[Newspoetry] And you thought being tracked on the internet was bad enough....

[John Newmark]

RFID: The New Big Brother ?

Privacy
Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday January 14, @09:56AM

from the break-out-the-tinfoil-hats dept.

Makarand writes "The possibility that we could be tracked not because we
have a microchip implant but merely because we wear clothes, eat and carry
objects around is real according to this article on C|net news. A
technology called RFID (radio frequency identification) consisting of
miniscule microchips the size of a single grain of sand that listen to a
radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID can make this
possible. Most RFID tags use the power from the initial radio signal to
transmit their response and hence can be placed anywhere imaginable.
Retailers are adoring this concept and soon everything more expensive than
a Snickers bar will sport RFID tags making tracking possible through our
own personal possessions. The privacy threat comes when RFID tags remain
active once you leave a store and currently the RFID industry seems to be
giving 'mixed' signals about whether the tags will be disabled or left
enabled by default."

Full article: http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html