RFID = Invasion of Privacy

While watching the International News Net World Report yesterday, I came across an interesting “marketing” tool that I’m sure will be (for better or worse, more likely worse) very ubiquitous in the future. Major retail outlets such as Wal-Mart are trying to insert “Radio Frequency Identification” (RFID) tags in all of their items for sale. The grand idea is to have every product on the planet tagged with its own unique number which can then be tracked.

If one thinks about it, this can have very chilling consequences. Basically, consumers can be monitored 24/7. Once in place, the tags can be tracked for the life of the item, letting those who are doing the tracking follow the exact movements of the buyer of the product.

Dr. Kathryn Albrecht and Liz McIntyre have a website concerning this issue. They list many possibilities (probabilities?) that this technology can be used to invade one’s privacy and enable the corporations to track or manipulate the consumer.

What’s amazing is how the marketers are able to keep this invasion of privacy virtually out of any public scrutiny. Dr. Albrecht pointed out in the interview I saw that they have tried many times to have states enact laws making it mandatory that products utilizing this technology plainly brand their packages that an RFID is located within the product. Nowadays if there is any branding, it’s a very small tag in an obscure location. Each state they have tried to pass a law, hordes of lobbyists invade and throw major bucks around to quash the bills. Not one has passed. It makes one wonder why the secrecy? What’s so important that they don’t want us to know about?

Finally, think about how vulnerable to an illegal scan a person is. I was sent a “no swipe” credit card without asking my permission first (“Congratulations, card owner!”) making it seem that my life had just become a more beautiful thing because of their generosity and technological prowess. They didn’t deem it worth mentioning, however, that if a criminal were to obtain a scanner, he or she could scan me without my knowledge and receive my personal information such as name, address, credit card number, expiration date, etc. and utilize it to rip me off or at least the credit card company which we the consumer will pay for in the long run.

It’s imperative that this invasion of privacy be subject to public scrutiny and as closely monitored as they want to monitor us.