A Suggestion for Enhancement of Animal Identification Numbering Verification Scheme and System


1
A Suggestion for Enhancement of Animal
Identification Numbering Verification Scheme and
System

• Som Karamchetty PhD PE
• 10816 Terrier Court
• Columbia MD 21044
• [e-mail]
• 410 7405170
• 20 January 2004 to 5 March 2004

2
In a Nutshell
US Animal Identification Plan suggests premises
numbers and Animal Id numbers as follows
This presenter suggests premises numbers and
Animal Id numbers as follows
A premises or ranch is given a name instead of a
number. Example US.MT.CC.FILIP An animal is giv
en a name instead of a number as follows
US.MT.CC.FILIP.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.4568
The benefits of the suggested numbering scheme
are that humans can readily understand where an
animal has been and may make knowledgeable
decisions when problems are reported in those
environments.
3
Outline

• Section Topic Charts
• 1 US Animal Identification Plan Description
  321
  
• 2 Intuitive Naming Described 2244
• 3 Security Aspects 4549
• 4 Animal Birth and Death Certificates 5060
• 5 Summary Conclusions 6162
• 6 References and Reading information 6373

4
Background

• Building upon previously established and
  successful animal health and animal
  identification programs involving many animal
  industries an industrystatefederal
  partnership aided by the National Institute for
  Animal Agriculture NIAA was formed in 2002 to
  more uniformly coordinate a national animal
  identification plan. 1
• The United States Animal Identification Plan
  USAIP has been drafted.
  
• The plans [draft] premise was Fundamental to
  controlling any disease threat foreign or
  domestic to the nations animal resources is to
  have a system that can identify individual
  animals or groups the premises where they are
  located is to have a system that can identify
  individual animals or groups the premises where
  they are located and the date of entry to that
  premises.

1 Source Reference 1 at the end
5
USAIP Goal

• To achieve a traceback system that can identify
  all animals and premises potentially exposed to
  an animal with a Foreign Animal Disease FAD
  within 48 hours after discovery.
• Achieving this goal will enhance the efficiency
  and effectiveness of current animal health
  regulatory programs.

1 Source Reference 1
6
The Need for and Benefits from Animal
IdentificationSystem
Maintaining the health and economic viability of
US animal agriculture is critical to the industry
and to the safety of the U.S. food supply.
Enhanced disease control and eradication
capabilities for rapid containment of foreign
animal disease outbreaks and enhanced ability to
respond to biosecurity threats.
Enables the industry to meet the demands of
domestic and international consumers for
sourceverified products. This ability enables
producers to maintain and build market access.
Mitigation of threats to biosecurity of the
food supply either intentional or unintentional.
1 Source Reference 1
7
USAIP Conclusions

• Protecting American Animal Agriculture
• Protecting American Animal Agriculture by
  safeguarding animal health is vital to the
  wellbeing of all U.S. citizens. 1 National
  Identification Development Team made several
  recommendations quoting from the draft
• all states have a premises identification system
  in place by July 2004 unique individual or
  group/lot numbers be available for issuance by
  February 2005
• all cattle swine and small ruminants possess
  individual or group/lot identification for
  interstate movement by July 2005
  
• all animals of the remaining species/industries
  identified above be in similar compliance by
  July 2006.

1 Source Reference 1
8
This Presenters Observations

• The USDAs objective of giving identification
  numbers to all agricultural animals is laudable.
  
• The numbering system can be improved as
  suggested in the following charts.
  
• Access to current Animal databases and
  historical data about animals will be needed by
  many other types of users than those identified
  by the USAIP.
• Some animal products remain long after an
  animal is processed.
  
• Examples are bones hides and derivatives
  which go into cosmetic products.

