin": Privacy Journal: Summary of February 2003 Edition Article in the March 2003 Edition |
| Privacy Journal provided a brief historical overview of germane elements of the use of human RFID microchip implants. |
| [QUOTE] | There [is] a "ChipMobile" moving about the nation — or at least about communities in Florida. It's Applied Digital Solutions' "state-of-the-art, fully equipped mobile unit to spread awareness about the benefits of VeriChip to wide audiences." |
| VeriChip, first announced in December 2001, is a miniaturized radio-frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in "a variety of security, financial, emergency, identification and health-care applications," according to the company. It now has seven authorized VeriChip centers in Florida, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the U. S. |
| Back in September 1994, PRIVACY JOURNAL reported, "Entrepreneurs in the microchip-implant business who are eager to sell their products to 'the human market' have said that implanting identity chips in Alzheimer's patients would be the most benign and publicly acceptable use of human implants with which to begin." |
| Indeed, doctors for Applied Digital Solutions first implanted the tiny VeriChip transponder in a memory-impaired patient on May 10, 2002. Now there are 20 Americans walking around with them, including the company's public relations consultant, who proudly wears an implant in his upper right arm. The new chips are inert demos right now because the reading devices for them are scarce and because the chips do not locate the individual or store medical information. |
| For the complete story, ask us for a sample copy of the February 2003 edition: |
| E-mail us for a sample copy.478[UNQUOTE] |
| 23. | RFID Pilot Projects: Frontline Solutions: March 1, 2003 |
| Frontline Solutions reported on two pilot projects employing RFID. |
| [QUOTE] | Two major pilot programs put in place in the last two months could end up catapulting radio frequency identification (RFID) into a mainstream supply chain technology. |
| The Gillette Co., Boston, in the first commercial application of tags using the Electronic Product Code (ePC) technology, announced that it will begin large-scale testing later this year... |
| In an equally as promising development, Michelin North America Inc., Greenville, S.C., announced it is testing RFID tags to meet federal government regulations for tire traceability in the event of a recall. |
| Once testing is completed (about 18 months), Michelin-which is making the tag technology available to its competitors-could begin producing RFID-tagged tires for passenger vehicles and light trucks in the 2005 model year. "Applications like [the one at Michelin] will drive the ability of the tire industry to provide full track-and-trace capabilities," says Saleem Miyan, global strategic manager, Philips Semiconductors, Einhoven, The Netherlands. |
| Miyan expects these applications, particularly the one at Michelin, to kick-start demand for the whole RFID industry. "The market has been waiting for someone to be first," he says, adding that the tire application has the additional weight of government regulations and the existence of an accepted industry standard between it.479[UNQUOTE] |
| 24. | A Network of Trillions of Things: Financial Times: March 5, 2003 |
| Simon London, writing in the Financial Times, suggests that RFID chips will transform the Internet "to a network of trillions of 'things'." |
| [QUOTE] | Alien Technology is a small California-based company that sells microchips... |
| While a thumbnail-sized Pentium is capable of processing monumental amounts of data, an Alien chip is about the size of a grain of sand and is designed to do only one job: storing a miserly 96 bits of information, just enough to endow it with a unique identity... |
| If you believe the futurists, chips like those from Alien will transform the internet from a network of millions of computers to a network of trillions of "things". |
| According to this vision, every last widget, tyre and packet of Cheerios will come with a tiny microchip and antenna embedded, allowing it to be tracked from factory to warehouse to store and, perhaps, out into the world. Welcome to the world of radio frequency identification, otherwise known as RFID... |
| For retailers, the potential gains include smaller inventories, shelves that are always stocked and lower labour costs. Gillette is working with Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket group, to test smart shelves that can recognise its tagged razors. |
| A quick look through a list of corporate sponsors of the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is leading the development of industry standards for RFID, hints at other big companies that are likely to follow. The growing list includes Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, Home Depot, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, UPS and the United States Postal Service.480[UNQUOTE] |
| 25. | Goal for RFID Is to Increase Productivity: 0HIO: "Zero Human Involvement Operations": RFID Journal: March 10, 2003 |
| In an "Opinion" piece, RFID Journal reflected on a goal for RFID to increase productivity via 0HIO, "zero human involvement operations." |
| [QUOTE] | But it is crystal clear to me, and has been for a while, that radio frequency identification has the potential to boost productivity in ways that very few other technologies can. That's because RFID takes people out of the loop. |
| John Greaves, director of RFID at CHEP, has coined the term 0HIO, for "zero human involvement operations." 0HIO is a place where people don't have to scan bar codes. That saves time and makes employees more productive. [0]HIO is a place where people don't waste time counting inventory over and over, where people don't sit at a keyboard and enter routine information about what was shipped and when, where robots can identify and interact with components. |
