Nokia has submitted Java Specification Request 257, Contactless Communication API, to the Java Community Process. According to the JSR,
Contactless communication can be used to provide a small amount of information to applications from some other medium, for example, links to some content or identifiers for services etc. Contactless communication can be based on e.g. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Near Field Communication (NFC) or bar codes.
NFC mode can be used for exchanging small amounts of information between two NFC enabled devices. RFID readers and tags do not need a visual contact but only close proximity between the reader terminal device and the tag. Some RFID tags can be also written and the data contained in them updated. Bar codes can be printed e.g. in adverts in magazines and newspapers, or on product packaging or for use at points of sale.
The API is targeted for resource-constrained devices such as mobile phones or consumer electronic devices and it must be memory-efficient.
This JSR will define two optional packages in a way that it is possible for a device to implement either read-only contactless communication (e.g. bar code reading) or bi-directional contactless communication (e.g. NFC) or both of them.
In the future, the FBI, local police, orgnaized crime, and others will use this API to read passports, driver's licenses, and other forms of ID remotely so they can identify and track individuals.
The Jakarta Apache Project has released Standard Taglib 1.1.2, an open source implementation of the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) 1.1 specification. This is a bug fix release.