We will take a look at Animal product life cycles
in the following.
9
Animal Migration Process
Birth
Animals may spend their entire life on one Ranch
or may migrate and spend their time on
several national and international Ranches and
finally end or get processed.
Picture Sources http//www.sdagclassroom.org/ab
out_sd_agriculture.htm http//www.ansi.okstate.ed
u/breeds/cattle/ http//www.cassino.com.au/beefpr
oc.php
10
Key Parameters
At each stage there are key parameters that are
essential to safeguard the Animals and
public health in the short and long term.
Picture Sources http//www.sdagclassroom.org/ab
out_sd_agriculture.htm http//www.ansi.okstate.ed
u/breeds/cattle/ http//www.cassino.com.au/beefpr
oc.php
11
Feedback and Feed Forward Control
Defect Discovered
Control Births
Feedback
Birth
Father
Feed Care Effluents
Contacts
Process Byproducts Effluents
Defect Discovered
Control Products
Feed Forward
Mother
Picture Sources http//www.sdagclassroom.org/ab
out_sd_agriculture.htm http//www.ansi.okstate.ed
u/breeds/cattle/ http//www.cassino.com.au/beefpr
oc.php
Discovery of defects causes control of upstream
and downstream processes.
12
Processed Products
Processing results in products
byproducts and effluents. Downstream agents need
to have
access to Animal data.
Picture Sources http//www.ansi.okstate.edu/breed
s/cattle/ http//www.cassino.com.au/beefproc.php

13
More Agents Need Animal Data?

• As seen from the process flow diagrams many
  authorized downstream agents will need animal
  data during and after an Animals life and
  processing.

Now I return to continue the discussion on the
USAIP Animal data and Standards.
14
What Standards are in the Draft?

• Firstly I will present the standards suggested
  by the USAIP Draft 1
  
• and discuss their limitations.

1 Source Reference 1
15
Standards
USAIP draft 1 discussed certain data elements as
essential for a successful information system an
d the key elements requiring standards are

• A uniform premises identification system
• A uniform nationally recognizable numbering
  system for individual animal identification
  
• A uniform nationally recognizable numbering
  system for a group or lot of animals
  
• A uniform numbering system for Nonproducer
  Participants.
  

1 Source Reference 1
16
US Premises Identification Number
The National Premises Identification Number
Provides a unique number across
the entire US for locations involved in animal
agriculture 1. Its field specification
is as follows.

• Field Structure Type Example Comments
• 7 characters Alphanumeric A123R69 Right most
  character is a check digit
  

1 Source Reference 1
17
Limitations of the US Premises Identification
Number Specification
The specification selected for the number is not
intuitive. When tens of thousands
or even millions of such numbers are used in
practice they lack certain obvious
merits. A selected numbering scheme should be
useful in the complete chain of
Animal agriculture and processing systems.

• Field Structure Type Example Comments
• 7 characters Alphanumeric A123R69 Right most
  character is a check digit
  

In the electronic database era a better
numbering system is desirable as
discussed later on in this presentation.
Furthermore the numbering system should be
easily scalable to International
numbering specifications.
18
Standard Data Elements for the National Premises
Repository
Source Reference 1 page 11
19
Standard US Animal Identification Number USAIN
Source Reference 1 page 15
20
Limitations of Standard US Animal Identification
Number USAIN
Again these numbers are not intuitive.
See suggested numbering scheme later on in this
presentation.
Source Reference 1 page 15
21
Id should be easy for the Consumer
These numbers do not tell the consumer
where the food is coming from.
22
Outline
Section Topic Charts 1 US Animal Identifica
tion Plan Description 321 2 Intuitive Naming De
scribed 2244 3 Security Aspects 4549 4
Animal Birth and Death Certificates 5060
5 Summary Conclusions 6162
6 References and Reading information 6373
23
I will now present an approach to an intuitive
numbering or naming solution.
24
Motivation for Additional Recommendations
In addition to the recommendations in the USAIP
draft here is a further recommendation by this
presenter.

• Develop an innovative numbering scheme and
  system that will make it easier for downstream
  users to understand the origins of an animal or
  food product.
• Granted that the current emphasis of the USAIP
  is the identification of the animals only
  eventually however safety of food chain is to
  be assured. The numbering system suggested in
  this presentation allows changes easily.
• Animal agriculture and food system are truly
  international in nature. U.S. exports significant
  quantities of Animal food.
  
• Besides food industries Animal byproducts
  serve many other industries and such industries
  will also need information about Animals from
  which such products have been derived.
• Effluents from Animal industry and processing
  industry could also interest communities and
  agencies.
  
• Hence it is essential that USAIP consider a
  more intuitive numbering scheme.

25
Suggested Approach to a Solution

• Develop and allocate international scheme of
  numbering and identifying animals.
  
• Entrust an international voluntary organization
  with the responsibility of overseeing the
  operation of the system and scheme. U.S. may take
  the lead in this global effort.
• The suggested scheme is similar to the Internet
  Protocol IP addresses or Domain Name Scheme
  DNS in the sense the numbering is
  hierarchical with preallocated fields and
  verifiable online or on the World Wide Web the
  Web.

