Cash is in decline

[midnight rambler]

Illuminating article on FRNs - http://finance.yahoo.com/news/As-Plastic-Reigns-the-nytimes-801305143.html?x=0

[Twisted Titan]

This is very profitable for the United States. Currency is printed by the Treasury and issued by the Federal Reserve. The central bank pays the Treasury for the cost of production —about 10 cents a note —then exchanges the notes at face value for securities that pay interest. The more money it issues, the more interest it earns. And each year the Fed returns to the Treasury a windfall called a seigniorage payment, which last year exceeded $20 billion.


Its well beyond profitable...........its is CONTROLLING

we have all just learned that our precious hundread dollar bill has a "instrisic" value of 10 cents

what you have to slave for days at a time earn can't even be used to make a standard call at a payphone.


ponder that priceless gem for a while

[EE_]

What will they do when cash is gone?

http://webcamcabaret.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/397px-Exotic_Dancer_in_Crouch_with_Tips.jpg

[Dogman]

What will they do when cash is gone?

http://webcamcabaret.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/397px-Exotic_Dancer_in_Crouch_with_Tips.jpg

Very hi-tech card scanner implants? Swipe the cc past/across/through, the ......... = instant gratification. ;D

[mrnhtbr2232]

The article is written with a seductive inference that plastic is ubiquitous and therefore preferred. What it does not go into other than a passing comment is the fact all electronic transactions are tracked. While I doubt cash will disappear anytime soon, they will either end up using RFID to somehow track issuance at ATMs or have cash users fill out forms over a fixed amount to close the loophole. Either way the story here is not consumer convenience or even trends the government creates, but rather the ability to profile, tax, and restrict access to goods and services. If it's truly .10 cents to print a $100 then they have plenty of upside cost savings to incorporate additional technologies either here now or soon to be developed. Smart currency will be the next frontier of surveillance.

[Dogman]

The article is written with a seductive inference that plastic is ubiquitous and therefore preferred. What it does not go into other than a passing comment is the fact all electronic transactions are tracked. While I doubt cash will disappear anytime soon, they will either end up using RFID to somehow track issuance at ATMs or have cash users fill out forms over a fixed amount to close the loophole. Either way the story here is not consumer convenience or even trends the government creates, but rather the ability to profile, tax, and restrict access to goods and services. If it's truly .10 cents to print a $100 then they have plenty of upside cost savings to incorporate additional technologies either here now or soon to be developed. Smart currency will be the next frontier of surveillance.


If I understand it right, smart currency will allow the tracking by location of every (unit) used when ever it is scanned. And if that (unit) number/id, is assigned to a person, then dam near everything ,that person buys, can be tracked.

That would be one ultimate F.U.B.A.R government control weapon , against freedom to do what one wants with their money, they will know exactly how much each of us has. Etc, etc.

Pissed off at the thought that this can happen.

[undgrd]

It would be unfortunate if the barcode to scan or the internal RFID became disabled somehow.
>:D

[Dogman]

It would be unfortunate if the barcode to scan or the internal RFID became disabled somehow.
>:D

Then nothing could be exchanged, rest assured , I think if it could not be scanned it the (smart money) would be worthless. (thinky)

[horseshoe3]

They'd probably set it up so that the tracking device is also the authentication device. You disable it, it's counterfeit. Now you go to jail for passing counterfeit currency.

[Dogman]

RFID tags: Big Brother in small packages

By Declan McCullagh

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/mugs/lg/lg_mccullagh_d2.jpg

Could we be constantly tracked through our clothes, shoes or even our cash in the future? I'm not talking about having a microchip surgically implanted beneath your skin, which is what Applied Digital Systems (http://www.adsx.com/prodservpart/verichip.html) of Palm Beach, Fla., would like to do. Nor am I talking about John Poindexter's creepy Total Information Awareness spy-veillance system (http://news.cnet.com/George-Orwell%2C-here-we-come/2010-1071_3-979276.html), which I wrote about last week.

Instead, in the future, we could be tracked because we'll be wearing, eating and carrying objects that are carefully designed to do so.

The generic name for this technology is RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification. RFID tags are miniscule microchips, which already have shrunk to half the size of a grain of sand. They listen for a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID code. Most RFID tags have no batteries: They use the power from the initial radio signal to transmit their response.

