More RFID Oppression!!

Manchester Airport is to resume trials of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology because licensing changes have freed up the use of cheaper, ultra-high frequency (UHF) tags.
RFID tags, commonly used as tracking devices to improve efficiency, are available on a range of different frequencies. UHF is cheaper, more reliable and works over a wider range. But until November last year businesses needed a licence to use it.

Trials by Manchester Airport last year gave passengers RFID tags to be worn round the neck so that they could be tracked throughout the airport.
The pilots were successful but implementation costs proved prohibitive, according to head of group business development Yemmi Agbebi.
The cost of the tags, readers, network infrastructure and integration came to more than £3.2m, he says.
But now that cheaper UHF technology is licence-exempt, plans to restart the initiative are going ahead.

‘We decided on 13.56MHz tags for the initial trial, but the approval of UHF has made RFID more affordable,’ said Agbebi.

The trial will focus on improving efficiency at security, thereby increasing the time that passengers spend in the retail area. Research has shown that people spend an average of 7p a minute in Manchester Airport’s shops. The airport thinks three minutes more per passenger would generate an extra £2.3m a year.

High-street retailer Marks & Spencer is also investigating potential uses of UHF technology. The company recently extended trials of labelling clothing items and food pallets with the tags, and is reporting encouraging sales, improved stock availability and boosted efficiency.
But lower-cost UHF has yet to be accepted universally.

Supermarket giant Tesco blames complications in using UHF under EU regulations for its decision to delay na tionwide rollout of item-level RFID tagging. The company is reverting to tagging only trolleys and pallets.

Tesco says regulations limit RFID deployment to a far smaller slice of the UHF spectrum than in the US, and that technical problems with interference between readers still exists.

The costs of UHF RFID tags has dropped considerably in the past few years, says Frost & Sullivan analyst Renegarajan Srinivasan. Bulk prices have fallen from as much as $1 (53p) to 10 cents (5p), and could drop to as little as five cents by 2009.

‘Manufacturing UHF tags is much easier, and the technology offers performance benefits, such as more reliable read rates and a range often in excess of one metre,’ he said.

RFID tagging trials
Manchester Airport is restarting RFID trials because cheaper UHF technology has been made licence-exempt.

Marks & Spencer is testing UHF tags on clothes and food pallets.

UHF is cheaper, and more reliable over a wider range than lower-frequency alternatives.

~This is all very well, but what about the moral issue of being tracked, or electronically stalked?
Do we allow the multi billion corporations dictate what our commercial or consumer future entails? Do we have any rights to disagree or refuse to be tagged? Do we just sit back and foolishly believe it will protect us, and keep us safe? No, because as this article clearly highlights; They are implementing this to make more money! We are not robot slaves making cars, kept on 24 hours a day, making money, profit, and revenue for the fat cats! We are people, and as people we have the right to roam our planet freely without being accused of committing crime, because thats how i feel. Whenever I am filmed by CCTV, whenever I am hacked at home on my computer, whenever I discover that my personal details are on an ever-increasing database, I don't feel FREE anymore! I feel like a criminal, or a bad little boy who's parents need to watch his everymove because he is potentially BAD.

I am not a bad citizen, I do not commit crime, unless the crime itself is blatantly ridiculous, and not moralistic i.e Criminilizing cannabis use.

Am I not innocent until proven guilty? If I am innocent then why watch me?, why stalk my every move? Why make me feel guilty even though I haven't done anything?

This is a sad world we live in, and we may as well hand over our liberties now, clamp a big fucking chain on my leg and chain me to my neighbour, whip me with a cat o' nine tails, and stamp a 16 digit number on my forehead!~