References 2.
26
Naming of a Premises or Ranch

• A Ranch is given a name instead of a Number.
• Example US.MT.CC.FILIP

US.MT.CC.FILIP
By looking at this name one recognizes that the
Ranch is in US and in Montana etc.
That is intuitive numbering.
27
Recognition of a Ranch

• In the first instance a Ranch is recognized by
  the International name recognition/standards body.

Recognition here does not imply according any
status to the Ranch or the quality
of its animals. It merely means its existence is
noted. U.S. or a State agency may
permit a Ranch to operate in certain Animal
agriculture.
28
Recognition Verification and Validation Process

• The existence of a named Ranch or farm
  Premises is noted in a database by the host
  Country or a State agency.
  
• Each Ranch or an agent for a Ranch sets up a
  database showing all their animals and Animal
  transactions.
  
• Recognition of the actual existence of a named
  Ranch is established first through the country
  database of all Ranches in that country.
  
• Information protection and security features
  are discussed in a subsequent chart.

29
Standard Suggested Additional Data Elements
Source Reference 1 page 11
30
Listing of an Animal Type by a Ranch
Example
FILIP Ranch
Animal
Cow.

• A Ranch maintains records of all its Animal stock
  in a Webaccessible secure database by type of
  animal and by sequence numbers.

Type
Beef.
31
Number AllocationArrangement
Following this scheme all animals
Will have a globally uniform and
unique ID scheme.
An animal will have a name/number as follows
US.MT.CC.FILIP.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.4568
32
Tag Number Provides Unique ID
Example
An animal carries a Tag with the name/number
US.MT.CC.FILIP.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.4568
The tag tells us that it is from the US Montana
State Cascade County and the Filip Ranch..
33
Intuitive Number Arrangement
An animal will have the number as follows
US.MT.CC.FILIP.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.4568
This numbering arrangement is intuitive.
It shows where an animal came from
Country State County Ranch Animal
Type Date of Acquisition by the Ranch Seque
nce Number
Downstream Animal handlers and Animal food
consumers know details as the Ids
are in plain natural language English as
opposed to cryptic numbers.
34
Animal Number Allocation Process

• As explained earlier an international agency
  should be entrusted with allocating the numbering
  scheme. Perhaps endorsing the suggested scheme.
  
• In the first instance a twodigit code for each
  country is allocated.
  
• e.g. US United States of America
• Other subdivisions are allocated by the country
  conforming to standards accepted by an
  international agreement.
  
• It is likely that the US will take lead in
  setting the scheme as it already commenced work
  e.g. USAIP.
  
• In fact the Internet Protocol numbering has
  already done this for IP addresses. That scheme
  can be easily adapted.

35
Database of Animal Information by Ranch
Seq. No. 4570
Seq. No. 4569

• Seq. No. 4568

Animal Info
Optional Detailed Information
36
Database of Ranch Information

• Animals

Cows
Swine
Sheep
Type BEEF
Type xxx
Type yyy
Seq. Numbers 1342 1343 1344
Seq. Numbers 7543 7544 7545
Seq. Numbers 4568 4569 4570 .
37
Accessing Animal Information

• Animal Number is presented
• The animal number is typed into a Web browser

This is analogous to typing the AOL keyword.
Next page for result
38
Result of an Information Request
39
Individual Animal Record

• Animal ID US.MT.CC.FILIP.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.45
  68
  
• Seq No. 4568
• Animal Cow
• Animal SubType Beef
• Acquired Date 2004.01.20
• Birth Date 2002.09.13
• Death/Process Date None
• Father US.MT.CC.XYZR.COW.BEEF.1998.02.15.1234
• Mother US.MT.CC.XYZR.COW.BEEF.1997.11.02.0159
• Other Details e.g. Health Vaccinations and
  Feed [history]

Information In the Animal ID
Additional details In the Ranch Database
40
Simplicity of the System

• For a downstream user the system is very
  simple.
  
• System organization and management are similar
  to those of the World Wide Web The Web.
  
• An international body similar to World Wide
  Web Consortium W3C or Internet Engineering Task
  Force IETF develops the Protocols and manages
  the allocation of domains and numbers to each
  country.
• The countries in turn manage the State
  County and Ranch naming or numbering within
  their countries.
  
