2008 Woodie Awards
RFID tags to substitute all IDs in fall
By Brandon Fox
Rocket Sports Editor
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: News
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SRU is the first institution in North America to use these RFID cards. The plan for a change in ID cards has been in the works for more than a year, according to administrators.
"There were a lot of people involved in this decision, including more than fifty students that helped to develop the idea," said SRU President Robert Smith. "We (as a university) became frustrated that our current ID cards couldn't be used in the community. We therefore decided to take SRU to a place where nobody else has gone."
The cards have many new features that the current SRU ID cards do not. Among the new features that come with the card is the ability to use it within the surrounding community and its businesses.
"The wonderful thing about these is that they can be accepted by area merchants, and work almost like a debit card," Smith said.
The university will replace the RFID cards at no cost to students. The only expense that the university will be responsible for is the printing of the blanks. Card readers, which will be installed into all on-campus vending machines and at area businesses, will allow users to simply swipe, tap or wave their card in front of it.
However, there are potential security flaws associated with these new cards. RFIDJournals.com suggests that "hackers" using homemade scanners could easily swipe information stored onto the card.
The cards will store all general student information such as name, ID number and Rock Dollars, much like the current cards. New random ID numbers will be generated, allowing the university to do away with Social Security numbers.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 8
TC
posted 4/13/07 @ 2:04 PM EST
What's next? Radio controlled collars that detect when a student leaves campus? George Orwell is rolling over in his grave!
mjt9400@sru.edu
Matt Taggart
posted 4/16/07 @ 11:52 PM EST
The RFID tags intended to replace the current SRU IDs are an interesting idea, but it should be assured that the benefits of the radio frequency ID cards would outweigh the cost of implementing a system that has not been proven reliable for the said use. (Continued…)
Steve Winslow
posted 4/17/07 @ 5:44 PM EST
I think the University Administration should have setup an information page about RFIDs on the SRU webpage in order to inform students about the new Student IDs. (Continued…)
Brando
posted 4/17/07 @ 7:11 PM EST
OMG WTF are we serious here? I'm a huge advocate of technology and a lot of the concerns raised by this a little paranoid, but no one here has really considered the most scary thing about this: this can be used as a tracking system on campus. (Continued…)
Tim
posted 4/20/07 @ 8:33 AM EST
RFID tags, yet another infringement on our rights by the gov't. Add it to the ever-growing list of violations:
They violate the 1st Amendment by opening mail, caging demonstrators and banning books like "America Deceived" from Amazon. (Continued…)
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