McDonald’s Tries Out New RFID-enabled Pay-By-Phone Coupons By Jose Fermoso Wired
First, it was the Starbucks-style store redesign and new focus on the coffee. Now, the latest attempt by McDonald’s to stay relevant is through a new e-coupon system that it is currently testing in Japan. Called the Kasazu coupon (or contactless) it is a payment application that is downloaded into your phone and is then placed on top of an RFID reader by the user for instant payments and coupon redemption.
Many other companies are using this, such as Visa, and RFID is being used for everything from paying for parking meters to expediting border crossings in RFID-enabled passports.
According to the press release, McDonald’s will begin using the tech in 175 stores and eventually expand it to the other 3,800 stores in that country. There’s no word on when they expect to move this option to U.S. stores. Many phones in Japan include RFID tech, so it’s a good place to set-up highly concentrated trials of a transaction technology that will likely go completely mainstream in the next few years.
For McDonald’s, and other companies that are thinking about connecting their service to portable applications, this is about more than just offering convenience to the customer. For one, marketing campaigns and specific offers could be structured around an individual user’s food preferences, where, of course, they could sell mobile ads and make a little extra dough.
Sub pretextul “luptei anti-terorism” Australia va demara incepand cu acest an un program experimental al companiei Unisys care permite scanarea oculara si identificarea din mers. Sistemul ar fi destinat “simplificarii controalelor la aeroporturi”, dupa cum informeaza The Australian. Compania de tehnologie avansata Unisys a declarat ca se afla in negocieri cu Guvernul Australiei si alte organizatii pentru a introduce programul pilot care va permite, intr-o prima faza, identificarea pasagerilor de pe un aeroport prin amprenta irisului, chiar in miscare. Pana acum, identificarea irisului se facea prin stationarea in fata unor camere speciale. Noul sistem “Iris in miscare – Iris on the Move” foloseste un tip de camera capabil sa ia imagini de la distante mai mari si poate tinti oameni in timp ce merg si compara amprenta lor oculara cu cea din baza de date, posibil si fara stiinta acestora. Practic, daca acest sistem va fi adoptat, pasagerii de pe aeroportul australian, fie ca vor fie ca nu vor, fie ca stiu fie ca nu stiu, vor fii scanati din mers, in folosul “sigurantei cetateanului”. Mike Webber, directorul Unisys pentru zona Asia-Pacific afirma ca circa doua treimi dintre australieni sunt de acord sa-si ofere amprenta oculara bancilor, guvernului sau altor organizatii de securitate daca aceasta inseamna o mai buna siguranta si protectie impotriva furtului de identitate. “Ne asteptam ca pana la sfarsitului lui 2009 sa vedem tehnologie “Iris on the Move” pe tot cuprinsul Australiei”, spune Webber.
Unisys doteaza Armata SUA, FBI si NATO
La inceputul acestei luni Corporatia Unisys a anuntat ca a fost admisa de Guvernul SUA pentru a face parte dintre cele patru companii care participa la programul RFID III, dupa selectia facuta de U.S. Army Program Executive Office-Enterprise Information Systems. Programul de mare amploarea RFID III este realizat astfel de Unisys, Systems & Processes Engineering Corporation , Northrop Grumman Information Technology si Savi, o companiei a concernului Lockheed Martin. Contractul se ridica la 428 milioane dolari pentru dotarile cu tehnologie RFID a unor institutii militare si agentii federale americane, precum si a NATO si a altor parteneri ai coalitiei, informeaza compania.
Un articol aparut in TIME, in 18 octombrie 2007, dar care contine date foarte interesante.
Foto: Tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chips with the needles used to implant them under the skin.
