RFID Tags: Cool, Useful Technology or Big Brother?

[Aristotle]

RFID tags can be used in some very awesome, very useful ways. They can also be misused. This article talks about both a bit, though it is a tad biased towards the negative aspects:

You need not be paranoid to fear RFID

I couldn't decide if this should do in the Computers & Internet forum or here, but I decided this is more of a political issue than a technological one.

[Jidoe]

That's an interesting article.

In Minority Report (a Steven Spielberg movie starring Tom Cruise) it is nice to see that anywhere Cruise goes, whether it in the street, car or mall, there are personal-intended ads which are directed exactly at him. I guess that if that was the end of the tracking chips usage, it'd be alright (at this point in time, I have no problem with being located).

The only scary thing is, as written in the article, if hackers or business enemies or any other baddie gets ahold of one's personal information. On the other side, it could easily help in the war against terrorism (when most of the times you know who wants to hurt you and when, but you've got no idea where they are).

[kestra]

We're all just one big target market!! The psychological content and the lengths large companies go in order to sell a product to a society has always been really creepy to me.
There are definitely some great applications for this, but this is one of those technologies that -will- be used for less than ethical reasons.

[Klisk]

I have to agree this technology will be put to bad use by someone. And that is a fact. The new IBM commerical where a help desk is out in the middle of a road and it tells a big rig it's not going the right way all becuase it was tracking the RFID tags on its packages really spooks me out.

[Vidare]

This is really reminiscent of not just Minority Report, but also the movie Enemy of the State, where they use something simliar to track the main character, who's got something in his posession that he doesn't know about until the government starts coming after him. Fucking scary. I can see some point for both sides, personally. And I'm on the fence as to whether this is a good idea to do or not.

[Gesslar]

Well, the whole debate may become moot if this device goes further.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28737

[Aristotle]

Originally posted by karahd
Well, the whole debate may become moot if this device goes further.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28737

Awesome. This sort of thing is just what we need.

I'm all for RFID tags that are used for someone's benefit.

This device sounds like a good way to get rid of ones that are left "hanging around" secretly in things like clothes and what-not for the purpose of future tracking/indexing.

[Leshrak]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060106/...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer.

Tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chips inserted into Graafstra's hands make it all possible.

"I just don't want to be without access to the things that I need to get access to. In the worst case scenario, if I'm in the alley naked, I want to still be able to get in (my house)," Graafstra said in an interview in New York, where he is promoting the technology. "RFID is for me."

Graafstra was drawn to RFID tagging to make life easier in this technological age, but Sklar said he was more intrigued by the technology's potential in a broader sense.

In the future, technological advances will allow people to store, transmit and access encrypted personal information in an increasing number of wireless ways, Sklar said.

Wary of privacy issues, Sklar said he is developing a fabric "shield" to protect such chips from being read by strangers seeking to steal personal information or identities.

Way to go.