IRIS scanning in European passports being prepared - EUobserver.com, Belgium
As early as 2005 traditional European passports could be replaced by a new set of identification measures including biometric information.

NEW use for RFID tags - Ars Technica
It is a low-cost, easy to implement technology. RFID tags are essentially inexpensive radio transponders that transmit unique identifying data to a receiver....

Cameras Watching Students, Especially in Biloxi
The New York Times reports, "Fears of violence have spurred a trend to outfit public schools with the same surveillance cameras used in Wal-Marts to catch thieves."

BIOMETRIC technology proliferating - Daily Yomiuri, Japan
... Using a biometric system, a person's fingerprints or other physical characteristics are scanned and registered electronically to identify the person by ..

LABOR backs `big brother' powers - Green Left, Australia
A law presently before federal parliament, if passed by the Senate, would allow immigration officials to collect “biometric data” on all non-citizens.

EU calls for biometric border security Cape Times, Africa
... and control illegal immigration. The use of photographs and fingerprints is known as biometric technology. European security fears ...

RFID 'kill' option allays consumer privacy fears - Thewisemarketer.com, UK
Field tests of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology performance
in retail store check-outs are to be carried out by NCR and the Auto-ID
Center.

NCR Prototype Kiosk Kills RFID Tags - RFID Journal
NCR, a Dayton, Ohio, provider of point-of-sale systems, is working with the Auto-ID Center to test a kiosk that can kill RFID tags.

Betraying One's Passengers
The New York Times opines, "JetBlue's disclosure of consumer information is a cautionary tale about the ease with which government can access information that is ostensibly in private hands."

Radio Tag Debut Set for This Week
Wired News reports, "A consortium of retailers and consumer goods companies plan to unveil the replacement for the bar code next week. The upgrade will use a controversial radio technology that critics say will significantly expand the powers of retailers to track the whereabouts of their goods and the people who buy them."

Little Chip in the Big Apple!
Business Wire reports, "Applied Digital Solutions, Inc., an advanced technology development company, today announced that New York City's first subdermal VeriChip(TM) "chipping" procedure was performed yesterday (September 24, 2003) at the Company's lower Manhattan Authorized VeriChip Center."

Panel Targets Pentagon Terror Spy Office
AP reports, "House and Senate negotiators have decided to close a Pentagon office that was developing a vast computerized terrorism surveillance system and bar spending that would allow those high-tech spying tools to be used against Americans on U.S. soil...The controversial Terrorism Information Awareness program was conceived by retired Adm. John Poindexter and was run by the Information Awareness Office that he headed inside the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It was developing software that could examine the computerized travel, credit, medical and other records of Americans and others around the world to search for telltale activities that might reveal preparations for a terrorist attack."

BOND-STYLE ID cards a first - Melbourne Herald Sun
... security. The Biometric Access Control Solution (BACS) is the first to combine not one, not two, but three types of biometrics. ...

EU proposes a security upgrade for IDs - International Herald Tribune
... Commission announced two proposals Wednesday setting out a common format for European residence permits and visas that will eventually include
biometric ...

DNA Computing: The Next Breed of Tech
CNN reports, "Unleashing the activity and properties of DNA could soon form the basis of new devices. Now scientists are harnessing life itself to generate new strains of computer devices."

States Join in Building Terror Database
AP reports, "While privacy worries are frustrating the Pentagon's plans for a far-reaching database to combat terrorism, a similar project is quietly taking shape with the participation of more than a dozen states — and $12 million in federal funds."

RFID Readers That Anyone can use, and Afford - PRNewswire
Open Tag Systems (OTS), an expert in providing robust, low-cost RFID solutions, has introduced two new hand held RFID readers, the SR-KBD...

COMPANIES test RFID waters but remain in shallow end - ComputerWorld
Executives from several large companies last week outlined their plans to move ahead with RFID technology as ...

Big Brother is watching you 24/7
CSM Book Review: The roots of America's surveillance culture are deep -- and ominous, says Christian Parenti in The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America -- From Slave Passes to the War on Terror...Though Parenti makes it clear that "even before the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the routine surveillance of everyday activity was expanding rapidly," he claims the horror of that day has been "seized, even hijacked, by the worse elements of the political class who seek to steer fear and anger towards the destruction of traditional American liberties.

UNIVERSAL Biometric to launch Multi-Biometric Products - United Arab Emirates
Universal Biometric is positioned to respond to the growing demand for Biometric Products and Solutions across Multiple Security Markets.

