RFID Lowdown: RFID getting under your skin?

May 15, 2006

RFID getting under your skin?

Inventory management was probably the first big use for RFID technology and from Wal-Mart to aircraft spares, from pets to comatose patients, from toll gates to credit card the newer uses for this technology is cropping up everywhere and almost everyday some new industry is incorporating RFID.

It is a buzzing technology, no doubts about that and the advantages are numerous like for example sorting the fake drugs from the real etc are all admirable and well thought of uses. Owners of pets know the agony of losing one and are often the first ones to use a tag for their pooches. If you were to think up some new uses for this technology you are sure to find a new area to introduce RFID and that’s how much of an "in thing" this is.

I am all for RFID inventory tagging and even tagging pets and to a certain extent healthcare tagging but I am skeptical and even uncomfortable with credit card tags - wave-and-buy credit cards. The more you think of it, does it not get a little crazy with so much of credit card fraud and identity thefts happening? Okay, so no tag has been hacked yet and till date this is true, but don’t you think some clever hacker is right now finding ways to do just that? Hang on to those PIN numbers for now any day a hacker may find a way to read your card.

I also strongly come up with an allergic reaction when I think of RFID tags under my skin and here I am not referring to medical complications that may occur in some of us humans with a foreign body inside but to the absurd ways the technology is currently being used. If I were to need emergency medical care I’d rather have a card in my pocket stating, my blood group, medical conditions and allergic drugs, clearly for a healthcare person to see rather than walk around with an implanted chip inside me. It's "no thank you" for me!

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May 15, 2006 in Tags and Readers | Permalink