You should become familiar with RFID technology because you'll be hearing much more about it soon. Retailers adore the concept, and CNET News.com's own Alorie Gilbert wrote last week about how Wal-Mart and the U.K.-based grocery chain Tesco (http://www.tesco.com/) are starting to install (http://news.cnet.com/Major-retailers-to-test-smart-shelves/2100-1017_3-979710.html) "smart shelves" with networked RFID readers. In what will become the largest test of the technology, consumer goods giant Gillette recently said it would purchase 500 million RFID tags from Alien Technology (http://www.alientechnology.com/) of Morgan Hill, Calif.

Alien Technology won't reveal how it charges for each tag, but industry estimates hover around 25 cents. The company does predict that in quantities of 1 billion, RFID tags will approach 10 cents each, and in lots of 10 billion, the industry's holy grail of 5 cents a tag.

It becomes unnervingly easy to imagine a scenario where everything you buy that's more expensive than a Snickers will sport RFID tags, which typically include a 64-bit unique identifier yielding about 18 thousand trillion possible values. KSW-Microtec (http://www.ksw-microtec.de/), a German company, has invented washable RFID tags designed to be sewn into clothing. And according to EE Times, the European central bank is considering embedding RFID tags into banknotes by 2005.

It becomes unnervingly easy to imagine a scenario where everything you buy that's more expensive than a Snickers will sport RFID tags. That raises the disquieting possibility of being tracked though our personal possessions. Imagine: The Gap links your sweater's RFID tag with the credit card you used to buy it and recognizes you by name when you return. Grocery stores flash ads on wall-sized screens based on your spending patterns, just like in "Minority Report." Police gain a trendy method of constant, cradle-to-grave surveillance. You can imagine nightmare legal scenarios that don't involve the cops. Future divorce cases could involve one party seeking a subpoena for RFID logs--to prove that a spouse was in a certain location at a certain time. Future burglars could canvass alleys with RFID detectors, looking for RFID tags on discarded packaging that indicates expensive electronic gear is nearby. In all of these scenarios, the ability to remain anonymous is eroded.

Don't get me wrong. RFID tags are, on the whole, a useful development and a compelling technology. They permit retailers to slim inventory levels and reduce theft, which one industry group estimates at $50 billion a year. With RFID tags providing economic efficiencies for businesses, consumers likely will end up with more choices and lower prices. Besides, wouldn't it be handy to grab a few items from store shelves and simply walk out, with the purchase automatically debited from your (hopefully secure) RFID'd credit card?

The privacy threat comes when RFID tags remain active once you leave a store. That's the scenario that should raise alarms--and currently the RFID industry seems to be giving mixed signals about whether the tags will be disabled or left enabled by default.

In an interview with News.com's Gilbert last week, Gillette Vice President Dick Cantwell said that its RFID tags would be disabled at the cash register only if the consumer chooses to "opt out" and asks for the tags to be turned off. "The protocol for the tag is that it has built in opt-out function for the retailer, manufacturer, consumer," Cantwell said.

Wal-Mart, on the other hand, says that's not the case. When asked if Wal-Mart will disable the RFID tags at checkout, company spokesman Bill Wertz told Gilbert: "My understanding is that we will."

Cantwell asserts that there's no reason to fret. "At this stage of the game, the tag is no good outside the store," he said. "At this point in time, the tag is useless beyond the store shelf. There is no value and no harm in the tag outside the distribution channel. There is no way it can be read or that (the) data would be at all meaningful to anyone." That's true as far as it goes, but it doesn't address what might happen if RFID tags and readers become widespread.

If the tags stay active after they leave the store, the biggest privacy worries depend on the range of the RFID readers. There's a big difference between tags that can be read from an inch away compared to dozens or hundreds of feet away.

The privacy threat comes when RFID tags remain active once you leave a store. For its part, Alien Technology says its RFID tags can be read up to 15 feet away. "When we talk about the range of these tags being 3 to 5 meters, that's a range in free space," said Tom Pounds, a company vice president.

