New Zealand takes step towards becoming cashless society

Revellers in New Zealand who dream about living without cash will be able to attend two festivals on New Year's Eve without taking their wallets with them.

The La De Da festival in Martinborough and the Rhythm and Vines event in Gisborne will both adopt cashless payment systems, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Partygoers will be fitted with a wristband on entry to the two sites, which will be preloaded with wireless money.

They can then pay for items such as food and drink simply by flashing their wrist against a point-of-sale terminal.

As a result, organisers will be able to see where money is being spent and also find it easier to block the sale of alcohol to people who have been highlighted as troublemakers.

"We wanted to use the RFID system because our goal is to provide punters with a seamless experience," La De Da festival organiser John Mossman told the news provider.

Earlier this month, Juniper Research said the wider use of near field communication technology would benefit the cashless payment industry. ...source

New App Can ID Complete Stranger's Facebook and Social Security No.in 60 Seconds

Google and Carnegie Mellon University have created a system capable of alarming invasions of privacy

The application's name is PittPatt and it allows a complete stranger to find your identity -- your real identity -- in under 60 seconds. Here's how it works. A client code calls the PittPatt interface with a picture it's taken. PittPatt jumps online and compares that picture to millions of images in Facebook and in Google Inc.'s (GOOG) image search, using advanced facial recognition technology. And within 60 seconds, it can identify an individual.

The technology is more than a little creepy. It seems straight out of futurist thriller flick The Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character is assailed by advertising billboards that ID him by retinal scans. In the movie Cruise solves this problem by replacing his eyeballs. In real life it won't be that simple (hint: you might need facial modification).

PittPatt was a Carnegie Mellon University research project, which spun off into a company post 9/11. At the time, U.S. intelligence was obsessed with using advanced facial recognition to identify terrorists. So the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) poured millions into PittPatt. D...more

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Pre-Cog Is Real – New Software Stops Crime Before It Happens | Singularity Hub

Cover of Minority Report [Blu-ray]The police officers arrived at the parking garage in downtown Santa Cruz and spotted two women behaving suspiciously. No crime had been committed, but peering through the windows of the parked cars was sketchy enough. The officers questioned the women: one had outstanding warrants; the other was in possession of illegal drugs.

What’s strange about this scenario is that no one had called the cops. In fact, the cops didn’t even know that the women would be there, just that the probability of a crime being committed at that location, at that time of day, was especially high. In one of the first cases of ‘predictive policing,’ law enforcement were able to calculate where the criminals would be and arrest them before the crime could be committed.

Oh yeah, totally “Minority Report,” absolutely “Numb3rs.” ...more

Florida studying a possible universal ID for everyone

Gov. Rick Scott is on the prowl for new ways to reduce the cost and size of government.

He has a group patrolling for duplication in law enforcement. He wants agencies to scrutinize their budgets.

And he helped create a Government Efficiency Task Force of 15 business leaders and legislators, who will suggest cuts in state spending by up to $3 billion.

Your input is welcome at floridaefficiency.com.

Now, see what you think of this cost-cutting idea:

Issue Floridians a single ID card that would hold several kinds of vital information: your driver's license, car insurance, health insurance and voter registration.

Good idea?

Yes, says Julie Jones, executive director of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, who briefed Scott and Cabinet members on the plan in one-on-one meetings.

"This was my attempt to want to save money and create a product that's convenient for our customers," Jones said. "An individual has to carry three or four types of identification just to exist in Florida society... more

Real Names: Google+, Government & The Identity Ecosystem - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

There has been a lot of speculation about why the push for real names on Facebook and now Google, with Google taking a much harder line than even Facebook, not allowing for even the simplest derivation of “nyms” (pseudonyms). Add to this the fact that Facebook and Google have both purchased facial recognition software companies and you have a puzzling picture. Why do these two need facial recognition software and real names for social media and search engine results?

Why is a company like Google taking such a hard line on something as simple as a name – even though there is no verification process for the “real name,” so ultimately this policing is currently meaningless.

Why isn’t your online “nym” as real as your “real name” if it is what you use online? After all, what's really in a name? Isn’t it just a word that tells people who you are?

