It’s understandable and perfectly reasonable for people to raise concerns that radio frequency identification could be used to infringe on consumer privacy, but it has always bothered me that the most vocal opponents of RFID have portrayed anyone involved with the technology as evil. In fact, most of the people I know—vendors, implementers and end users—are good people with no intention of misusing the technology or seeing it misused. I think the work of those involved in the Mike Sullivan Memorial Scholarship Fund shows what good people some RFID enthusiasts are.
Mike Sullivan was an entrepreneur and RFID pioneer. He helped Gillette with its implementation of RFID at its Devans manufacturing and distribution center. Mike died suddenly of a heart attack in 2005. His friends at Gillette organized a golf tournament to raise money for a fund in his honor. The money helps underprivileged students in the Boston area go to college. We helped out by running a charity golf tournament with RFID Journal LIVE! 2006 and raised $55,000. We intend to run the tournament again this year.
Many of the leading RFID companies reached into their pockets last year to support this worthy cause, including Alien Technology, Avery Dennison, HK Systems, LXE, OATSystems, ODIN Technologies, Shipcom, Sirit, Symbol Technologies, ThingMagic, Tyco/ADT, Unisys and Verisign.
As a result, the Boston Scholars Program has been able to help Daniel Molina, a freshman, attend the tuition-based Boston College High School. Daniel’s high grade-point average earned him high honors this past semester. Outside the classroom, he has joined the cross-country team and enjoys representing his school in two-mile races. Daniel also serves on his school’s Black and Latino Student Union. When he enters college in 2010, he plans to pursue his interest in science and biology.
I’m proud of the role RFID Journal has played in supporting the Mike Sullivan Scholarship Fund and helping Daniel. I’m excited that we’re able to work with Mike’s friends again to raise even more money at RFID Journal LIVE! 2007. And I hope that some people will notice that the people involved with this effort are good, caring people.