A politician keeps his word:
8) UK to scrap ID card program
Agence France-Presse
"The new coalition government is to scrap a national identity card
scheme introduced by former prime minister Gordon Brown's
administration, it announced Thursday. The scheme will be abolished
within 100 days under legislation presented by Home Secretary Theresa
May, the first bill to be introduced to parliament by Prime Minister
David Cameron's government. The move, which will invalidate cards that
have already been issued on a voluntary basis, should save 86 million
pounds over the next four years. The scheme was in the process of being
introduced when the new government took power this month. People who
paid 30 pounds each for the card will no longer be able to use them to
prove their identity or travel in Europe." (05/27/10)
There was a story a few years ago of a computer virus getting into the
cafeteria vending machines-crushing the chips, putting sugar in the
chicken soup-but this is better:
19) Man infects himself with (computer virus)
PC World
"We are one step closer to the future: a British scientist has become
the first human being to contract a computer virus. Yep, you heard that
right. Dr. Mark Gasson, a cybernetics expert at the University of
Reading, deliberately infected himself (by way of an RFID chip implanted
in his wrist) with a benign computer virus. This was part of an
experiment designed to show how implantable bionic devices are
susceptible to computer viruses. ... This experiment shows that viruses
can be transferred wirelessly from implant devices to the computers they
communicate with. Someone could thus potentially create a virus that
would allow them to access secure areas (such as the University of
Reading laboratory). This is not the first instance of an RFID system
being hacked-but it is the first time that the hacked RFID chip was
inside a human being." (05/27/10)
Government-business partnership is a wonderful thing:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/the-missing-oil-spill-photos.html