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The Universal Card
retro128 writes "Wired News is carrying a story about a new product from Chameleon Network that's supposed to replace all of your credit/debit/customer cards. It can read the information off of the magnetic strips of credit/debit cards, scan the barcode off of customer loyalty cards, and even memorize the RFID signals of devices like the Mobil SpeedPass. All of this information is stored in a device called the Pocket Vault, and is unlocked with the user's fingerprint. If you wish to use a magnetic strip card, you select the card from the touch screen and put a Chameleon card, which looks like and can be run in standard readers like a credit card, in the Pocket Vault. The Chameleon card will then assume the identity of the card you selected, but only for 10 minutes. In this way, if the card is lost or stolen, nobody can use it. In the case of RFID, you just hold the Pocket Vault up to the RFID scanner for a reading. For barcode-based cards, the barcode will appear on the screen and can be scanned by a standard barcode reader. Chameleon Network says this technology will be available in early 2005 and is expected to cost under $200."
For customer cards--most will accept a "home phone number". Try XXX-collect in your area code. Remember, /. people are intelligent, and intelligent people conceal identity whenever possible.
-I am an elective eunuch.
First a card, then an implant. Companies are already talking about this.
Implantable chips will inevitably become a reality, however premature implementation into our society WILL BE ABSOLUETLY HORRIFYING! The technology will inevitably be abused! Do you want every detail of your life scrutinized by the government?
Even more frightening are the potential abuses of nano-technology. Think of RFID chips. Now think about inhalable or edible RFID chips. Now think about nanobots belonging to the government or any interested party crawling around in your bloodstream towards your brain. Prety creepy, isn't it?
Cold hard cash is the only way to protect one's privacy. Even this is becoming difficult with the new levels of cooperation between banks, bussinesses and Ashcoft's increasingly Hyper-Orwellian post911 federal government.
The US government through NASA will be installing brain scanners at airports...remember Blade Runner and that crazy test they gave you to see if you're a replicant? Very soon you will be experiencing something similar before boarding a plane...if this does not disturb you than you are a naive idiot.....
Society is not ready for this stuff, although there are some very powerful people who will stop at nothing to ensure that your very survival will depend on you and your children's future implantation. Of course it will be voluntary at first, however they will be social pressure to ensure one is an outcast if not in compliance...
Yet even more frightening is the possibility that vaccines will be used as a covert means of introducing self-assembling implants into the population. Why do you think there is so much legislation being introduced to forcefully vaccinate people whenever the government funded terrorists decide to unleash smallpox or some other bioweapon...for more information on forced vaccination and government ownership of your body google 'model emergency powers health act'...