Time: Mon Sep 15 05:01:41 1997
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Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 04:56:55 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: [PRIVACY] TechWeb (fwd)
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<snip>
>
>>Subject: TechWeb
>
>>> [TechSearch]
>>> Search Home Advanced Search Search Hints Search the Web
>>>
>>> [Image]
>>>
>>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>>> February 03, 1997, Issue: 939
>>> Section: News
>>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Biometry: human-tracking system goes global
>>>
>>> By Larry Lange
>>>
>>> Stanford, Calif. - Biometric identification using such
>>> technologies as fingerprint and retinal scanning is well
>>> under way worldwide. After debuting in Australia in 1987,
>>> national computerized fingerprint systems exist in
>>> several countries. The Japanese telco giant NTT is
>>> developing a fingerprint-recognition method, and the U.S.
>>> Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories is
>>> assessing equipment from several vendors in the retinal
>>> scanning industry, including EyeDentify (Baton Rouge,
>>> La.) and Recognition Systems Inc. (Campbell, Calif.)
>>>
>>> Transponder technology is routinely implanted in animals:
>>> the pet market most predominantly, at 3 million ID chips
>>> and counting. LifeChip, produced by the Destron Fearing
>>> Corp. (St. Paul, Minn.), and the Trovan electronic
>>> identification tag, from Electronic Identification
>>> Devices Ltd. (Santa Barbara, Calif.), offer a chip etched
>>> with a 10- or 64-bit ID code. Available for $10 at local
>>> animal shelters, the chips are small enough to inject
>>> with a syringe, and the ID number is read by a handheld
>>> scanner.
>>>
>>> These implantable transponders are finding their way into
>>> the livestock industry as well, with tags implanted in
>>> pigs, sheep, cows and horses. Texas Instruments Inc. is
>>> also manufacturing an alternative called Tiris, a
>>> radio-frequency identification technology for vehicle
>>> identification and livestock monitoring.
>>>
>>> Though the Trovan dealer's agreement prohibits placing a
>>> chip under human skin, there's nothing to say one can't
>>> be worn on a bracelet, and such devices are being
>>> utilized by nursing-home and prison administrators to
>>> track people. Even ski resorts are putting the chips
>>> inside lift tickets.
>>>
>>> Widespread tracking of human beings is not far away. The
>>> Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency
>>> recently awarded Eagle Eye Technologies (Oak Hill, Va.) a
>>> contract to build a bracelet-sized mobile terminal
>>> designed for compatibility with existing satellite
>>> communication systems. The contract is overseen by the
>>> U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command at
>>> Huntsville, Ala. Suggested uses, according to Eagle Eye,
>>> include "tracking Alzheimer's patients, children,
>>> executives, probationers and parolees, and military
>>> personnel"-a market that could conceivably encompass the
>>> world's entire populace in just a few decades.
>>>
>>> So-called smart cards are widely catching on, too. The
>>> DOD's Multi Technology Automated Reader Card (MARC) looks
>>> to "record, revise and transfer medical-treatment data"
>>> and store soldiers' "readiness information," such as
>>> personal, legal and medical information. The MARC card
>>> was developed for President Clinton's abortive plan for
>>> universal health care.
>>>
>>> France and Germany have incorporated all their
>>> social-services data into national ID systems: Is the
>>> United States, with its rich store of digital data,
>>> poised to follow suit?
>>>
>>> Copyright ® 1997 CMP Media Inc.
>>>
>>> You can reach this article directly:
>>>
> http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?EET19970203S0090
>>>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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