I never heard of
Silent Commerce, something we can thank yes,
Halliburton>Accenture for. Should we ponder the scenarios? Absolutely!
"We're unlocking knowledge about our customers, our vendors and our resources that's allowing us to achieve economies of scale," says Horden. "And we're just beginning to unearth the value of the information that's in the global system."
LINK
Call me naive, unaware, whatever, the potential for abuse is mind-boggling. Read on:
AFTER e-commerce (Electronic Commerce), c-commerce (Collaborative Commerce) and m-commerce (Mobile Commerce), it is now the turn of s-commerce (Silent Commerce).
New technologies allow companies to make ordinary objects intelligent and interactive. By using advanced tagging and sensor technologies, along with wireless mobile communications, Silent Commerce can give companies an unheralded level of insight into consumer behaviour.
This type of commerce is "silent" because objects communicate and commerce takes place without human interaction.
The basic device that is driving the new revolution is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device), using which companies will now be able to track consumer interaction at the point of decision besides only the point of transaction. It would also allow companies to turn their products, inventory or any other physical assets into items that can sense and disclose their environment, their location and other pertinent information about the product. This revolutionary technology promises to turn anyone or anything into an information generator.
E-Ink is another emerging technology that is likely to revolutionise products by making their packing interactive. (See Box for the details of RFID and E-Ink.) Another part of Silent Commerce revolution will be the "Object Internet", whereby objects (microwaves, refrigerators or any object), not just computers, will be inter-networked and can be accessed and addressed from anywhere in the world. Once individual objects can be identified, companies then can add temperature, motion, radiation and other sensors, as well as miniature microphones or video cameras. Then, not only will these objects be able to identify themselves to computers, they will be able to provide information about their status and condition. That data can be stored online to create a digital representation of the physical world -- a virtual double of the real world.
Combining RFID tags and other sensing devices with Web services and wireless communications will deliver a spectacular array of information that can be sliced any way a company needs it. Objects will be able to tell us about themselves. Shelves will be able to send wireless instant messages to store clerks when they need to be replenished. Bearings on industrial machines will alert maintenance that they will soon need to be replaced. Sensors in food packaging will warn retailers that meat has been contaminated. These scenarios may sound futuristic, but they are beginning to appear in the marketplace. RFID tags also are beginning to be placed on items of clothing. If the dry cleaner has an RFID reader, the task of entering items on to an order book can be done in a few seconds. Police could make sure items are returned to their proper owner by checking the RFID tags on recovered stolen property, instead of letting the goods sit unclaimed.
It is reported that the European central bank is considering embedding RFID tags into banknotes by 2005.
The implications are far-reaching and formidable.
In theory, an RFID tag's ability to read and write information to a bank note could make it very difficult, say, for kidnappers to ask for "unmarked" bills. Further, a tag would give governments and law enforcement agencies a means to literally "follow the money" in illegal transactions.
S-commerce is most likely to bring about a silent revolution. More Here
And lets not forget the connections of Accenture, Halliburton, Choicepoint and Axiom
Axiom-As the largest collection of US consumer data available in one source for list rental, InfoBase List has a nationwide coverage of 111 million households and 176 million individuals.
LINK
Axiom this year announced a strategic partnership with Accenture (Halliburton) to help joint clients in the retail financial services, telecommunications, consumer products and other sectors to better use customer information to improve business results, and we are already gaining new clients and building our business pipeline in North America and Europe through this new relationship.
I never heard of Shushhh! Silent Commerce....
Talk about intrusion...loss of all privacy....