You may not know what RFID stands for, but you’re probably using the technology on a daily basis. RFID (that is, radio frequency identification) is in passports, in electronic toll-collection tags, in credit cards, metrocards, library books and car keys. Like conventional bar codes, RFID chips store and relay information, and allow for the identification of commercial products — and, now, of house pets and people too. Human “tagging” was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 to facilitate retrieval of private medical records, but the procedure has had few takers. It’s still purely voluntary and last week, California Gov. Schwarzenegger sought to keep it that way, signing a bill that makes it illegal for employers to force workers to have RFID devices implanted as a means for receiving paychecks or government benefits. But this summer, a large pilot program involving hundreds of human patients got under way at the Alzheimer’s Community Care agency in West Palm Beach, Florida. The maker of the RFID chips used in the program, VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of the Delray Beach–based Applied Digital Solutions, is funding the initiative and wants to market its tags to the roughly 45 million high-risk patients in the U.S. with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The company says these patients can benefit from having instant and accurate access to medical records, which the chip would provide. “The medical community understands the need for a comprehensive electronic medical record that has portability,” says VeriChip Chairman and CEO Scott Silverman. “What goes on in emergency rooms and even in practices today is archaic. Pen-and-paper record keeping is 97% of medical records today; 98,000 deaths occurred last year in emergency rooms because of no information or inaccurate information.” To date 2,000 people worldwide have voluntarily had the VeriChip tag implanted into their upper right arms, among them patients with chronic or debilitating disease — as well as VIP patrons of a Barcelona nightclub and investigators requiring special access to confidential drug-trafficking case files at the Ministry of Justice in Mexico. Over the next two years, VeriChip and Alzheimer’s Community Care plans to inject 110 patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s with the chip as well. But VeriChip came under fire in September — shortly after the first 90 or so Alzheimer’s patients received its chips in Florida — after an AP report unearthed studies suggesting the chips may cause cancer in laboratory animals. Within two weeks of the AP report, VeriChip’s stock plummeted from just under $6 a share to a low of $3.50, a company spokesman says. The AP cited three studies published between 1996 and 2006 that “found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous sarcomas — malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.” In an exclusive interview with TIME, Silverman provided a list of 34 studies the company included in its FDA application, including one of the three mentioned in the AP article, which showed that less than 1% of 4,279 chipped mice developed tumors “clearly due to the implanted microchips” but were otherwise healthy, and that “no clinical symptoms except the nodule on their backs were shown.” The second study, conducted in France in 2006, two years after VeriChip’s FDA application was approved, found that while 4% of the 1,260 mice in the study developed tumors, none of them were malignant. As for the third study, Silverman says it was conducted in mice specifically bred to produce tumors, and was therefore omitted from the sheaf of studies included in the FDA application. Other studies that were sent to the regulatory agency also showed tumor growth, but associated only with vaccination sites. Dr. Lawrence D. McGill, a veterinarian and leading expert in animal pathology says the tumor development in rodents is unsurprising. “Even if you put in a bland piece of plastic, it will produce tumors in rats and mice,” says McGill, who assessed the studies on behalf of VeriChip. He says it would be a leap to apply the findings of studies in mice to cats or dogs — or to humans, for that matter — which are much more complex animals. Few official scientific studies have been conducted on the effects of microchip implants on house pets, but none have found a link between the chips and cancer, says McGill. If there were a problem, he says, we would have already seen lots of cancer among the approximately 10 million pets that have been chipped over the past 15 years. Says Silverman, “There are no reported incidents to the FDA of any cancer formation around that.” In fact, there has been one case of cancer — in a French bulldog named Leon — according to a 2006 study in Veterinary Pathology. But it remains unclear whether the cancer was caused by a microchip or as the result of an injection, or who the maker of the chip was. The dog’s tumor was removed in 2004, and a later examination found no recurrence. It seems that no one notified the FDA about Leon, but his case doesn’t appear to worry the agency, as evident from a statement it issued when the AP brought Leon’s story to light in September. “At this time, we continue to believe that the VeriChip is safe for humans,” the FDA said. “In all the safety data the FDA has reviewed for this device, including extensive animal data, we have seen no evidence suggesting toxic or carcinogenic effects.” News of the tumor studies haven’t yet dissuaded other groups, including Alzheimer’s Community Care and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), from encouraging the use of RFID microchips. Given the large number of Alzheimer’s patients in South Florida and the potential for natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods, the VeriChip comes in handy, says Mary Barnes, president and CEO of Alzheimer’s Community Care, because, unlike a medical medallion, it cannot be taken off or lost. “In Palm Beach County and South Florida, we have projected over 200,000 Alzheimer’s patients,” Barnes says. “When you’ve got that kind of risk out there for our family members … this type of technology is a godsend.” Over the next two years, Barnes will monitor how often medical records change for each of the patients in her agency’s RFID program, and will track how the caregivers work with the new technology. “You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out this has great possibilities,” she says. Meanwhile, a handful of concerned pet owners have expressed interest in removing RFID chips from their furry companions, but VeriChip hasn’t heard of anyone doing so yet. The AVMA officially counsels against removing the chip, while assuring pet owners it will continue to monitor the situation. “At this point we do not recommend that people should stop microchipping,” says Dr. Rosemary LoGiudice, a veterinarian and assistant director with the AVMA. “We are actively watching. For the number of animals that are said to actually have microchips, when you consider the number of animals that have been microchipped and returned to their owners, the benefits are huge compared to the few and suspect cases that have been reported to have tumor formation.” At VeriChip, the outlook remains hopeful. Silverman says his company is bracing for the negative press by gathering up studies that prove the safety of its product. Even though the public hasn’t yet warmed to RFID tagging, Silverman says that sales are brisk and expects this year to double the 1.7 million chips sold in 2006.
“Şi ea îi sileşte pe toţi, pe cei mici şi pe cei mari, şi pe cei bogaţi şi pe cei săraci, şi pe cei slobozi şi pe cei robi, ca să-şi pună semn pe mâna lor cea dreaptă sau pe frunte. Încât nimeni să nu poată cumpăra sau vinde, decât numai cel ce are semnul, adică numele fiarei, sau numărul numelui fiarei.”
