IDC to RFID: Tags, you're it

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All technology is cool, its about how its used.

"Imagine what shopping would be like in a world where every product is tagged. You walk up to the checkout stand, and detectors immediately scan everything in your cart."

And also scans the tags in your clothes from an earlier purchase and adds it to your bill requiring you to take every thing out of the cart to verify what is and is not there.

Or the competition has someone standing outside to scan you when you walk by and you get spammed for weeks because you bought a competing product.

Or on the way home you are pulled over and the cops scan the contents of your car and decide that for this neighborhood you have two many cold remedies and decide you must surely be using it to cook meth.

Or spammers pay the garbage man to scan your trash and upload it to their data base. Mr. Carroll, we see you are out of XYZ so we are shipping you some more XYZ, simply return it if you don't want it otherwise we'll add it to your credit card.

Here's the thing John, I love technology as much as anyone and in honesty probably more than I should. But,,, I've also watched how every step forward in technology also brings out the worst in people/corporations (you can say spam, pop ups, right?) and how the technology is used to subvert what we all consider basic human rights.

I can't help but think our forefathers would be shocked at how our privacy has been invaded by today's technology users. (Not the technology, but the people using it.) As many have said before, freedoms and privacy aren't taken away in one huge leap, its done in tiny baby steps.

RFID is one more "baby step" in that process. Also consider that RFID really has no benefit to offer to the consumer. It will not lower the cost of goods and in fact will drive them up as the tags and equipment is not cheap, it will in no way improve the product itself, and does little more than provide corporations with another tool with the potential to harm consumers and invade our privacy.

I'll say it here and now, I see nothing in the use of RFID that is of enough benefit to offset the risk to me as a consumer and will actively work against its expance into my life.

Posted by: No_Ax_to_Grind   Posted on: 01/08/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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