• Each Ranch maintains a Web accessible database
  of Animal information.
  
• As animals migrate from one Ranch to another
  their details are traceable from Webaccessible
  and protected databases.

41
Attractive Features

• No central and large bureaucracy.
• No megadatabase with billions of records.
• There is not a gigantic software application.
• Animal Identification numbers are intuitive and
  not complicated at all.
  
• Rapid access to a record possible.
• Records protected with passwords.

42
Benefits of Suggested Scheme

• Database schema of Animals standardized
  internationally.
  
• Information protected from unauthorized
  access.
  
• Easy access to information about Animals.
• Animal record exchange is easy.
• Falsification and forgery of Animal documents
  are eliminated or minimized.
  
• Integrity of Animal pedigree information
  ensured.
  
• Information verification expedited.
• Downstream consumers get intuitive information
  from public channels e.g. food labels.
  
• Downstream information is passed upstream to
  take remedial actions and to avoid further
  contamination and damage.

43
Market for the Scheme and System

• Hundreds of billions of Animals are raised
  internationally every year.
  
• Thousands of Ranches produce animals for food.
• Thousands of processing plants prepare animal
  food products for both human consumption and for
  other human uses.
  
• Thousands of processing plants produce animal
  food from other animals.
  
• Animal byproducts are used in consumer goods
• luggage clothing furniture cosmetics etc.
• Animal processing plants generate effluents
  that need to be monitored by counties.
  
• Thousands of organizations have a need to
  verify and validate claims about Animals.
  
• Billions of people consume Animals as food.
• Animal food market depends on safe and
  verifiable records.
  
• Organizations depend on Animal databases of
  information and its continuity integrity
  authenticity and completeness.
  
• Animal information is needed expeditiously for
  safe operation of Animal agriculture and food
  processing systems.
  

44
Recommendation

• Develop the innovative scheme and system
  suggested here that will make it easy to get
  needed Animal information expeditiously.
  
• US Congress should provide resources to the
  Department of Agriculture to develop and maintain
  the system.
  
• US DA should take lead in developing the system
  and in leading the world agricultural
  organizations.

45
Outline
Section Topic Charts 1 US Animal Identifica
tion Plan Description 321 2 Intuitive Naming De
scribed 2244 3 Security Aspects 4549 4
Animal Birth and Death Certificates 5060
5 Summary Conclusions 6162
6 References and Reading information 6373
46

• I will address briefly the security aspects
  next .

47
Authentication Process

• Any one can fake an Animal record or Animal ID
  number.
  
• Any fake organization can set up a web site and
  set up a list of Animal numbers
  
• We need a scheme to protect such abuse.

Example Animal Number
An animal will have the number as follows
US.MT.CC.FAKE.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.4568
Next page for result
48
Result of a Verification Request
An animal will have the number as follows
US.MT.CC.FAKE.COW.BEEF.2004.01.20.1234
49
Result of a Verification Request
50
Outline
Section Topic Charts 1 US Animal Identifica
tion Plan Description 321 2 Intuitive Naming De
scribed 2244 3 Security Aspects 4549 4
Animal Birth and Death Certificates 5060
5 Summary Conclusions 6162
6 References and Reading information 6373
51
Now I will address Animal Birth and Death
or Processing Certificates and their
importance.
52
Animal Birth Certificate
US.MT.CC.XYZR
Ranch
Bull
Mother US.MT.CC. XYZR.COW.BEEF.1998.08.15.1368
Father US.MT.CC.XYZR.COW.BEEF.1996.07.13.0300
Gender Male.
Date of Birth 2002.07.23.
Seq. No. 1476
Time 1300 Latitude nn.nn Longitude mm.mm
Active 1 Y/N
Cow
Calf
The calf at birth had a Seq. No. 1476 at XYZR
Ranch. After transfer the Animal has a new Seq.
No. 5678 at
FILIP Ranch.
1 Active field is normally Y changed to N
when death or processing is reported. This field
prevents forgery of Ids from processed animals.
53
Importance of Animal Birth Certificate

• Birth and food processing certificates are
  vital documents in our efforts to keep the animal
  health system and human food chain safe.
  
• Genetic defects and diseases depend on birth
  feed and livestock environment.
  
• Proof of birth and traceability of feed and
  environment are essential for assured supply
  chain.
  
