Schwarzenegger vetoes RFID law

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed legislation that would have created a security framework for the use of RFID technology in the state`s official documents and identification cards.

Computer World says the Bill would have mandated basic protections against the abuse of RFID data with technology such as encryption. It also would have made skimming, or the reading of RFID data without consent, a crime.

However, Schwarzenegger said the law was premature because the federal government had not yet released its own standards for security. Schwarzenegger said he didn`t want California to create a set of requirements that would contradict the upcoming federal ones.

Overall systems revenue for RFID airline baggage handling will be $11.8 million this year, growing to almost $27.5 million by 2011, according to a new ABI Research study.

However, More RFID says Europe and Asia are likely to lead. Researchers say cash-strapped US airlines have been more reluctant to invest in RFID because in the US, the airlines themselves are responsible for baggage handling, whereas overseas airport operators tend to provide unified baggage handling systems for all the airlines they serve.

Trials exist or are planned in a number of cities, including Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Narita, and Qatar. Air France-KLM is conducting a joint trial at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol airports, and South Korean carrier Asiana has run a domestic six-city pilot.

Canada`s Ipico and the China RFID Alliance have announced that Ipico`s IP-X RFID technology, originally developed in SA, will be tested in four RFID pilot projects in China.

Digital Media Asia says the projects will be deployed in the Shandong province, and will include electronic vehicle identification (EVI), container security, a logistics and production process control application, and animal identification.

China RFID Alliance will reportedly support RFID technology, such as the IP-X technology platform, as well as other advanced technology that is suitable for key application areas. According to Ipico, the IP-X air protocol provides for free-running RFID tags in all frequency bands, thereby allowing for high-speed free flow spotting of tags.

EPC Global`s Consumer Electronics Discussion Group on RF tag applications for consumer electronics has held its first meeting in Tokyo, reports EE Times.

The discussion group`s meeting brought together more than 30 companies, mostly from Japan, as well as others from Korea, Taiwan and China. The meeting was focused on lifecycle management of consumer electronics.

The meeting was inspired by a group of Japanese consumer electronics companies, which last October formed an initiative to discuss the usage of RFID tags for product identification. The group proposed in May that EPC Global set specifications of RFID tags for consumer electronics applications.

A platform called Tetragate combines RFID-enabled ID cards with cameras and facial-recognition software to monitor and authenticate people as they enter facilities, reports RFID Journal.

Tetragate was developed by American Barcode and RFID and is designed to enable companies to monitor and authenticate thousands of people as they enter secure buildings.

Tetragate has two ways of ensuring accurate data. First, it uses ID tags enabled with ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID to ensure anyone entering without presenting an ID card to a reader will still be recorded. Second, Tetragate uses networked digital facial-recognition cameras to authenticate each person entering a secure area. If the software cannot find a match on its database, it sends an alert to security staff.