RFID Lowdown: How RFID Can Destroy Life As You Know It

May 28, 2006

How RFID Can Destroy Life As You Know It

Imagine a future world in which RFID rules - cattle, poultry, wild animals, trees, medicines, baggage, shipments, museum artefacts, consumer goods, AND people (including babies) are all tagged. People whom you have never met and don't know are in a position to keep track of your movements - where you are going, whom you are meeting, what you are doing...

Now wait a minute - did I say FUTURE world? Methinks we are in the midst of an RFID revolution where all this has already happened, or is in the process of happening. Scary? Exciting? Crazy? Wonderful? There are as many reactions to this revolution, as there are people.

According to Katherine Albrecht (Spychips RFID Blog), in her post entitled, "Be careful what you wish on your enemies"

No matter who you are and how saintly a life you lead, I can almost promise you that if we light this fire to burn the pedophiles, somewhere down the road it will burn us and our children, too... Big Brother has surrounded us with dried kindling and he's hankering for a match. Don't hand it to him.

Is the scenario really so bleak? Says Amy Larsen DeCarlo (Internet Week Blog), in her post, "Identity And Freedom"

...tens of millions of military veterans are saddled instead with questions about whether they are among the 26.5 million whose personal identifying information was on the laptop stolen from a Veterans Affairs analyst's home several weeks ago. And if their information was on that laptop, these veterans have to speculate on what the impact of that theft be on their financial futures.

This is a current real situation that Amy is talking about; it's not just speculation about some future possibility. And then there is the furore created by the passports that contain the RFID chip. Are we really moving towards a society where people are being tracked and "marked" against their will? Edward Hasbrouck (The Practical Nomad; post title - RFID passport logo (or "mark of the beast"?)) says:

Some people think RFID chips are the mark of the beast mentioned in the Christian bible. I suspect that the State Department, and perhaps others, are afraid that some of these people might interpret the RFID logo as its own sort of "mark" of the Beast, and object to having to carry it on their passports. Whatever you think of their beliefs, they might pose a problem for a government that claims to be faith-based and Christian and that has been steadily enlarging the exceptions from government regulations for the "free exercise of religion", especially if that religion is Christian.

Are all these views scary enough? Well, not everyone's scared. Anita Campbell says:

Most consumers who hear only distorted snippets about RFID technology usually have no clue how widespread the use of RFID is today and how much it is benefiting their lives already.

(RFID Weblog - post title "Watch the RFID Video")

So, am I talking science fiction when I say that our rights, our privacy and our lives are violated and endangered by RFID technology? No, there is a very real possibility that this can happen, and also that this may be happening right now. BUT... but what?

And now let us look at this from a different perspective. When fire was first discovered by the primitive human being, some people must have been very scared, knowing the very real dangers that fire posed to their existence. And then there were the others who chose to look at how fire could revolutionize their lives, IF HARNESSED PROPERLY. Most useful things can be dangerous if handled in the wrong manner (electricity, for instance), and if the proper precautions are not taken.

If the primitive man had focussed ONLY on the dangers that fire posed, he would have avoided it completely (wait a minute, it must have been a woman who realized the usefulness of fire... but I am digressing), and we would probably still be eating raw fish along with salads and fresh fruits (okay, exaggerating - but you get my point). There are so many delights in our lives that are possible ONLY due to the existence of fire.

And so it is with RFID technology. If we can harness it in a manner that lets us maximize its effectiveness while not intruding into our personal lives, would people still be as scared? I think not. We need to remember the potential hazards, sidestep them, and use RFID to make our lives easier, not more complicated (aren't they complicated enough already?).

The question remains - though there are so many citizens who are anti-war, anti-nuclear bombs, anti-so many bad things, bad things still happen. Wars happen, bombings happen... One question to ask ourselves - Why do we elect governments who are doing this to us? And why are we taking it lying down?

If you don't want your passports tagged, SPEAK UP!! TELL THEM THAT THEY CANNOT DO THIS TO YOU. The government wants to fight terrorism? Let them find another way. Harassing the upright, tax paying citizen is not the acceptable way. (Funny, the terrorists seem to find a way around every technology designed to stop and trap them... hmm... digressing again, sorry).

Which brings me to the conclusion of this post. So, what are your thoughts on the technology now? Is it exciting? Or is it still scary? Can it be harnessed successfully to our benefit? Or will it destroy us?

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May 28, 2006 | Permalink

Comments

I agree completely. While we need to be careful about how it is implemented, and are really in a great time of transition we need to be careful about overly restricting RFID, b/c it does and will have a lot of great uses in the future.

Posted by: Rich | May 29, 2006 9:10:16 AM

Wrong. Governments should get out of the way in this debate.

I think the worst thing for all of us is to have bureaucrats that know nothing about the technology trying to balance the extremist special interests that are motivating them.

Posted by: John Skakun | May 29, 2006 12:48:05 PM

Im no fan of govt. regulation either, but at some point the corporate interests need to be held back from infringing upon private citizens privacy.

I say lets see more regulation.

Posted by: Jo Nathan | May 29, 2006 12:49:40 PM

Tagging childrens ears!!!!

Hey at least we won't lose them in the mall :)

Posted by: Trident | May 29, 2006 12:50:56 PM

Give me a break...this is the same sort of hype we hear about all new technology....

Flying cars anyone...?

Posted by: big john | May 29, 2006 12:52:33 PM

Big John,

Do you really think flying cars are such a remote possibility??? Think again! It's just a matter of time. Airspace is already crowded, it is going to get more crowded!

Mini

Posted by: Mini | May 30, 2006 11:05:06 PM

Maybe Mini, but my point was simply that I remember a day when predictions ran rampant that we would all have flying cars by the year 2000.

I see the RFID scare debate in the same vein...

Posted by: big john | Jun 2, 2006 5:19:06 PM