| But getting to 0HIO is not going to be easy. I've said this before: Putting tags on goods and readers on doorways is the easy part... |
| RFID can take human beings out of particular operations, but no technology will replace good management.481[UNQUOTE] |
| 26. | RFID Technology "Unstoppable": RFID Journal: March 10, 2003 |
| Bob Violino, writing in an RFID Journal "Special Sponsored Section" that focuses on Accenture, covers views about the future of RFID technology. |
| [QUOTE] | Many business executives around the world are wondering about all the buzz surrounding radio frequency identification. What makes a radio-powered microchip with a serial number so important? The answer, according to Glover Ferguson, Chief Scientist at Accenture, can be summed up in one word: Information... |
| Accenture calls this "silent commerce." But Ferguson sees this as only the first stage in a trend toward what he calls "reality online." |
| Once individual objects can be identified, companies then can add temperature, motion, radiation and other sensors, as well as miniature microphones or video cameras. Then, not only will these objects be able to identify themselves to computers, they will be able to provide information about their status and condition. That data can be stored online to create a digital representation of the physical world - a virtual double of the real world... |
| As tag and reader prices come down, RFID will proliferate because companies need ways to gather accurate real-time information... |
| Ferguson gets extremely excited by the prospect when he talks about it. But he takes pains to explain that most of the needed technology exists today and that this is not just a pie-in-the-sky idea way off in the future. |
| "It's unstoppable, it's inexorable, he says. "This is going to happen."482[UNQUOTE] |
| 27. | Benetton Clothing: A Case Study regarding Early Consideration of RFID Tags' Use in Consumer Goods |
| Benetton clothing stores' consideration of early use of RFID tags in consumer goods provides initial information for a case study. |
| a. | "Benetton Selects Philips to Introduce Smart Labels across 5,000 Worldwide Stores": Philips Press Release: March 11, 2003 |
| A Philips press release announced its role in providing Benetton garments with "RFID-enabled labels." |
| [QUOTE] | Royal Philips Electronics...today announced that it has joined forces with LAB ID and Psion Teklogix to provide Benetton with the world's largest and most comprehensive item level tagging implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in the fashion industry to date... |
| Clothes produced under Benetton's core brand Sisley have been fitted with RFID-enabled labels based on Philips' I.CODE semiconductor technology... |
| "Benetton has thousands of retail outlets worldwide and therefore wanted to put in place a future-proof technology to bring clear cost benefits to the business whilst seamlessly enabling garments to be tracked throughout their lifetime," said Terry Phipps, electronic data processing (EDP) director at the Benetton Group... |
| Smart labels overcome the limitations of traditional barcode technology... |
| This technology will also be employed at the point of sale, automatically registering sales and returns...483[UNQUOTE] |
| b. | "Benetton Clothing to Carry Tiny Tracking Transmitters": Associated Press on SFGate.com: March 11, 2003 |
| Jim Krane, AP Technology Writer, reported that Benetton's Sisley clothing will contain a radio frequency ID tag. |
| [QUOTE] | Clothes sold at Benetton stores will soon contain microchip transmitters that allow the Italian retailer to track its garments from their point of manufacture to the moment they're sold in any of its 5,000 shops. |
| Benetton's introduction of "smart tag" tracking technology will be the largest example of a trend now emerging in the retail industry, according to Phillips Semiconductors, a unit of the Dutch electronics giant that designed 15 million tags being delivered to Benetton this year. |
| Benetton's Sisley line of clothing will contain a Philips Electronics radio frequency ID tag that will replace ubiquitous bar codes, which have to be manually scanned... |
| Such scenarios could lead to protests over "spy clothes" on privacy grounds, said Wayne Madsen of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. |
| "There really needs to be legislation if companies are doing this," Madsen said. "They say it's for internal use. But what would prevent them from sharing it with third parties, with the government or criminal investigators?"... |
| Philips has already sold a half-billion of the inexpensive chips, the largest portion of which are used in smart cards for public transportation systems, [Karsten] Ottenberg[, senior vice president of Philips Semiconductors, based in Hamburg, Germany] said.484[UNQUOTE] |
| c. | "Benetton to Tag 15 Million Items": RFID Journal: March 12, 2003 |
| In a news article, the RFID Journal reported on Benetton's plans for using RFID for its clothes in more than 5,000 stores globally. |
| [QUOTE] | [Y]esterday...Philips Semiconductors revealed that Benetton, the clothing retailer based in Treviso, Italy, would be tagging a complete line of its clothes at more than 5,000 stores globally. |
| Philips says it will ship 15 million chips this year for use in labels that will be put on the clothes when they are manufactured. That makes this one of the largest RFID implementations ever by any company. The Gillette Co. recently ordered 500 million RFID tags, but those will be delivered over three years, and the company has only just begun to take delivery. |
| Clothes produced under Benetton's core brand Sisley will be fitted with RFID labels... |
