[LINK] Surveillance in extremis

[Geoffrey Ramadan]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> Probably not, after all you can see a barcode and you get them on 
> packets of soap flakes, but these 'ere rfiddy thingies- well who knows 
> who they are phoning home to... :)
This is the myth I a trying to dispel. In this application, the RFID tag 
is no more than a "electronic" barcode.

It does not have any intelligence, nor can it "phone home".

The Council could have just as easily 'painted numbers' on the bin and 
operators could have simply entered this via the keyboard, and achieved 
exactly the same outcome (albeit less efficiently). No one would have 
even commented.

However, as Jan pointed out, it is what you do with this information 
that is the real issue... not the RFID tag.

Reg
Geoffrey Ramadan



>
>
> Geoff Ramadan wrote:
>> Jan
>>
>> I am curious to know if you or anyone else would have the same 
>> concerns if they had stuck a simple "barcode" on the bin with a 
>> unique number?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Geoffrey Ramadan, B.E.(Elec)
>> Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Australia (www.adca.com.au)
>> and
>> Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au)
>>
>>
>> Jan Whitaker wrote:
>>> At 10:26 AM 28/08/2006, you wrote:
>>>> stick to the facts Ma'am...my source on the ground in Ryde has 
>>>> passed on a copy of the local paper
>>>
>>> I hope you weren't suggesting that I was stating any facts or even 
>>> attempting to. I don't live in Ryde, or even NSW! :-)
>>>
>>> BTW, these tags are being used in Ireland as well. One of our Aust. 
>>> Privacy Board members just sent a note that it is being called 'bin 
>>> brother' there
>>>
>>>> Just saw a paper here in Galway reporting that 500,000 Irish 
>>>> rubbish bins (wheely bins) have been implanted with sensor chips 
>>>> from a German company, with no discussion by most councils which 
>>>> went along with it. Why? For efficiency, to reduce neighbour 
>>>> disputes, and potentially to monitor how much recycling you are 
>>>> doing. Privacy advocates noted potential to hack into the related 
>>>> remote database and track who is home by changes in rubbish volume 
>>>> etc. Being called "Bin Brother".
>>>
>>> so I'm not alone in my concern.
>>>
>>> Jan
>>>
>>>
>>> Jan Whitaker
>>> JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
>>> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
>>> business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
>>> personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
>>> commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
>>>
>>> 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
>>> there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
>>> _ __________________ _
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>