California Senate fights RFID

California's state Senate has struck a major blow against a proposed RFID programme, says The Register.

Legislation approved on Monday would prohibit public schools from requiring the implementation of radio-wave devices that broadcast students' personal identification and monitor their movement around campus.

Additional RFID bills are being sent through California committees. One bill places a similar temporary ban on RFID technology in California driver's licences. Another will place privacy safeguards on any existing RFID-enabled government IDs.

Telepathx has developed a wireless reactive (RFID) radio frequency identification sensor. It will be used to monitor and locate automobiles that collide into fixed roadside objects, potentially saving countless lives by alerting emergency crew within seconds, reports PR.com.

Dubbed Pinpoint ACN (Automobile Crash Notification), the sensor was developed at the request of the transport sector early in 2007, says James Eades, company founder and CEO. A solution was needed to reduce response times for repair crews and emergency caregivers when automobiles collide into utility poles, guardrails, barriers and signage.

The development, says Eades, yields a one-off disposable reactive sensor that does not require power to monitor incidents, it will last ten years and it's small enough to be embedded into fixed wooden or metallic roadside assets.

Axcess International says three civilian US government agencies are installing its patented ActiveTag wireless RFID system for locating, tracking and protecting laptop computer assets and critical documents, reports Pegasusnews.com.

The company says the theft of laptops and other assets is at an all time high, and its RFID solution is designed to prevent such thefts by working automatically to identify, locate and track assets as they move around a facility.

The technology, which manages assets with no manual human involvement, can identify a laptop by using a small battery-powered property tag attached to the computer, often with an optional anti-tamper circuit that serves as a fail safe measure.