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RFID Chips in Your Credit Card: Electronic Pickpocketing – True of False?

There has been a lot of hysteria and misinformation surrounding RFID-enabled credit cards (also known as contactless or smart payment cards – or as some misidentify them – wifi credit cards). Also known as an “e-dip”, e-pickpocketing is possible, but highly unlikely – your old school credit card is far more likely to be duplicated than your RFID card is to be hijacked. Here are the facts as we know them.

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Texas Teen Fights School Over Electronic Tracking via RFID Chip in High School ID

15-year-old Texas teen Andrea Hernandez has launched a fight against the Northside Independent School District to avoid wearing the electronic tracking RFID chips embedded in her high school ID. Hernandez, from a deeply evangelical religion, believes that the ID is “the mark of the beast,” as talked about in the Book of Revelation. But even without the religious aspect, this is an important issue, and the religious nature of her objection helps to provide a more solid basis over which to object to the microchipped school I.D.

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Computer Viruses on RFIDs, Fact or Fiction?

There’s been a lot in the news lately about computer viruses hiding on RFID chips. It all started when a group of researchers presented a paper this week, entitled “Is your cat infected with a computer virus?” The paper, written by three computer science researchers with Amsterdam’s Free University, detailed…

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U.S. Company Requiring Employees to Get Microchipped with RFIDs Injected into Their Arms!

CityWatcher.com is requiring that their employees have RFIDs injected into their arms in order to access CityWatcher’s data centers. While the CityWatcher says the RFID implant is not a condition of employment, it is a condition of accessing CityWatcher.com’s datacenter.

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California “Identity Information Protection Act” Would Limit Use of RFID

If California State Senator Joe Simitian gets his way, California will come to the fore of states passing laws which restrict the uses of the controversial RFID chips. South Dakota is presently considering a law which prohibits implanting an RFID chip in a human, and Rhode Island is currently reviewing…

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A TIP Exclusive: Man with RFID in Hand Takes Your Questions!

As our readers know, we reported earlier this week on Amal Graafstra, the Washington man who had an RFID chip implanted in his left hand. With the RFID chip in his hand, Graafstra intends to automatically unlock his car and house doors, log in to his computer system, and more….

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Washington Man Has Hand Implanted with RFID – Uses Hand to Unlock Door

A Washington man, Amal Graafstra, has had an RFID chip implanted in his left hand, with plans to automate such functions as unlocking his car door, unlocking his house door, and logging on to his computer, all based on the code contained in the RFID chip embedded in his hand….

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EU Hears that Implanting RFIDs and ICT in People is A-Ok – if Microchipping is Good Enough for Rover, Why Not Humans?

Aunty has been talking about RFIDs to track people since last year, and the natural extension, implanting RFIDs or other miniature technology (or ICT, as it’s often known in Europe) in people, is not a new concept. After all, we’ve been injecting microchips into pets and livestock for years. And…

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UCLA to RIAA: “Try RFIDing Them First”

The Register is reporting today that the Recording Industry Association of America has demonstrated that death should be no obstacle to a good lawsuit. Or a stupid one. According to the report, the RIAA has filed an infringement lawsuit against one Gertrude Walton of Beckley, West Virginia, for making hundreds…

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Abra Cadavera – a New Use for RFIDs

Not content just to install RFIDs into your car or insert RFIDs in your passport, the newest item which is the target of the RFID craze is human cadavers. Troubled by a rash of “now you see it, now you don’t” tricks with human body parts, and indeed entire cadavers,…

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People Tapping Into Your Home Wifi? Paint Your House!

Are you worried about your neighbors tapping in to and using your home wireless computer network? Or, worse, about wardrivers hijacking your wifi and using it to send a run of spam? Well, a Sunnyvale, California company has a suggestion for you: paint your house. “But,” you whine, “my problem…

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Follow-Up to RFIDs in Your Passports: Administration Just Says “No” to Privacy Protection Measures

So many of you responded to the post about the U.S. government mandating the embedding of RFIDs in U.S. passports in 2005, that I felt that I should provide you with this update. According to the Washington Post today, the Bush administration has responded to the privacy concerns of privacy…

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RFID Manufacturer Poo-poos Privacy Advocates, Ridicules Those with Concerns

From our “How not to win friends and influence people” department: Derren Bibby, chief technologist at RFID manufacturer Noblestar, has described an American privacy advocacy group which has expressed concern over the proliferation of RFIDs into everyday life as “some kind of fringe group in America” and “the kind of…

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RFIDs in Your Passport, State-Installed GPS Tracking in Your Car – Really.

RFIDs embedded in your U.S. passport, encoded with your identity, and able to be read at a distance? GPS devices mandated by law, installed in every single new car, so that the state can monitor your every movement and tax you based on the milage you drive? It’s not 1984, the Sequel. It’s 2004, the Reality. Both of these measures seem likely before the end of 2005.