RFID, GPS Technology and Electronic Surveillance

Baltimore Council President Proposes 'One-Pass' System for Children (VIDEO)

December 9, 2009

WBAL-TV 11 (Baltimore) - A city plan that would create a "one-pass" system for children and young adults is provoking concerned reaction from some parents.

The proposed pass system would allow officials to track how services are being used and make them more efficient.

However, some parents said they worry it could also put too much personal information into the system.

The idea is to provide kids with one card to swipe on the bus, at recreation centers and libraries.

Officials said it seemed like a natural next step for public services. The smart card would help the city streamline the boarding process for bus riders and allow agents to track bus lines that are over-burdened or under-utilized.

"It would be a great way for us to collect revenue and know the exact amount of students getting on and off the system," MTA spokeswoman Jawauna Greene said.

The concept is modeled after the Washington, D.C. Metro's debit card. Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she wants to go a step further and issue a "one-pass" card to city youth that could be used for transportation, recreation centers, libraries and possibly as school ID cards.

"We're trying to find a way that's universal, to know what young people are doing so we can do more of what works and less of what doesn't," Rawlings-Blake said.

However, the idea of city officials tracking children makes some uncomfortable.

"It is giving the city too much info. Children can lose those things just like anything else," MTA rider Darlene Randall said.

When asked if law enforcement would be able to access information captured by the cards, Rawlings-Blake said:

"We're not asking, 'Is John Doe in this rec center?' We want to know, 'Is there a 14-year-old male in this rec center?,' because then we'll know that this rec center is speaking to the needs of our young people," Rawlings-Blake said.

The information could be valuable to police when a crime is committed, such as a 2007 case in which a woman was assaulted by students on a MTA bus and the security cameras were broken.

The city held a public hearing on the one-pass card system on December 8.

Meanwhile, the MTA is currently testing transportation smart cards that should be available to all riders in the winter.

City of Baltimore
Legislative File ID 09-0148R
Introduced: 9/14/2009
Hearing Date: 12/8/2009
Investigative Hearing - One Card - Youth Identification Card and Access Card to City Services
FOR the purpose of exploring the efficacy of instituting a single identification card system to make accessing services easier and more convenient for Baltimore City residents; examining the mechanism of the D.C. One Card system; and estimating the cost of implementing a similar system in Baltimore City.

Related Baltimore City Council Resolution
Legislative File ID 08-0048R
Introduced: 6/9/2008
Hearing Date: 11/4/2009
Request for State Legislation - Child Tracking System
FOR the purpose of urging the Baltimore City Delegation to the 2009 Maryland General Assembly to introduce legislation creating a centralized community and governmental resource that would allow for the collection and integration of Maryland-born childrens’ evolving data and would help to share children’s information among schools, after-school programs, social service agencies, and medical providers from birth to age of majority, in order to increase positive outcomes for Maryland’s youth.

Billion Pound NHS Computer Project Could Be Scrapped, Chancellor Says

December 6, 2009

Times Online - The multibillion-pound national progamme to overhaul NHS computer systems could be cancelled in this week’s Pre-Budget Report, Alistair Darling has said.

The National Programme for IT (NPfIT), parts of which are already running four years late, aims to create a single electronic records system for 50 million patients in England, as well as providing electronic prescriptions and other services.

The Chancellor said the “quite expensive” programme, which has been running since 2002 and has an estimated budget of more than £12.7 billion, could be postponed to save cash.

Mr Darling told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC:

“It is necessary for me, on Wednesday, to indicate areas where we are going to cut spending and where we are not going to spend as much as we were.

“For example, the NHS has quite an expensive IT system that, frankly, is not essential for the front line. That’s something we do not need to go ahead with just now.”

The programme — reputed to be the largest non-military IT project in the world — has previously been criticised over delays to the proposed database of medical records and concerns that the system will not be secure.

Fewer than 20 hospital trusts in England have installed electronic medical records under the project, despite an initial deadline for the whole country to have done so by 2010.

Ministers had previously defended the system, insisting that it could save the NHS £1.14 billion by the revised deadline of 2014.

But the Government may have to pay out millions to break existing contracts if it cancels the project.

At least £400 million of public money has been spent on the project, with four regional contractors — BT, Accenture, Fujitsu and CSC — initially being awarded contracts to provide systems in different regions of England...

Treasury officials stressed that only part of the IT programme was on the line and it would not be scrapped altogether.

Britain to Shift to Smart Grid Meter Systems

December 2, 2009

Reuters - Britain is to shift to a smart energy system, including a national smart grid, which should pave the way to a low carbon future that includes large wind farms, more efficient heating systems and electric vehicles.

The government said smart meters, which provide real-time information to consumers about energy usage, and smart grids, which give real-time data about power demand and generation across the network, were integral for Britain to hit its carbon targets.

The Department of Energy and Climate Chance (DECC) estimated the cost of replacing the country's 47 million meters with smart meters by 2020 to be around 8.6 billion pounds ($14.25 billion) and will publish a detailed smart grid route map in early 2010...

It is the first time the government has talked about a smart grid, and it will provide 6 million pounds to develop smart meter technologies. The energy regulator Ofgem will make 500 million pounds available over the next five years for large scale smart grid trials.

The government also called for communications across the new national smart grid to be managed centrally, while maintaining metering competition. All suppliers would be obliged to use the central function under license.

DECC said utility companies would be responsible for installing smart electricity and gas meters in all British homes and most small businesses by the end of 2020.

Smart meters are seen as a first step toward creating smart grids and could reduce energy demand by cutting power to appliances that do not need continuous power, such as washing machines and laptops with batteries.

Director of British Gas smart metering, Peter Allison, said it estimated energy savings from smart meters to be around 2-3 percent, around the same as government estimates...

Under the Conservatives all homes would have smart meters by 2017 at the latest...
Will the smart grid protect consumer privacy?
As announced by President Obama on Oct. 27, the Department of Energy has awarded $3.4 billion in stimulus money to 100 smart-grid projects.