"That's optimally oriented in front of a reader in free space. In fact if you put a tag up against your body or on a metal Rolex watch in free space, the read range drops to zero." But what about a more powerful RFID reader, created by criminals or police who don't mind violating FCC regulations? Eric Blossom, a veteran radio engineer, said it would not be difficult to build a beefier transmitter and a more sensitive receiver that would make the range far greater. "I don't see any problem building a sensitive receiver," Blossom said. "It's well-known technology, particularly if it's a specialty item where you're willing to spend five times as much."

Privacy worries also depend on the size of the tags. Matrics (http://www.matrics.com/) of Columbia, Md., said it has claimed the record for the smallest RFID tag, a flat square measuring 550 microns a side with an antenna that varies between half an inch long to four inches by four inches, depending on the application. Without an antenna, the RFID tag is about the size of a flake of pepper.

Matrics CEO Piyush Sodha said the RFID industry is still in a state of experimentation. "All of the customers are participating in a phase of extensive field trials," Sodha said. "Then adoption and use in true business practices will happen...Those pilots are only going to start early this year."

To the credit of the people in the nascent RFID industry, these trials are allowing them to think through the privacy concerns. An MIT-affiliated standards group called the Auto-ID Center (http://www.autoidcenter.org/) said in an e-mailed statement to News.com that they have "designed a kill feature to be built into every (RFID) tag. If consumers are concerned, the tags can be easily destroyed with an inexpensive reader. How this will be executed i.e. in the home or at point of sale is still being defined, and will be tested in the third phase of the field test."

If you care about privacy, now's your chance to let the industry know how you feel. (And, no, I'm not calling for new laws or regulations.) Tell them that RFID tags are perfectly acceptable inside stores to track pallets and crates, but that if retailers wish to use them on consumer goods, they should follow four voluntary guidelines.

First, consumers should be notified--a notice on a checkout receipt would work--when RFID tags are present in what they're buying. Second, RFID tags should be disabled by default at the checkout counter. Third, RFID tags should be placed on the product's packaging instead of on the product when possible. Fourth, RFID tags should be readily visible and easily removable.

Given RFID's potential for tracking your every move, is that too much to ask?



Read more: http://news.cnet.com/2010-1069-980325.html#ixzz1RQeCR1sr

[Winston Smith]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xNhL39uD7I
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[Twisted Titan]

it's been a while since I saw those commercials thanks for posting

[Ponce]

One more time.......some day every one will have a credit-debit card where what you earn will go there and what you spend will come from there............cash will still be good as long as there is any floating around.

[Hatha Sunahara]

Selling 'the mark of the beast' won't be hard to a dumbed down, fearful market. I am optimistic that along with the technology to do all this tracking, there will be a technology to undo it. My only regret is that the criminals who want to track everything will be calling us criminals if we find ways around it.


Hatha

[EE_]

Selling 'the mark of the beast' won't be hard to a dumbed down, fearful market. I am optimistic that along with the technology to do all this tracking, there will be a technology to undo it. My only regret is that the criminals who want to track everything will be calling us criminals if we find ways around it.


Hatha

Funny that people think the mark of the beast is some chip implanted under your skin?
I hate to break it to them, but most already have the mark of the beast, and took it willingly...it's the cell phone!
You will soon find out that all commerce, transactions, info on you, and tracking will go through these devices.
You won't be able to live without them.

[po boy]

Funny that people think the mark of the beast is some chip implanted under your skin?
I hate to break it to them, but most already have the mark of the beast, and took it willingly...it's the cell phone!
You will soon find out that all commerce, transactions, info on you, and tracking will go through these devices.
You won't be able to live without them.

I thought the mark was the SSN.

[Sparky]

Funny that people think the mark of the beast is some chip implanted under your skin?
I hate to break it to them, but most already have the mark of the beast, and took it willingly...it's the cell phone!
You will soon find out that all commerce, transactions, info on you, and tracking will go through these devices.
You won't be able to live without them.

Here is Revelation 13:16-18, which provides a description of the mark:

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."

[oldmansmith]

The lunatic Christians are the only thing between us and the chip in the forearm right now, God bless them.

[midnight rambler]

on his right hand or on his forehead

This could very well be figurative, relating to one's intent with regard to one's deeds and/or one's thoughts.