And Jimmy Johnson's Hair Will Be Covered By A Standard Also

Just to show how prevalent standards are becoming. Football great Emmitt Smith has worked with a national standards committee to promote standards for item authentication. This is over a year old, but still of interest. From the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Patrick Morris
(202) 626-5742 or pmorris@itic.org
NFL Great Emmitt Smith Teams with INCITS to Develop Item Authentication Standards
Interested Parties Welcome at January 12-13, 2005 Meeting

Washington, DC, January 10, 2005 - The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) has established a new Technical Committee (INCITS/E22) - Item Authentication and announced the first meeting on January 12-13, 2005 at INCITS headquarters in Washington, DC. The proposal for a new technical committee was initiated by NFL star Emmitt Smith, whose work with Prova Group, Inc. on sports memorabilia authentication has led to his decision to pursue global item authentication standards.

As established by INCITS, the committee's work is intended to develop an international methodology and process for using RFID technology, multi-media technology and information technology to assist a wide variety of industries in the prevention of fraud. The goal of INCITS/E22's work is to develop standards to authenticate and validate a valued item, and establish an information technology recording and report structure for tracking and creating a valid chain of custody for each item entered into the IT structure.

Emmitt Smith commented on the positive response by INCITS and the initiation of a new Technical Committee: “Through my work with Prova, I have chosen RFID technology to guarantee that my authentic signature is protected from fraud and I have encouraged other athletes and celebrities to support the authentication of memorabilia. The next step in the process of significantly curbing the ever-growing gray market of fraudulent activity in sports memorabilia and other valuables and collectibles is to develop a formal information technology standard on item authentication. I thank INCITS for their willingness to coordinate this important work, encourage all interested parties to participate, and look forward to working with the INCITS technical committee.”...

About INCITS

The mission of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) is to promote the effective use of Information and Communication Technology through standardization in a way that balances the interests of all stakeholders and increases the global competitiveness of the member organizations. INCITS serves as the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1, which is
responsible for international standardization in the field of information technology.

INCITS and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) are jointly accredited by, and operate under rules approved by, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These rules are designed to ensure that voluntary standards are developed by the consensus of directly and materially affected interests. For further information, please contact INCITS, 1250 Eye St. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005 (www.incits.org).

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Here's some more about Prova Group:

Prova Group, Inc. is a leading provider of authentication and information services to dealers and merchandisers of autographed sports memorabilia and other collectibles. Prova also provides state of the art inventory control and asset management solutions. Our patent-pending autograph and memorabilia authentication process confirms an item has a permanent and a unique identity that is captured using Radio Frequency Identification.

We have developed a system that provides history and ownership information for the entire life of the collectible item. By using our proprietary technology, Prova expects to improve the credibility of the collectibles industry and prevent fraudulent replicas from deceiving buyers and collectors.

Prova protects, identifies, and provides a verifiable chain of custody for any chosen asset.

The company is headquartered in Irving, Texas and has an office in St Louis, Missouri.