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The new RFID logo, which will feature on devices whose manufacturers follow EU privacy regulations. Europa.eu

The EU has unveiled a new logo that shows which devices follow its privacy laws

The growing use of RFID chips in devices has caused the European Commission to put together regulations for them, ensuring no legal ‘grey zone’ emerges from their use.

DEVICES WHICH CONTAIN smart chips and systems will get their own EU-wide logo to show consumers which devices are in line with its data protection rules.

The European Commission (EC) has revealed a new logo to be used for devices that use Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) smart chips and systems and comply with EU regulations.

RFID chips store information electronically and is found in a wide number of devices like smartphones, and smart tags. It can be used to complete payments, unlock items, keep track of retail stock and prevent theft.

The logo is to be used by retailers and organisations and it’s asking them to deactivate stock-controlled RFID when they’re sold immediately and for free.

It’s hoped that in sectors such as healthcare and banking where its use is increasing, these changes will prevent a legal ‘grey zone’ from developing around the technology.

In a statement, EC Vice President Neelie Kroes said that the scheme is to help ensure that citizens’ data is protected and they are aware of what services are activated.

Smart tags and systems are part of everyday life now, they simplify systems and boost our economy. But it is important to have standards in place which ensure those benefits do not come at a cost to data protection and security of personal data.

It’s expected that the global market for RFID applications is expected to grow to €6.8 billion in 2014.

Read: Your items and appliances may be getting smarter, but they’re far from safe >

Read: Mario Kart 8 wasn’t enough to save Nintendo from a €72 million loss >

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22 Comments
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    Mute DN
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:27 PM

    I lived in Rotterdam for 11 months abd the Baja beach club used RFID chips for patrons and members. Keeps the trouble makers away. Only a matter of time before we’re implanted with these for everyday use like banking, social welfare etc.. George Orwell saw it coming a mile off :)

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:35 PM

    George Orwell saw no such thing. He saw a mass surveillance state, not RFID chips.

    Do you really think people will agree to having stuff plugged into their body when they can get the same thing with a plastic card in their wallet? come off the f__g stage with that tin foil hat bulls!t

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    Mute DN
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    Jul 30th 2014, 8:02 PM

    B–lshit? Well people did and still do have these chip planted into their wrists. You ignorant fool! Look it up! My Orwell comment was aimed at the orwellian state which will happen someday hopefully not my lifetime. Tin foil is good for wrapping my samdwhiches. Not so good for hat making. C U Next Tuesday.

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    Mute Joseph Siddall
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    Jul 31st 2014, 2:43 AM

    Thousands of pets are already microchipped to allow cross-border travel. Very simple procedure. Unlikely to get to the human population anytime soon, but it is surely a government’s wet dream to be able to track its citizens. The old “nothing to hide – nothing to fear” malarkey. Some day, perhaps.

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    Mute Glen
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:34 PM

    How long before humans are chipped ?

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    Mute IrishGravyTrain
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:46 PM

    Put tinfoil on your head and around your balls and you’ll be sorted.

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    Mute Glen
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:53 PM

    Oh stop with the tin foil BS
    It’s been extremely well documented that the powers that be want to use chips in people for ID, banking, buying and selling, medical history ect. Two company’s in California have been working on the technology for years they already use it in animals
    It’s only a matter of time before it’s used in humans.

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    Mute Ablitive
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:54 PM

    As soon as Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama gives the go ahead…

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:09 PM

    It being on the Alex Jones show is not the same as ”being documented”, it’s been discussed as a conceptual thing not a serious proposal, and it would never fly as a mandatory thing anyway.
    We have Micheal Myers loose in the house slashing at us with his knife, and you are worried about the boogey man in your dreams.

    The EU is not coming for you, the Bilderbergers are not coming for you, it was not a cruize missile that hit the pentagon…the only big brother threat that’s real is the NSA and the 5 eyes system.
    Calm down.

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    Mute Glen
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:17 PM

    There are dozens of ” Alex jones types” who have written and lectured about this …. Google is your friend check out the company’s that manufacture them before making an ill-informed comments.

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:33 PM

    Glen Google is not research, Generation Y seems to fatally confuse the two.

    Research is finding facts and evidence, google will get you anything but. A google search can find you ‘evidence’ to confirm any crack pot theory you like. There are 1000s of internet pages explaining in painstaking deatail what explosives were put into the towers and how, why a cruize missile hit the pentagon, that JFK was killed because he signed an executive order about gold.

    You’re getting worried about a phantom threat that does not exist.

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    Mute Niall H
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:35 PM

    It was not a airplane that hit the pentagon either

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:39 PM

    Oh dear…..

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jul 30th 2014, 8:05 PM

    The plane was seen by 100s of people with the naked eye as it clipped lights on it’s way across to hit the building.

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    Mute Niall H
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    Jul 30th 2014, 8:32 PM

    I agree with most things you say on this site Ryan as you speak a lot of sense but I honestly think you need to open your eyes on this one.

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jul 30th 2014, 8:39 PM

    Niall…people…saw…the plane…crashing …into …the building….I have a relative who personally saw the damn thing heading towards the building from their office.

    Just because it did not punch a cartoonish airplane shape into a reenforced concrete building resistant to attack (the physics of it folds the wings back into the fuselage and the fuselage is more liquid than solid when it’s crashing.

    It’s not about opening my eyes, I’m quite open, go on the appliances story, where the very same people up-ticking your conspiracy theory are down-ticking something that is factually indisputable, and you will see how open minded I am. But I’m a scientist, I believe in evidence forming a hypothesis and then further evidence leading to a logical conclusion.
    There is not a shred of evidence that anything other than a plane hit the Pentagon.
    All the red thumbs in the universe won’t change that.

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    Mute Niall H
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    Jul 31st 2014, 12:18 AM

    Well….then….maybe……I’ll……use….all….the…..full….stops….in….the….universe…

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    Mute Mark Oman
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    Jul 30th 2014, 7:19 PM

    I like chips

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Jul 30th 2014, 10:33 PM

    It would appear that those who comment using “tinfoil hat” as a derogatory term for those who despair of the Big Brother effect on privacy really have no clue about how technology has made it easier for government to track citizens.

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    Mute Paul Carey
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:29 PM

    Nice to know they’re ‘ensureing’.

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    Mute Niall Ó Cionnaith
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:25 PM

    Very snazzy.

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    Mute Gerald Santucci
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    Jul 30th 2014, 6:55 PM

    These 2 EN will inform and protect the European citizens while at the same time building trust in the technology, hence supporting market take-off (which is less significant in Europe compared to other world regions). A process of 8 years that involved ALL stakehoders.

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