Massachusetts Institute of Technology and HID collaborate to address RFID privacy concerns : Contactless News

Monday, February 20 2006

Smart card solutions provider HID has partnered with tech-savvy MIT in Cambridge to facilitate a “dialogue” on RFID security, ID, and privacy issues while promoting an online RFID research resource. A steering committee of MIT researchers and industry veterans will develop content for the new web site.
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Goal is to Encourage and Facilitate Dialogue and Set a New Bar of Excellence for Privacy and Civil Liberties Protections Related to RFID

SAN JOSE, Calif.– The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and HID have announced a joint effort to provide a public forum to discuss RFID and public policy, and to explore innovative RFID uses for personal identification that enhance privacy and security. MIT and HID are also creating a comprehensive online resource for industry, government and the general public, where they can learn more about RFID and privacy-related topics.

“As government and private industry expand their use of RFID, privacy concerns have emerged that deserve a neutral forum for dialogue that includes stakeholders from government, private industry and the public,” said Dan Greenwood, an MIT lecturer and attorney. “We at MIT will provide that forum with support from HID, by inviting stakeholders to our campus and hosting a relevant Web site on our servers.”

A Steering Committee, composed of MIT researchers and faculty and an industry Advisory Board, will develop content for the Web site. Advisory Board membership includes: Richard Varn, Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government and Center for Digital Education; Daniel Combs, President, Global Identity Solutions; Jeff Staples, Managing Partner, Avisian Inc.; and Bill Newill, Acting Executive Director, International Association for Identification Technologies.

“MIT’s Media Lab is researching and developing new RFID design opportunities that support and reflect well-balanced public policy,” Greenwood said. MIT and HID will also collaborate to explore creative new uses for RFID which improve a wide array of transactions that take place in people’s daily lives.

Steve Wagner, chief operating officer of Irvine-based HID Corporation, said his company welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with MIT. “We recognize the need to balance consumer privacy interests with the growing use of RFID across many sectors of the economy. Collaborating with MIT, a world-class educational institution, is a natural extension of our ongoing commitment to safeguarding individual privacy with the responsible use of RFID technology,” said Wagner.

In addition to working with MIT, HID, the premier global supplier of contactless access control cards and readers for the security industry, established an industry-first set of corporate privacy policy principles governing the use of RFID. These privacy principles can be found on HID’s Web site at www.hidcorp.com.

In December, the company also sponsored a major privacy policy forum in Sacramento that for the first time brought together state and federal policy makers, industry representatives, end users and government agencies to discuss RFID and privacy. The event was hailed among attendees as an important initial step in addressing major RFID policy questions.

About Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology-a coeducational, privately endowed research university-is dedicated to advancing knowledge and educating students in science, technology and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. The Institute has more than 900 faculty and nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and is organized into five schools-Architecture and Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Management; and Science-and the Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology. The MIT ECommerce Architecture Program (eCAP) at ecitizen.mit.edu, jointly housed at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Design Lab, acts as the point of contact at MIT for this collaboration. eCAP is an initiative to explore the intersection of legal, policy, business and technology information architectures.

About HID
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HID is the premier global supplier of contactless access control cards and readers for the security industry. With over 250 million credentials (cards, fobs and keys) in use worldwide, HID leads the industry in 13.56 MHz and 125 kHz RFID card and reader technology for a wide range of applications including access control, IT secure authentication, time and attendance, digital cash/cashless vending, automotive vehicle identification, and biometric verification. HID’s award-winning product line includes iCLASSr 13.56 MHz contactless smart cards and readers, 125 kHz proximity, magnetic stripe, and Wiegand technology cards and readers as well as the recently introduced VertXT CS central station managed access controllers. The company also provides specialized card manufacturing services including custom preprinted graphics, micro printing and anti-counterfeiting elements, holograms or ultraviolet ink for increased card security. HID’s corporate offices are located in Irvine, California, with international offices supporting more than 100 countries. The company is an ASSA ABLOY Group company. To learn more, please visit www.hidcorp.com.

