The RFID Reader

RFID Tagged Viagra

In an effort to stop the amount of counterfeit Viagra that is being sold, Pfizer has adopted strict measures. Now all packages of Viagra made be Pfizer will be tagged with RFID technology. Pfizer hopes this will help stop the illegal sale of the popular pill prescribed for impotence.

The ID tags created by Pfizer will be a block “for criminals who might attempt to counterfeit our products”, the company stated.

People should as pharmacists and wholesalers will be given a RFID tag reader that will be able to send data to the Internet to Pfizer’s webpage to verify if the Viagra is authentic or not.

There have been a number of lawsuits in the past by Pfizer, against individuals selling Viagra illegally.

Canadian Tagged With RFID Technology

Apparently, there is a 29 year old male entrepeneur Amal Graafstra living in Canada who has had RFID tags implanted into his hand.

With the use of these tags, Graafstra is able to open his front door using one chip. Using another chip, he can even log onto his computer.

Graafstra feels that RFID technology is perfect for him, because he “does not want to be without access to things that he needs to get into”. He feels having a chip implanted into his skin will still allow him to enter his house even after his keys and clothes have been stolen.

The chips are quite affordable costing only $2 and interact with computers and other electronic devices. The reader for these chips usually run about $50 which is inexpensive for this type of technology.

This is just one of many uses for humans being tagged with RFID, other uses can be seen especially in the banking and healthcare industries.

RFID Tagged Luggage?

RFID is becoming very popular in such a way that a few of the European airlines are considering using this technology to tag luggage.

In an articles appearing on cheapflights.co.uk, there is new legislation that will increase the amount people will be compensated for if the airline loses their luggage. The cost is now £814 (1,440 USD ) which is expected to result in £678 billion (1Tlrn USD) a year for the average amount of claims that are submitted.

Since the airlines will be paying almost triple than what they have paid before, this will be a big incentive for many of them to start using RFID tags to keep track of the bags they handle.

Texas Instruments Products Tagged With RFID

It was announced today that Wal-Mart, in cooperation with Texas Instruments’ Educational Productivity Solutions business division, has started supplying RFID tags to the cases and pallets of calculates that are being sold within its store.

Texas Instruments is the not the first Wal-Mart supplier to do this as many of Wal-Mart’s other suppliers have started carrying out this process for the past year.

Last October, Wal-Mart extended its use of RFID tags by making sure at least 500 of its stores were enable with RFID readers.

According to a spokesperson for Texas Instruments, the use of RFID tagging on its calculators will help ensure that enough calculators are in stock for the start and duration of the school year.

RFID Vendor Wins Lawsuit

With the federal government planning to implement RFID tagging within passport, a RFID chip vendor On Track Innovations has been given the “green light” by the court to resume testing RFID chips, as a provider of this technology, after the company issued a lawsuit.

The New Jersey based company will continue were it previously left off testing the RFID chips, after the Government’s Printing Office rejected On Track Innovations’ technology to produce the chips
In the beginning a hand full of vendors were selected to test and produce the chips, and On Track Innovations was not one of them. However, the federal government decided to reconsider some of the rejected vendors, and On Track Innovations was once again considered and discarded. . The company sued the GPO in small claims court and was given permission to test their RFID chip technology.

Many analysts are still concerned that the use of RFID enabled passports will give the government the ability to spy on its citizens.

VeriChip's Releases IPO

VeriChip, which is also known as the Human Chip Firm, has released on Friday an Initial Public Offering of $45.8 million.

The company is well-known for its manufacture of a microchip that can be implanted in humans. These microchips use RFID technology, and plans are being made to have the chips “injected with the rice-sized tag”.

VeriChip hopes someday to have a person’s medical records contained within the chips. Last September, the CEO of VeriChip, Jon Merriman, allowed himself to be tagged. The tag does not contain his medical records, but at present his chip contains information about end of life care that he would like. This is called a living will.

It will be interesting to keep track of how successful the company will become, before this IPO, VeriChip has lost approximately $7.7 million spread over a four year period.

RFID Enabled Passports

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it will start testing passports that contain RFID tags.

These RFID enabled passports have already been in use by other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. The DHS plans to try these new passports at the San Francisco airport, where it will become the second airport, after Los Angeles International Airport, to test these new passports.

The DHS plans to have all passports embedded with RFID technology that has the person’s private records and digital photograph by October 2006.

Is Using RFID A Privacy Risk?

With the growing popularity of RFID many security experts are debating if the advantages of RFID outweigh its disadvantages.

One disadvantage in particular that they are worried about is their growing concern that RFID technology might allow others to violate someone’s trust and privacy. This is not only a concern for analysts as 21% of the consumers who are familiar with RFID technology are afraid it will be used by companies to track purchases, while 81% would feel better if the tag was removed before leaving the store.

However, companies such as Microsoft see RFID in the future being used to help people locate things in their home, whereas VeriChip Corp thinks that having a chip implanted in you with information about your medical illnesses could help medics.

However, the use of RFID for tracking individuals might soon be possible with identity documents.

TSA Supports RFID Technology

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that it will support having RFID technology implemented to tag and track “baggage-loaders, fueling trucks, and other maintenance vehicles.”

This announcement came after it conducted a trial at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Four million dollars has been allotted to fund this trial project that is being completed at Newark. However, the trial project there only uses RFID to track 80 vehicles, while a concurrent project at JAXPORT in Florida is using RFID to track baggage.

The vehicles in Newark are being monitored by equipment provided by I.D. Systems. I.D. Systems’ gateways were joined to nodes on a network located around the airport. Based on this, someone driving a vehicle could be tracked when the RFID Vehicle Assisted Communicator, linked to a GPS unit, transmitted a 900 MHz signal to the gateway.

Walmart's Chinese Suppliers Reluctant To Use RFID

Even though Walmart has successfully been able to persuade many of its suppliers that using RFID technology is beneficial in the long run, the US retailer will have a hard time persuading its Chinese suppliers that RFID technology is better for them as well. Not only will this be beneficial to Walmart’s Chinese suppliers, but to Walmart as well who receives approximately 50-70% of their dry goods from China.

RFID tags are wireless frequency tags that allow companies to tag and track their products. However, according to a recent survey completed by Fusion Consulting, many companies in the southern part of China are not aware or did not understand the benefits of RFID technology in the retail market.

According to Stephen Wong of EPCglobal Hong Kong, one of the main reasons why companies in South East Asia are slow to embrace RFID is due to the availability of cheap labor in China. However in western society, RFID technology has reduced labor costs leading to increased profits.