In ultimii ani s-a constata o accelerare a eforturilor de popularizare a bio-cipului implantabil realizat de Corporatia VeriChip, condusa de un Board de Directori format din Jeffrey Cobb, Barry M Edelstein, Steven R Foland, Scott Silverman si Michael Krawitz. Produsul a devenit o realitatea pe piata americana inca din 2004, cand US Food and Drug Administration – Departamentul american pentru Alimentatie si Medicamente (FDA) a aprobat folosirea bio-cipului ca sistem implantabil care contine tehnologie de identificare prin radio frecventa (prescurtat RFID). Conform prevederilor companiei producatoare, VeriChip, bio-cipul mai mic decat un bob de orez contine o baza de date si un numar de identificare unic si se implanteaza in mana dreapta.
VeriChip Corporation (https://www.verichipcorp.com/), producatorul micro-cipurilor, le face reclama drept cel mai sigur si rapid mod de a accesa informatii medicale de la o persoana, in situatii de urgenta. Dupa cum probabil stiti, Statele Unite au inceput deja sa implanteze aceste bio-cipuri voluntarilor dar si copiilor, bolnavilor, detinutilor si militarilor. Discutia principala din spatiul public american si nu numai, este, in acest moment, inlocuirea cartilor de identitate, in timp, cu aceste bio-cipuri implantate in mana dreapta.
Inca sunt voci, izolate, care reclama, ca si noi acum, faptul ca tehnica permite interceptarea informatiilor, ca avem de a face cu insemnarea cu numarul Fiarei, ca este un atac la libertatea persoanei, etc, etc. Acum, razboiul impotriva terorismului cumulat cu “salvarea mondiala” de criza ce se amplifica, la randul ei indusa, justifica orice masura excesiva. America trebuie perceputa ca un experiment. “Experimentul Pitesti” a fost aplicat, cu succes, intr-o alta forma, neviolenta dar cu acelasi scop si la scara larga, precum comunismul, asupra amestecului de populatii din Statele Unite. Rezistenta este asadar minima si anihilabila. Probabil mai auziti din cand in cand de cate un grup de credinciosi – catalogati rapid de media drept extremisti – care se refugiaza in munti si refuza orice legatura cu statul federal, pentru ca apoi sa aflam ca o razie FBI a reusit sa “repuna situatie in legalitate”, cu ajutorul uzului excesiv al armelor de foc.
Pana la faza aceasta, aici, in spatiul european, inca pregatit la o rezistenta in masa datorita crestinismului si a culturii milenare a natiunilor bine inradacinate in arealul lor ancestral, se opereaza cu acest instrument intemediar, actul de identitate cu micro-cip. Dupa cum intemeiat a avertizat Duhovnicul Neamului, Parintele Iustin Parvu, in urma revelatiei sale, acesta este un semn premergator insemnarii fizice cu numarul Fiarei, conform profetiei Apocalipsei, pe mana dreapta si pe frunte. Si iata dovada tehnica, cunoscuta deja la nivelul expertilor: conform unor surse independente de presa, deci neoccidentale, focalizarea discutiei publice asupra VeriChip pune in umbra faza a doua a operatiunii malefice. Conform acestor surse, la ora aceasta s-a edificat deja cel de-al doilea proiect ultra-sofisticat, sub comanda Agentiei de Cercetari si Proiecte Avansate de Aparare (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – DARPA) care apartine de Departamentul Apararii Statelor Unite. DARPA (https://www.darpa.mil/) este, printre multe altele, si inventatoarea Internetului.
Inventia care ar putea implini Profetia este un alt micro-cip implantabil, numit Multiple Micro Electrode Array – MMEA (Vezi Multielectrode array si Biochip). Acest cip va fi implantat in cap, in zona fruntii, pe un nerv care va conecta creierul direct la un calculator. Inventia este deja testata cu succes si are diferite aplicatii, in special, momentan, medicale si militare. Concret, aceasta va permite practic teleghidarea unui om de la distanta. Experimentele (publice) de pana acum au demonstrat cum un cobai devine o jucarie vie in mainile specialistilor care detin telecomanda. Sigur, totul pare de SF. Dar la fel era pentru stramosii nostri posibilitatea zborului in spatiu. Acum totul este normal, asa cum va parea, poate, si urmasilor nostri folosirea acestor micro-bio-cipuri, pentru “beneficiile” aduse de acestea in “situatii de urgenta”.
De aici, nu va mai fi decat un pas, pentru americani, pana la implinirea Profetiei, doi, probabil, pentru romani. Poate dura 10, 20 sau 30 de ani, poate dura mai mult – in functie de gradul de “civilizatie” al zonei -, dar in tot cazul, suntem foarte aproape. “Nu credeam că voi trăi să văd şi eu începutul acestor vremuri de durere, apocaliptice”, afirma Parintele Justin in Apelul sau la trezire. Un clevetitor infiltrat in Biserica noastra, fragmentata deja, in cea oficiala si cea reala, se intreba cu glas tare de ce trebuie sa mai respectam niste canoane “invechite”, in cazul scandalului apostaziei lui Corneanu. Acum, pentru a fi luat in deradere demersul de avertizare profetica venit din partea Parintelui Justin Parvu, se spune acelasi lucru despre scrierea sfanta a Apocalipsei. Si totusi, ea se intampla.
February 17th, 2009 
VR 
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