iEmployee and Relyco Declare Referral Relationship with All the Elements of a Classic Valentine’s Day Romance Story

February 3, 2006

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this story has all the elements of a classic romance. Doug McGregor at Relyco, the Dover, New Hampshire-based global check printing and secure documents company, was just looking for time and attendance solution. He spotted iEmployee’s provocative ad in Paytech Magazine. Massachusetts-based iEmployee, he noted, prided themselves on eliminating unnecessary paper with Web-based HR applications, while Relyco makes necessary paper-based processes more efficient for their 7,000 customers.

He contacted Mike Runshe at iEmployee. When the two met face to face, they discovered that solving Relyco’s time and attendance desires was just the beginning.

“iEmployee understood our business,” says McGregor. “As a Web-based employee services firm, they are intimately involved in secure transactions just like we are.” Plus, the two firms discovered that their customer bases were also similar—organizations that value affordable, flexible, scalable, customized solutions combined with personalized service. “We’ve had other partners, but none offered the experience or understanding that iEmployee does,” McGregor says.

“iEmployee and Relyco are committed to the same business philosophy—we put the customer first,” says Runshe of iEmployee. “Relyco is the back office end—providing all the printing and distribution options a business could wish for. iEmployee is the front end—a full suite of Web-based employer solutions ready to work seamlessly with any payroll interface. Both of our offerings are efficient business tools that any company can implement in just days and see a real return on investment.

Recognizing a relationship was in order, the two companies inked an exclusive referral relationship just in time for Valentine’s Day. “The referrals have already started coming in,” says Runshe. iEmployee will also provide check printing and secure document referrals to Relyco.

iEmployee and Relyco are looking forward to sending notices of the new relationship to their combined customer base, which totals over 9,000 firms.

About iEmployee
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iEmployee (www.iemployee.com) is a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, enabling companies to eliminate paperwork and dramatically reduce employee administration time. iEmployee’s suite of web-hosted Time & Attendance, HR Software with Benefit Solution, Pay Stubs/W2 and Employee and Manager Self Service applications offer cost-effective solutions, requiring no IT investment or overhead. Endorsed by leading payroll providers, iEmployee is the solution of choice for over 1600 companies.

About Relyco
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Relyco (www.Relyco.com) is a leading business solution provider for self-mailing forms, MICR laser check printing, laser forms conversion, and output management software and hosting. Based in Dover, New Hampshire, Relyco is a global distributor of value-added printed materials, business equipment and forms processing software. Relyco focuses on high security documents. Relyco also offers business forms and stationery, commercial printing, direct mail processing, labels and packaging.

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For More Information & Interviews
Mike Runshe
iEmployee
508-336-3332 x 180
http://www.iemployee.com

Valentines Day History

There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine’s Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine”. Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine.

Gradually, February 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers. There was often a social gathering or a ball.

In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800’s and now the date is very commercialised. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as valentines are sent out with sentimental verses and children exchange valentine cards at school.

The History of Saint Valentine’s Day
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Valentine’s Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl’s name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine’s Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

St. Valentine’s Story
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Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn’t like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn’t the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn’t going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies — secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, “Love from your Valentine.”

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine’s Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh — because they know that love can’t be beaten!

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any romance story for valentine’s day

Any romance story for this month….since valentine’s day is around the corner…….

similarities between salesforce and iemployee

i was wondering about similarities between salesforce and iemployee. Yeah they both are web based solution providers but beyond that what??? hoping for someone to shed more light on it.
i like http://www.iemployee.com and at the same time also like the agressive type of marketing by http://www.salesforce.com
As far as industry goes i find the human resource industry more vibrant as evident by the nice product information on http://www.iemployee.com/mkt/hrsolution.htm
You may also find http://www.iemployee.com/mkt/timesheet.htm and http://www.iemployee.com/mkt/timeattendance.htm useful.

Thanks,
theemployee93