• An animals parentage and date of birth are key
  information.
  
• Proof of identity depends on place and date of
  Birth.
  
• Verification of birth records is important in
  establishing true Identity.
  
• Death or processing records are important for
  closure of certain animal records and the
  generation of food records.
  
• These records are essential for food intended
  for human as well as animal consumption.
  
• Rapid identification of Birth and Death or
  processing records are essential to establishing
  downstream food safety.
  
• The birth certificate should have a feature
  about the death or processing of an animal so
  that forgers do not steal the identity of such an
  animal.

54
Recognition of a Death orProcessing
Note date and name fields
Picture Source http//www.cassino.com.au/beefproc
.php
55
Intuitive Animal Id Label on a Food Package
US.MT.CC.FILIP.COW.BEEF.2004.02.04.3458
A consumer can make choices based on Animal Id
Label on a Food product package.
Picture Source http//www11.ivenue.com/nacommerce
inc/item151.ctlg?orderIdcustId
56
Recommendation

• Develop an innovative scheme and system that
  will standardize recording of Births and Deaths
  or processing globally.
  
• The scheme and system should eliminate Animal
  Identity Theft or make it hard to forge fake
  Animal IDs.
  
• Origin of animal food can be authenticated
  through good record keeping.
  
• Agricultural interests should undertake the
  development of a system as part of the eGov
  initiatives in the Animal agriculture industry.

57
Recognition Verification and Validation Process

• Recognition of a Certificate occurs in two
  stages
  
• The Place of Birth Country State County and
  Ranch is first established.
  
• A particular locale Ranch or Premises records
  a Birth when it occurs.
  
• When someone presents an animal Birth
  certificate a Web based database at the claimed
  Ranch can be queried and the claim about the
  Birth can be readily verified and validated.
• As the Locale is in a standard format one will
  readily know how to access the database on the
  Web. details are presented later

58
Verification Process

• An Animal Birth Certificate is presented
• The Certificate will have a number in a
  standard Format
  
• The number is typed into a Web browser

Example Birth Certificate Number US.MT.CC.XYZR.2
002.07.23.1476
In the sense an AOL keyword is typed into a
browser
Next page for result
59
Result of a Verification Request
60
Benefits of Suggested Scheme

• The concept addresses the problem of forging
  Animal records and Animal identity theft
  successfully. Databases of Birth Death
  processing Certificates standardized.
• The system foils a forger because for him to be
  successful a forger has to alter several
  electronic records Birth register Ranch
  register and Death or processor register at
  dispersed locations or has to obtain the
  identity from several records.
• Falsification and forgery of Birth Death
  Processing Certificate documents are eliminated
  or minimized.
  
• Easy access to information about Birth Death
  Processing Certificates to authorized people.
  
• Integrity of Birth Death processing
  Certificates ensured.
  
• In effect we replace a paper certificate with
  an electronic Birth or Death or Processing
  certificates just like etickets for travel.
  

61
Outline
Section Topic Charts 1 US Animal Identifica
tion Plan Description 321 2 Intuitive Naming De
scribed 2244 3 Security Aspects 4549 4
Animal Birth and Death Certificates 5060
5 Summary Conclusions 6162
6 References and Reading information 6373
62
Summary and Conclusions
Suggested is an Animal Id scheme and system.
It is simple to implement and global in scope.
The naming is intuitive and helps Animal food
consumers to identify products
expeditiously. The scheme allows rapid data acces
s to facilitate fast feed forward and feedback
control. USDA should take lead in adopting the sc
heme and getting a global agreement for
universal adoption.
63
Outline
Section Topic Charts 1 US Animal Identifica
tion Plan Description 321 2 Intuitive Naming De
scribed 2244 3 Security Aspects 4549 4
Animal Birth and Death Certificates 5060
5 Summary Conclusions 6162
6 References and Reading information 6373
64
References and Bibliography
United States Animal Identification Plan Draft
Document Version 4.0 September 29 2003
Developed by National Identification Development
Team www.usaip.info. http//www.w3c.org/ http/
/www.ietf.org/ ftp//ftp.rfceditor.org/innotes/
rfc3467.txt http//homepages.uel.ac.uk/M.N.Richar
dson/IC216_IC311_Domain_naming.htm
http//www.adlerbooks.com/activexp7.html
http//www.icann.org/ http//www.iana.org/cctld/c
ctldwhois.htm http//www.isi.edu/innotes/rfc159
1.txt Cooper A. and J. Postel The US Domain
RFC 1480 USC/Information Sciences Institute
June 1993. http//www.w3.org/2002/ws/ http//ww
w.w3.org/TR/wsarch/