Shouldn’t online “nyms” be as valid as “real names”? Well not according to Google, which is purging even real names if they sound unusual or “unreal.” ...more

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Hospital Patients Now Being Microchipped with "Electronic Tattoos"

Human Tracking Chip Tries to Safeguard Against Kidnapping - Mobiledia

Image via WikipediaTraditionally, companies develop radio frequency identification (RFID) chips for use in products where they exchange data with nearby readers. They can be found in a growing number of devices and objects, including mobile phones, passports, credit cards, price tags, and even medical implants, and are used with sensors and connected devices to create a large pool of information available for software and services to draw upon.

Now, some companies in Mexico are trying to use RFID chips to keep track of people themselves, by implanting them under the skin, especially as the incidence of kidnapping rises.

Kidnappings in Mexico have increased by as much as 370 percent in the past five years, sparking interest in RFID implants that are touted as tracking devices to locate abducted individuals. Media reports and anecdotal evidence in Mexico may inadvertently perpetuate a false security in these RFID devices, which may be creating bigger problems for the population. ...more

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Privacy and Security Fanatic: Future TSA: Track All 'Daily Travels To Work, Grocery Stores & Social Events'

Image via Wikipedia Senior policy analyst at the Center for Health and Homeland Security Vernon R. Herron told MSNBC that your official travel document "will not only have information as to who you are and where you have traveled, but it will also ... allow government officials to track your travel not only in the air, but your daily travels to work, grocery stores and social events." In the future the "government will detain passengers who have traveled to places that are suspicious in nature" once they enter an airport, Herron added. "All these measures seem extreme. However, after we declared a war on terror, we must be more proactive than reactive when it comes to airport security." ...more

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Electronic tattoo 'could revolutionise patient monitoring'

"An 'electronic tattoo' could herald a revolution in the way patients are monitored and provide a breakthrough in computer gaming, say US scientists.

They used the device, which is thinner than a human hair, to monitor the heart and brain, according to a study in the journal Science.

The sensor attaches to human skin just like a temporary tattoo and can move, wrinkle and stretch without breaking.

Researchers hope it could replace bulky equipment currently used in hospitals.

A mass of cables, wires, gel-coated sticky pads and monitors are currently needed to keep track of a patient's vital signs.

Scientists say this can be 'distressing', such as when a patient with heart problems has to wear a bulky monitor for a month 'in order to capture abnormal but rare cardiac events'.
Solar cells

With the tattoo, all the electronic parts are built out of wavy, snake-like components, which mean they can cope with being stretched and squeezed.

There are also tiny solar cells which can generate power or get energy from electromagnetic radiation....more

Wrist band is part ID, part PayPass

Sans purse and wallet, Jennifer Swenson approached the cashier at CVS. When asked for $1.84 to pay for her drink, she waved a silicone bracelet above the credit card reader and headed back to work.

Swenson is among the thousands of U.S. Bancorp employees who are testing the VITAband, a cross between a reloadable prepaid card and medical identification bracelet.

The wrist band uses a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, which contains a tiny mircochip and radio antenna. The chip communicates wirelessly with the payment reader at the register, transmitting how much you owe and approving the purchase within seconds.

RFID technology is widely used in many industries for tracking inventory, lost pets and vehicles passing though toll roads. But the chip used by banks is more secure, with built-in tools such as dynamic security codes, and can only be read at short distances.

The chip comes attached to an old-fashioned prepaid card with a magnetic strip. Users break off the chip and insert it into a special slot in the U.S. Bank-branded bracelet. Then they can use it at one of 311,000 locations worldwide where MasterCard PayPass is accepted.

U.S. Bank is experimenting with several forms of contactless payments, as financial institutions scramble to keep customers who are increasingly interested in leaving not only their checkbooks but also their wallets at home.

In addition to the payment bracelet, U.S. Bank has tested mobile payments via iPhone and recently launched a new FlexPerks Signature Visa credit card that works with both the magnetic strip swipe technology and contactless payment technology seen in the United States and the chip readers used in many countries overseas.

Financial institutions are trying out contactless payments in everything from watches to key fobs to stickers slapped on the back of mobile phones. Although the contactless technology has been around for seven or eight years, less than 2 percent of merchants in the United States have registers that can read the chips, according to Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst at Aite Group. Cost and demand are two of the hurdles.

Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for U.S. Bank's payments division, describes two target markets for VITAband: People with chronic health conditions who wear medical identification bracelets and might like the convenience of adding a payment method to the bracelet, and active individuals who don't want to wear a fanny pack when running or worry about their wallet when out for a swim.

The medical identification piece of the band allows individuals to create an online medical profile, which can be accessed using a 1-800 number and unique eight-digit code that are listed on the band. The idea is that an emergency medical responder could call the number and learn the person's ID and medical history.

Swenson used to go for runs without identification. She might stick money in her shoe and buy water with a couple of sweaty dollar bills. She never really thought about what would happen if she was injured and blacked out. With VITAband "I feel more secure," she said.

It's also convenient for running out to grab a snack at work. She's used it at McDonald's, CVS and the Home Depot, but finds acceptance limited at smaller businesses.

According to MasterCard, there are 348 merchant locations within 25 miles of Minneapolis that take the PayPass chip used in the VITAband. They're mostly big-name retailers and restaurants. But you can also buy a Dugout Dog at a Twins game with your VITAband or shop at Sentyrz Liquor and Supermarket in northeast Minneapoils.

Owner Walt Sentyrz Jr. decided to add swipeless payments to the 88-year-old establishment when he replaced the store's payment system earlier this year. "It's just so quick and easy for my girls," he said, referring to his cashiers. "My sales per customer are about one-third of what a Rainbow and Cub are. The only thing I can offer my customers is speed." He said he hasn't seen use of the PayPass yet.

Venturo couldn't say for sure when the blue-and-red band emblazoned with the U.S. Bank logo will be available to the public. The employee test period lasts three months and then the bank will tweak the product. Although pricing hasn't been set, "we do envision that it would be a product consumers would pay for," he said.

Kara McGuire • 612-673-7293,,,source..

Digital Totalitarianism | The conspiracy to abolish cash

"NEW YORK--For years, figures on the political fringe have claimed the government and its corporate owners want a cashless society. Their warnings about the conspiracy against paper money fell on deaf ears.

Now, those who want to do away with liquid currency are stepping out of the shadows, talking about increased efficiency and profit potential, but their real agenda is nothing less than enslavement of the human race.

'Physical currency is a bulky, germ-smeared, carbon-intensive, expensive medium of exchange. Let's dump it,' argued David Wolman in Wired.

Citing a 2002 study for the Organization for Economic Development that states 'money's destiny is to become digital,' Jonathan Lipow, a Defense Department-affiliated economics professor, has authored an op/ed in The New York Times that asks: 'Why not eliminate the use of physical cash worldwide?'

Lipow urges President Barack Obama to 'push for an international agreement to eliminate the largest-denomination bills' and urges the replacement of cash by 'smart cards with biometric security features.'

Lipow's justification is fighting terrorism, but terrorism is a mere fig leaf. According to the annual Patterns of Global Terrorism report by the U.S. State Department, the highest total death toll attributed to terrorism in the last 20 years occurred in 2001. Including 9/11, 3,547 people were killed in 346 acts of violence worldwide. But according to the United Nations, 36 million people die annually from hunger and malnutrition. A more legitimate concern is the loss of taxes on the underground economy, estimated by the IMF at 15 percent of transactions in developed nations.

What the anti-cash movement really wants is digital totalitarianism in which the entire human race is enslaved by international corporations and their pet governments.

Decashification would establish a form of corporo-government control so rigid and all-encompassing that it would make Hitler and Stalin look like easygoing surfer dudes. The abolition of unregulated financial transactions would freeze the political configuration of the world, making it impossible for opposition movements--much less revolutionary ones--to challenge the status quo.

We're already more than halfway to a cashless society. In the United States few young adults still use checks, and in many countries debit and credit card transactions exceed those made via cash and checks combined.

As things stand, we know the big banks can't be trusted. Remember when they introduced ATM cards? They instituted 'convenience fees,' which they have raised to the point that taking $20 out of an out-of-town ATM could cost you $5 in fees.

Americans are skipping into the digital inferno wearing a smile and relishing the smell of their own burning flesh. Countless friends and acquaintances pay all their bills online.

'I'm all about using my checking account in place of cash and would love to be able to eliminate cash entirely from my life,' gushed PCWorld's Tony Bradley recently.

Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death was the title of an album by the punk band Dead Kennedys.

We'll get both. ...source