News Room: SB 30: Identity Information Protection Act of 2007
May 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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Privacy Piracy host Mari Frank interviews State Senator Joe Simitian on his range of legislation aimed at protecting Californians' privacy.
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August 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
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Sacramento – State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) announced today that his Senate Bill 362, which would prohibit any person from forcing any other person to undergo an implant in their body of a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, passed the Senate Floor on a 28-9 vote today. The bill now goes to the Governor.
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Thursday, August 23, 2007
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Santa Cruz –The Santa Cruz County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced today that State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) is being honored for his work to protect the privacy rights of Californians. Simitian will accept the “True Patriot” award at the chapter’s annual awards ceremony in Santa Cruz on Sunday.
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June 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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What if you lost a child and the authorities could track and find him or her, using radio frequencies? Now, what if authorities could track your movements in the same way, and know whether you were attending, for instance, an anti-war rally. The monitoring ability of RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification, has become a very hot topic lately. So far, it’s a debate that pits the electronics industry against privacy-rights advocates.
This year, concerns about the use of RFID have prompted State Senator Joe Simitian, of Palo Alto, to sponsor legislation. He wants to place real limits on the ability of authorities to use RFID to keep track of people and identify them.
Audio Segment on KPBS Website
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Monday, June 25, 2007
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Slap a chip costing a few cents on a clock radio or a bottle of Prozac, and you can track it from its manufacturer to the cash register at Wal-Mart. Build a chip into a special windshield tag, and it allows drivers to zip across the Golden Gate Bridge without stopping at a toll booth. Put one in a corporate identification card and all of a sudden it becomes an electronic door key.
Such is the power of radio frequency identification, or RFID, a technology that’s been around for a half-century but is finally beginning to transform commerce - and become controversial.
Full story on San Jose Mercury News website
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Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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SACRAMENTO - Attempting to prevent a potential clash between privacy rights and the latest technological advances, a Palo Alto lawmaker is trying to dissuade the state government, schools and private businesses from tracking people through the use of radio frequency identification devices such as electronic cards and implanted devices.
A legislative package of four measures by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, will be introduced in an Assembly committee today that would prohibit an employer from implanting tiny ID chips in workers, block RFID technology from being embedded in driver’s licenses, prohibit schools from issuing ID cards to track student attendance and make it a misdemeanor to skim identification cards - a method by which identity thieves secretly read the cards of unsuspecting people and clone new versions.
His measures, vociferously opposed by the tech industry, were prompted in part by the increasing availability of wireless equipment sold in stores and cyberspace that can read employee badges - even if they are in someone’s pocket or purse 20 feet away - and create a new card using that individual’s personal information.
Full story on San Jose Mercury News website
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May 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
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Radio technology stops shoplifters - tracks merchandise, follows livestock and even tells you how bad traffic is. All through tiny radio transmitters called radio frequency identifiers, or RFID. All these devices transmit signals to receivers, like at the Fastrak toll booths.
"That means someone in state government knows where they've been, where they've gone know how long it took them to get there, and knows their movement through the bay area," says Senator Joe Simitian, (D) Palo Alto.
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April 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
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The California legislature this month is expected to vote on several bills that would regulate the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in government documents. Similar legislation was approved by the body last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October.
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March 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
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I agree that a federally mandated identification system raises questions about privacy (Editorial, March 6). One of the technologies that has been considered for use in identification documents is radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. RFID technology uses chips that can be embedded in documents for tracking and identification purposes. With a device called a reader, anyone, including an identity thief, can read or "skim" the personal information in the chip. Last year, I introduced legislation to make California the first state to require privacy and security protections for RFID use in government identity documents. I was disappointed when the bill was vetoed. I've reintroduced it as Senate Bill 30 because I think the public wants us to anticipate and solve privacy problems before they occur. With the impending federal effort to create a national identification system, the need to address privacy concerns is all the more urgent and real.
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February 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
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All it takes is a second, and it's gone -- a modern day pick-pocket can snatch your credit card and other personal information without ever touching your wallet. The thieves need only a little know how, and about a hundred bucks. The technology we rely on everyday -- is being abused.
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