Patriot Act, Part II
The New York Times editorializes, "Rather than lash out at well-intentioned critics, the Bush administration should listen to those who are saying we need less Patriot Act, not more."

Revisiting the Patriot Act
PC Word reports, "It has been nearly two years since the Patriot Act's swift adoption in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. But whether the law is the boon to law enforcement claimed by its supporters or the menace to civil liberties feared by its foes remains unclear...Critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) charge that the law is too invasive and violates Constitutional guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure....Patriot Act supporters say that the only people who need to fear being investigated under provisions of the Act are terrorists and their supporters."

VeriChip Corp. Signs Distribution Agreement for Brazil
Business Wire reports, "Applied Digital Solutions, Inc., an advanced technology development company, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, VeriChip Corporation, has signed a five-year, exclusive distribution agreement with Metro Risk Management Group, LLC, for the country of Brazil. About the size of a grain of rice, VeriChip(TM) is the world's first subdermal, radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip that can be used in a variety of security, financial, emergency identification and other applications."

COMPANY Information Center - Business Wire (press release)
... Aurora Biosecurity Solutions provides fully automated, complete biometric products and systems that grant or deny access to facilities, networks,e-transactions ...

TI to Make UHF EPC Tags - RFID Journal Sept. 17, 2003 -
Texas Instruments, one of the world's largest manufacturers of RFID transponders, has announced that it is entering the market for UHF chips.

PROVIA Introduces RFID Compliance Kit - Yahoo News (press release)
... the availability of RFIDware, a new product solution for Wal-Mart suppliers and others needing to comply with the retail giant's January 2005 deadline for RFID ...

Big Blue Launches RFID Service
News Factor reports, "IBM today unveiled a corporate radio-frequency identification service - a move that unleashes technology that business experts call a death knell for the bar code. But privacy watchdogs are expressing mounting concerns."

Radio-Tagged Codes to Hit Supply Lines
AP reports, "Backers of new radio-tagged product codes, a kind of souped-up wireless bar code, are heralding this as the week the technology finally moves off the drawing board and into the physical world. Unlike traditional bar codes, "Radio Frequency Identification" tags don't need to pass under a laser reader. They're already commonly used by drivers with 'speed passes' at toll booths, U.S. military quartermasters and ranchers tracking livestock..."

ALBERTA mulls biometric ID - The Globe and Mail, Canada
EDMONTON — Alberta's privacy commissioner is reviewing the province's plans to combine facial recognition technology with the new drivers' licences.

MOUSE signs off on security - Australian IT, Australia
... It has potential as a ubiquitous biometric system that does not need any equipment other than a standard computer, a keyboard and a mouse.

Bush Seeks to Expand Access to Private Data
The New York Times reports, "The president is seeking broad new authority to allow federal agents — without the approval of a judge — to demand private records and compel testimony."

Sweden Reject Euro Currency, Exit Polls Indicate
Voice of America reports, "Exit polls taken soon after voting ended in a national referendum Sunday indicated that about 52 percent prefer not to accept the European Union's currency."

BRACE for the RFID data deluge - InfoWorld, CA
"RFID (radio frequency identification), the technology behind wireless sensors used for tagging products to track their location, is getting attention across a number of industries, including manufacturing, retailing, transportation, and logistics. Giants like Wal-Mart, Target, and General Motors are already incorporating it into their supply-chain operations." :: It makes me wonder if our data storage technology and network capacity can handle a future in which every product and every person is on the Net?

SAS Tests Biometrics at Swedish Airport
AP reports, "Hoping to simplify passenger arrivals and departures and improve security, Scandinavian Airlines Systems said Wednesday it will test using biometric technology at an airport in northern Sweden."

Learning to Live With Biometrics
Wired reports, "Use of biometric ID systems has been on the rise in the private sector for some time. Companies from Hertz to Pepsi use finger-, hand- or iris-scanning systems to identify employees and sometimes customers. This year, biometrics system revenues will top $928 million, according to the International Biometric Group. In 2004, sales are expected to top $1.5 billion. Not surprisingly, privacy advocates are worried about the use of biometrics in public schools, where minors are the ones being scanned."

MALAYSIA tests ID chips for embedding in bodies - Silicon.com
"The Malaysian government has acquired rights to chips that can embed identity tags into cash, passports or even human bodies. The government has acquired intellectual property rights to the chip - now dubbed the Malaysian Microchip (MM from Japanese research and development (R&D) company FEC, which designed it. The chip can replace barcode tags in retail goods, and can be inserted into the human body, animals, bullets, credit cards and other items for verification purposes, said the report."

