This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Gutachten zu Chipimplantaten in Deutschland

According to a survey carried out by German IT industry lobby group BITKOM, 23% out of 1000 German respondents would accept to have a microchip implanted in their body if that would bring concrete benefits from it.

The survey was meant to show the increase of the division between real life and the virtual world, as one of the themes of the CeBIT technology fair having taken place in Hanover between 2 and 6 March 2010.

However, the study findings are debatable as the respondent sample was not only small but also taken from a special pool (CeBIT visitors who are probably IT inclined anyway).

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: „Recht auf das Schweigen der Chips“ in der neuen Mitteilung der EC

A new communication from the European Commission to the other European bodies on the RFID (radio-frequency identification) titled "Internet of Things - An action plan for Europe" was made public on 18 June 2009.

The communication builds on the work of the Recommendation on the use of RFID published on 12 May 2009 after a fifteen-month period of consultations.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: EU unterstützt RFID mit ausreichendem Schutz für die Privatsphäre d...

The European Commission issued on 12 May 2009 a recommendation on the use of RFID (radio-frequency identification) after a fifteen-month period of consultations with supplying and using industries, standardisation bodies, consumers' organisations, civil society groups and trade unions.

Having in view the high continuous development of the smart chips industry, the Commission drafted the recommendation to help in ensuring the protection of the citizens' fundamental rights to privacy and data protection as stipulated in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union proclaimed on 14

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Online consultation comments on the staff paper "Early Challenges to the Internet of Things". EDRi contributed to the discussion via the RFID Expert Group. The preparation of the final communication by the COM is still ongoing.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/library/index_en.h...

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Consultation on the early challenges regarding the "Internet of Things"
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/tl/activities/consultations/in...

Commission consults on how to put Europe into the lead of the transition to Web 3.0 (29.09.2008)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1422&...

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

EDRi member FoeBuD e.V. has set up a contest for finding a RFID warning sign to be passed on to the EU's process in RFID legislation. Since the industry came up with a similar contest but looking for a somewhat "friendly" design, FoeBuD is looking for a precise warning sign that would shows the dangers for citizens' rights when RFID technology is involved.

There are two categories in FoeBuD's contest: strict and freestyle. In the strict category, a design for an official RFID warning sign is wanted. The winning design in this category shall be sent to the EU as a proposal for marking RFID tags and readers.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Jeroen van Beek, a computer researcher at the University of Amsterdam, has shown in some tests conducted for The Times that the new micro-chipped passports, introduced in UK to protect against terrorism and organised crime, can be easily cloned.

The researcher has succeeded in cloning the chips of two British passports in which he introduced the pictures of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber and in passing the cloned chips as genuine through Golden Reader, which is the standard passport reader software used by the UN agency setting standards for e-passports and which is also recommended for use at airports. The cloning operation took less than an hour.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors has sued the Dutch Computer Security Group of Radboud University in Nijmege in order to stop the publication of research results showing security flaws in NXP's Mifare Classic wireless smart cards used in transit and building entry systems around the world.

The technology is used for the transit system in The Netherlands, in the subway systems in London, Hong Kong and Boston, as well as in cards for accessing buildings and facilities, covering 80 percent of the market.

The security researchers of the Dutch university have checked the Mifare system used with Oyster cards for transport in London and recently succeeded in cracking the encryption on a card and clone it. They added credit to it