| It's not clear how long it will take Benetton to install readers in its 5,000 stores...485[UNQUOTE] |
| d. | "Clothier Benetton Adopts Philips' RFID Technology for 'Smart' Labels": EE Times: March 12, 2003 |
| An EE Times article comments on the extent to which RFID chips have been used in some aspects of industry. |
| [QUOTE] | Philips Semiconductors' RFID chip will be embedded into the label of every new garment bearing the name of Benetton's core clothing brand, Sisley... |
| While Philips' RFID chips are already in wide use for tracking parts throughout manufacturing process at Dell Computers, Toyota and Ford, the deal with Benetton makes it "the single biggest roll-out of RFID technology in the fashion industry to date," Scott McGregor, chief executive officer at Philips Semiconductors, said in a statement.486[UNQUOTE] |
| e. | Journal Reports Boycott Called in Response to Benetton Plans to Tag 15 Million Items: RFID Journal: March 12, 2003 |
| In a news article, the RFID Journal reported on a boycott called in response to Benetton's plans for using RFID for its clothes in more than 5,000 stores globally. |
| [QUOTE] | [Y]esterday...Philips Semiconductors revealed that Benetton, the clothing retailer based in Treviso, Italy, would be tagging a complete line of its clothes at more than 5,000 stores globally... |
| It's not clear how long it will take Benetton to install readers in its 5,000 stores, but the retailer, which had sales of $2 billion last year, is likely to raise privacy concerns. Even though the tags have a read range of just three feet, some privacy groups are concerned about the possible abuse of the technology. |
| CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) has called for a worldwide boycott of Benetton. A Philips's spokesperson told RFID Journal that the tags "have a feature that enables the retailer to disable the chip once a product has been purchased. This destroy command deactivates the chip and erases data stored on it thereby granting the privacy of the buyer." |
| The "self-destruct" command can be used at the discretion of the retailer and depends on the set-up of the project. Benetton has not said whether it will disable the tags at the point of sale. |
| Unless there is a big public outcry, however, Benetton is not going to be the last retailer to adopt RFID.487[UNQUOTE] |
| f. | Press Release regarding Benetton and RFID Microchips: April 4, 2003 |
| A press release addressed and clarified Benetton's position regarding RFID microchips. |
| [QUOTE] | Benetton Group, with reference to articles recently published in the press, declares that no microchips (Smart Labels) are present in the more than 100 million garments produced and sold throughout the world under its brand names, including the Sisley brand. |
| Benetton, which has always been a leader in technological innovation in the clothing sector, is currently analysing RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to evaluate its technical characteristics and emphasizes that no feasibility studies have yet been undertaken with a view to the possible industrial introduction of this technology. |
| On completion of all studies on this matter, including careful analysis of potential implications relating to individual privacy, the company reserves the right to take the most appropriate decision to generate maximum value for its stakeholders and customers...488[UNQUOTE] |
| g. | Benetton Press Release in Response to Negative Press: RFID Journal: April 11, 2003 |
| The RFID Journal reported on a Benetton press release related to "putting RFID tags in clothes." |
| [QUOTE] | Benetton...issued a press release saying it is not committed to putting RFID tags in clothes. The move was in response to negative press drummed up by privacy advocates after Benetton announced plans to tag i[t]s Sisley line of clothing.489[UNQUOTE] |
| h. | "Benetton Explains RFID Privacy Flap": RFID Journal: June 23, 2003 |
| An RFID Journal article reported in a leading summary sentence that, "Mauro Benetton clears up the confusion behind the Benetton Group's RFID announcement." |
| [QUOTE] | Does Benetton plan to use RFID tags to track garments made under its Sisley brand? Why did one of its suppliers say it was and why did the company later refute that? These questions have been lingering since the flap over privacy erupted, and now they have been answered by Mauro Benetton, director of marketing for the Benetton Group, in an exclusive interview with RFID Journal. (For detailed excerpts of the interview, which covered much more than privacy, see Benetton Talks about RFID Plans) |
| Before we get to his explanation of the controversy, a little background for those who haven't followed the story. Back on March 11, Philips Semiconductors revealed that Benetton planned to put RFID labels on all clothes produced under Benetton's core Sisley brand and track them through the supply chain to more than 5,000 stores globally... |
| ...And RFID Journal revealed that Mauro Benetton was, in fact, president of Lab ID, the RFID systems integrator Benetton was using (see Behind the Benetton Brouhaha). |
| So what really happened? |
| "The confusion was probably caused by the fact that my name is Benetton," says Mauro Benetton. "[Lab ID is] testing RFID with Benetton and with a lot of different partners. But the fact that my name is Benetton made Philips think that the technology was being used by Benetton, but it wasn't" [editorial brackets in original]. |
| Benetton points out that there were a number of factual errors in the Philips release. One was that Benetton was buying 15 million transponders this year. The retailer does produce 15 million garments under its Sisley brand, but it had no plans to tag them all this year, according to Mauro. The release also |