RFID Readers Get Smaller - RFID Journal
Sept.9, 2003 – One of the challenges of RFID technology is designing and
manufacturing equipment that’s small enough to function in a wide range
of ...

RETAIL takes stock of radio tags - The Globe and Mail, Canada
... The technology, known as radio frequency identification (RFID), tracks retail inventories through computer networks connected with microchips "tagged" to any ...

THE watershed moment for RFID - CNET News.com
A line was drawn in the sand: RFID was going to happen. More recently, Wal-Mart said it would not put RFID technology in retail ...

JAPAN to issue biometric passports by '05 - Japan Times, Japan
Japan has decided to introduce biometric passports by fiscal 2005 to meet tightened US immigration controls following the September 2001 terror attacks...

US to try biometric passports to fight terror - Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
... In short, it is a biometric passport, and the US seems convinced that is the way to go to restrict the movement of terrorists and organised criminals....

RFID: Tracking Kids, Keys and Pets - The Feature
... the wOz Internet address. Roughly speaking, RFID could be described as the electronic equivalent to smell.

Is Big Boss Watching You?
CBS News reports, "Some workers' rights advocates believe it is corporate America, not government, that has been emerging as the clearest embodiment of Big Brother - the all-seeing, all-knowing entity in Orwell's novel "1984." With technology already available or on its way, corporations can block your e-mail from particular senders, stop you from printing documents deemed too sensitive and record instant-messaging conversations among workers. "People worry a lot about the FBI spying on them," said Lewis Maltby, president of National Workrights
Institute. "But your chances of being spied on by the FBI are one in a million. Your chances of being spied on by your boss are better than 50-50."

World's smallest microchip unveiled
Aljazeera reports, "Malaysia has bought the rights from a Japanese firm to the world's smallest microchip that can be embedded in everything from currencies to human bodies.Announcing this on Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad said the microchip would boost the global “anti-terror” war. Mahathir said the revolutionary miniature chip, developed by Japan's FEC Inc., could be combined with current technology to "greatly prevent the possibilities of terrorist acts" as well as banknote and document counterfeiting. Chief executive Kunioki Ichioka told reporters that the chip can also be inserted into the human body, animals, bullets, credit cards and other items for verification purposes, and can replace price bar codes used to tag products."

UK: ID cards 'a must' against terror
The Advertiser reports, "BRITAIN must introduce personal identity cards for all citizens if it is to combat the threat of terrorism and organised crime, according to the country's most senior police officer. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US there has been growing pressure in Britain, Washington's top ally in the war on terror, to bring in identity cards and a nationwide consultation on the issue is under way."

LOWRY Computer Products Announces its Membership In the Microsoft... - Yahoo News
"... Lowry, a leading provider of wireless, bar code, RFID and data collection solutions, has been named as a Microsoft Certified Partner."

RFID Will Be Bigger Than Y2K - CIO
The Bottom Line: RFID will have a dramatic impact on the operation of global supply chains over the next 10 years.

HITACHI Unveils its Itty Bitty RFID - InternetNews.com
Taking the concept of e-commerce in new directions, Hitachi Tuesday unveiled one of the world's tiniest RFID chips.

RFID tags make it into bank notes - Techworld, MA
Hitachi has developed an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip that requires no external antenna.

GL Sciences Announces Compact, Low-cost RFID Card Reader/writer - Japan Corporate News
The low-cost RFID (radio frequency identification) module is available for less than 3,000 yen ($26), the cost of producing a magnetic head.

RSA MULLS RFID DEFENCE - 02 September 2003 - CommsWorld, Australia
Some researchers at RSA security have recently published a paper outlining
how RFID tags could be blocked.

HITACHI develops new biometric identification system - Japan Today, Japan
TOKYO — Hitachi Ltd said Monday it has developed an identification system based on the pattern of veins in fingers.

SPYING ON BIG BROTHER - Glasgow Daily Record, UK
... of Europe.". She is setting up a unit to monitor testing of one of the latest ideas, radio frequency identification (RFID).

ID Theft Cost $53B in 2002, FTC Says
AP reports, "Identity theft cost consumers and businesses $53 billion last year, the Federal Trade Commission says in the most comprehensive government study of the increasing problem."