The Biometrics Consortium, a leading industry group, defines biometrics as “automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. Among the features measured are; face, fingerprints, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, and voice. Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification […]

“Starting July 1, Florida’s pedigree law will require pharmaceutical distributors to document the chain of custody of prescription drugs in the state. On Jan. 1, 2007, a California statute with similar requirements will come into effect, and other states are considering comparable pedigree laws. Complying with those regulations will require disciplined processes that can track […]

“In France, item-level RFID infrastructure provider TagSys, in partnership with FabricAuto and La Poste, have introduced a new RFID-based vehicle identification and anti-theft/misuse system called ‘TRI-Tag’ (Traffic Registration Identification). The TRI-Tag system effectively adds a layer of electronic identification to reinforce existing visual identification methods. TagSys RFID tags are integrated by FabricAuto into a vehicle’s […]

“The guidelines suggest businesses must inform consumers when they embed RFID tags in clothing seams, labels and packages, and alert them on ways to disable and dispose of the tags once items are purchased. Businesses also should alert consumers when they’re entering a commercial or public place where RFID technology is used. Businesses and consumer […]

“Step up to a workout machine and an attached PDA will read the RFID information and begin a personalized training session. Besides being able to control training sessions the wristbands can also check-in/out, track member activities, monitor kids’ attendance, alert staff to emergencies and even act as a form of payment.”

“State legislators have been far too quick to believe “misinformation” spread by “the tinfoil hat crowd,” said Richard Varn, a consultant who counts RFID technology manufacturer HID among his clients. Varn, formerly Iowa’s chief information officer, joined other industry advocates in urging chipmakers to drown out what they deemed a campaign based on fear, uncertainty […]

“The badges–which are encoded with an identification number and law enforcement agency number specific to the division–work in conjunction with Blackinton’s Enforcement Identification (Eid) software, which validates badges and verifies the wearer and tracks information on each badge in a department’s inventory. So far, three departments–the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the Brookline, Mass., Police Department, […]

“A well-respected nonprofit organization promoting IT in the private and public sectors in Germany has criticized a government plan to sell personal data to finance the country’s new biometric passports. “The combination of the name and address with biometric information could lead to analysis and surveillance possibilities that are no longer transparent,” the Gesellschaft fuer […]

“In some cases, it will be possible to achieve a one-year payback on RFID by 2008, according to DiamondCluster International, a Chiago-based management consulting firm. The firm compared various estimates for RFID market growth against conservative return on investment scenarios to reach this conclusion. “Companies in the health services, particularly pharmaceutical drug makers, high-value consumer […]

“From an equipment acquisition and maintenance perspective, it’s clearly optimal to have one reader that’s capable of any task – from reading linear and 2D bar codes to reading all RFID tags. From today’s cost perspective, however, it’s often more cost-effective to have a reader that is limited to the type of code reading that’s […]