I think it's an oldy, but why I wonder there is not much discussion in mass media?
from: http://www.spychips.com/rfid_overview.html
"In 5-10 years, whole new ways of doing things will emerge and gradually become commonplace. Expect big changes." [1] - MIT's Auto-ID Center
Supermarket cards and retail surveillance devices are merely the opening volley of the marketers' war against consumers. If consumers fail to oppose these practices now, our long-term prospects may look like something from a dystopian science fiction novel.
A new consumer goods tracking system called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is poised to enter all of our lives, with profound implications for consumer privacy. RFID couples radio frequency (RF) identification technology with highly miniaturized computers that enable products to be identified and tracked at any point along the supply chain. [2]
The system could be applied to almost any physical item, from ballpoint pens to toothpaste, which would carry their own unique information in the form of an embedded chip. [3] The chip sends out an identification signal allowing it to communicate with reader devices and other products embedded with similar chips. [4]
Analysts envision a time when the system will be used to identify and track every item produced on the planet. [5]
A number for every item on the planet
RFID employs a numbering scheme called EPC (for "electronic product code") which can provide a unique ID for any physical object in the world. [6] The EPC is intended to replace the UPC bar code used on products today. [7]
Unlike the bar code, however, the EPC goes beyond identifying product categories--it actually assigns a unique number to every single item that rolls off a manufacturing line. [8] For example, each pack of cigarettes, individual can of soda, light bulb or package of razor blades produced would be uniquely identifiable through its own EPC number. [9]
Once assigned, this number is transmitted by a radio frequency ID tag (RFID) in or on the product. The cost of a passive RFID tag is currently between $0.20 and $0.80. -K.A. 9/04] are "somewhere between the size of a grain of sand and a speck of dust." [12] They are to be built directly into food, clothes, drugs, or auto-parts during the manufacturing process. [13]
Receiver or reader devices are used to pick up the signal transmitted by the RFID tag. Proponents envision a pervasive global network of millions of receivers along the entire supply chain -- in airports, seaports, highways, distribution centers, warehouses, retail stores, and in the home. [14] This would allow for seamless, continuous identification and tracking of physical items as they move from one place to another, [15] enabling companies to determine the whereabouts of all their products at all times.
The ultimate goal is for RFID to create a "physically linked world" [18] in which every item on the planet is numbered, identified, catalogued, and tracked. And the technology exists to make this a reality.
The implications of RFID
Though many RFID proponents appear focused on inventory and supply chain efficiency, others are developing financial and consumer applications that, if adopted, will have chilling effects on consumers' ability to escape the oppressive surveillance of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers. Of course, government and law enforcement will be quick to use the technology to keep tabs on citizens, as well.
The European Central Bank is quietly working to embed RFID tags in the fibers of Euro banknotes by 2005. The tag would allow money to carry its own history by recording information about where it has been, thus giving governments and law enforcement agencies a means to literally "follow the money" in every transaction. If and when RFID devices are embedded in banknotes, the anonymity that cash affords in consumer transactions will be eliminated.
Now that shopper cards have whetted their appetite for data, marketers are no longer content to know who buys what, when, where, and how. As incredible as it may seem, they are now planning ways to monitor consumers' use of products within their very homes. RFID tags coupled with indoor receivers installed in shelves, floors, and doorways, [31] could provide a degree of omniscience about consumer behavior that staggers the imagination.
Marketers aren't the only ones who want to watch what you do in your home. Enter again the health surveillance connection. Some have suggested that pill bottles in medicine cabinets be tagged with RFID devices to allow doctors to remotely monitor patient compliance with prescriptions. [33]
While developers claim that RFID technology will create "order and balance" in a chaotic world, [34] even the center's executive director, Kevin Ashton, acknowledges there's a "Brave New World" feel to the technology. [35] He admits, for example, that people might balk at the thought of police using RFID to scan the contents of a car's trunk without needing to open it. [36] The Center's co-director, Sanjay E. Sarma, has already begun planning strategies to counter the public backlash he expects the system will encounter.
the original article can be found on http://www.spychips.com/documents/Al...Denver-Law.pdf





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