65
DNS Domain Name System Explained
Emails for example could be sent to an address
using the IP address e.g. MalcolmR@128.111.24
.41 but they would be hard to remember and would
have to change if the organisation
providing the Email facility changed servers
etc. So a more memorable system a system to con
vert it back to IP addresses is
needed DNS is a hierarchical name system and a da
tabase to keep track of the names and
what they mean The Hierarchy compare postal
addresses 36 the house Manor Way the roa
d Hornchurch the town or city Essex the count
y state region etc UK the country
Source Reference 5
5 More
66
DNS Domain Name System Explained
This is a hierarchy and each component is
more/less general/specific than the next
and narrows down the specification to a unique
address Country toplevel UK County E
ssex Town Hornchurch Road Manor Way
House bottomlevel 36 The Internet has
200 toplevel domains of two kinds
Countries e.g. uk us jp nl
Generic e.g. com org
Source Reference 5
4 More
67
DNS Domain Name System Explained
The Internet has 200 toplevel domains of two
kinds Countries e.g. uk us jp nl Gene
ric e.g. com org The first generic domain
s were com commercial edu educational
gov government US int international org
anisations mil military net network provid
ers org nonprofit organisations
Source Reference 5
3 More
68
DNS Domain Name System Explained
In 2000 four new general toplevel domains were
agreed biz businesses info information
name peoples names pro professions and th
ree new specialised names aero coop museum
Source Reference 5
2 More
69
DNS Domain Name System Explained
Secondlevel domains A fee is paid to a registra
r to register the domain name if is has not
already been allocated e.g. DIY is a second le
vel domain in the domain com and belongs to B
Q DIY shop so its address is DIY.com simila
rly Sainsburys.com
Source Reference 5
1 More
70
Example Country Code Domain US
US As an example of a country domain the US
domain provides for the registration of all kind
s of entities in the United States on the basis
of political geography that is a hierarchy of
...US.
For example IBM.Armonk.NY.US.
In addition branches of the US domain are
provided within each state for
schools K12 community colleges CC techni
cal schools TEC state government agencies ST
ATE councils of governments COG Libraries
LIB museums MUS and several other generi
c types of entities RFC 1480 gives details
reference 10.
Source Reference 9
71
US House Vote on COOL Funding
US House Vote on COOL FundingLast night the U.S.
House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R.
2673 the Agriculture Rural Development Food a
nd Drug Administration and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act for FY 2004. which included
language to prohibit the USDA from utilizing any
appropriated funds for the enforcement of the
Country of Origin Labeling mandates for meat
beef pork lamb products. The next course of
action is for the Senate Appropriations committee
to draft its version of the Ag
Appropriations Act for FY 2004 and determine
whether or not to amend the Country of Origin
mandates. The above was as anticipated however
the written response by the Administration to
the House vote has raised some questions. In
essence there is an interpretation of the Admin
istration response as maybe opening the door to
not promulgating the rule if the Senate
and Conference committees follow the House
approach of not funding administration of
mandatory COOL for red meat and fish.
There is no clear consensus on what the
Administration meant in their response we
recommend you not jump to a conclusion yet
and we know that USDA AMS is still proceeding
with the COOL mandatory rule and supporting
documentation.[July 16th 2003] Dr. Rick
RasbyProfessor of Animal ScienceAnimal
Science University of Nebraska
LincolnLincolnNE
http//beef.unl.edu/stories/200307160.shtml
72
Glossary of Terms

• IP Internet Protocol
• WWW World Wide Web
• W3C World Wide Web Consortium
• IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
• DNS Domain Name System
• RFID Radio Frequency Identification
• ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
  and Numbers\
  
• AOL America on Line

73
Postscript
This scheme of identification numbers applies to
a variety of critical documents in other than Agr
icultural context. Some examples of critical or v
aluable documents are Birth certificates peop
le Death Certificates Citizenship certifica
tes Passports Visas Graduate degrees or
diplomas Motor vehicle operators license C
redit cards Advantages multiply as more types of
documents are covered.