A friend of mine, John Lochridge, recently sent me an article he had written for a local paper on RFIDs, Radio Frequency Identification.
\nI told him I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite made up my mind on the issue \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and still haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.
\nYou may have seen other articles or even television commercials touting the helpfulness of the small \u00e2\u20ac\u0153barcodes of the future.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nRFID tags are small microchips and antennas, used mainly in packaging and shipping, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assigned special serial numbers which can be transmitted to nearby readers.
\nThe RFID tags can help computers keep track of inventory, product shipments or any number of details, via radio waves through non-metallic materials.
\nThe technology has been available since the 1970\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, but not until recently has it been readily available or affordable for most users.
\nWhile retailers and businesses see RFID as a huge improvement in inventory tracking, many consumer groups and privacy advocates fear RFID is the beginning of a much broader scale of privacy invasion.
\nKatherine Albrecht, speaker, Harvard doctoral student, and the founder of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN), warns that retailers are experimenting with new ways to implement RFID\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s into every day products.
\nExperiments have embedded RFIDs into footwear and clothing — including undergarments.
\nWith readers in place, RFIDs can help retailers track an individual\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purchase from the moment they walk out of the store.
\nLike Cookies on the Internet, RFIDs can help retailers better understand purchase patterns and consumer use.
\nBut retailers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only ones interested in RFIDs.
\nAccording to Lochridge, the FDA recently approved embedding RFIDs under a persons skin to keep track of a persons medical history and conditions.
\nSimilar technology has been in use for a number of years with household pets.
\nA small RFID chip implanted in the back of a cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s or dog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neck can help veternarians find a pets owner if it’s lost.
\nThis year the Texas Legislature also proposed embedding RFID chips on cars across the state.
\nTexas state representative Larry Phillips (R-Sherman) proposed HB 2983, which included a portion calling for the embedding of RFID tags into vehicle registration stickers.
\nThe RFIDs would allow car registration information to be read and collected by a scanner from a distance.
\nA car could be identified by readers in nearby vehicles, notifying law enforcement if the car was stolen.
\nThe requirement for RFID tags was removed from the legislation as a result of negative public reaction regarding the issue.
\nSpring ISD in Texas has already embedded RFID tags into student IDs to track students across the district.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dallas residents can expect to hear more about RFID in the future,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lochridge writes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Dallas technology community is very interested in the technology. According to the Metroplex Technology Business Council, there are over 100 local firms actively involved in the development of RFID technology.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI’ve personally seen and read both sides of the issue and can understand both.
\nMany fear this is the start of the mark of the beast written about in the book of Revelation.
\nAt what point will RFID tags become required for everyone to track and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on individuals?
\nThe problem with technology is that the more it encroaches on our lives, the less privacy we will have.
\nTake a look at the movie \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Minority Report,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with Tom Cruise.
\nI think that’s what we’re heading to.
\nAdvertising is becoming more and more targeted and RFIDs will help companies do so more efficiently.
\nWhat if everytime you walked in to a store or turned on the television you only saw products you were already interested in?
\nYou don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to watch a commercial for a product you would never personally buy. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also the issue of safer travel in the future.
\nResearches are working on cars that drive and fly themselves.
\nWithout the human interaction, there will be less possibility for human error.
\nBut for that to happen, satellites and other devices will have to keep a constant tab on where vehicles are at, within inches.
\nAlso, RFIDs would help airlines keep track of passengers and ensure the right people are boarding the planes.
\nWe must either accept technology, or shun it.
\nIf we accept it — we will chose to give up a piece of our own privacy pie.
\nAnd each of us must decide how much we want to give up.
\nFor information visit nocards.org, spychips.com and rfidjournal.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A friend of mine, John Lochridge, recently sent me an article he had written for a local paper on RFIDs, Radio Frequency Identification. I told him I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite made up my mind on the issue \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and still haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. You may have seen other articles or even television commercials touting the helpfulness of the … Continue reading This week’s column: Big brother is watching<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-7Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}