New Pay-to-Play Fastpass System coming soon?

That's not really what anyone is concerned about. The real problem is identity theft. RFID chips are used in smart cards, like those handy gas station key fobs that you just "wave" at the pumps. Government has talked about embedding them in passports or state ID cards. The problem is the "R" if RFID. If that information is being broadcast, it can be snooped - just like a wireless computer network. Just by walking through a mall with an RFID enabled passport and credit card, so sneak sitting near the fountain with a $500 laptop and a sniffer can grab your name, ss#, home address and credit card number. Ouila - your life is hell. That's the biggest concern about the technology.

The complete invasion of your life by big brother knowing what you eat, what you buy and what you wear is just added fun.

 

Let me put it this way. The whole big brother thing is just a paranoid fantasy, right?

I don't have this information available now.. but there's a LOT of former high ranking governmental officials who have ended up working in companies working with RFIDs. This didn't come from a conspiracy theory web site, it came from Consumer Reports (I just have no idea where the particular issue is at the moment). There are plans underfoot to introduce legislation to PROTECT RFIDs, as if they were in danger of being beat up by the big bad privacy advocates..

I've never seen a situation that justifies the use of RFIDs. Every scenerio I've ever heard has been a weak excuse as best. I mean.. I'll admit the idea of instantaneously scanning an entire cart load of groceries is interesting, But since RFID tags are currently still very expensive that's not a practical proposition. I think there's a LOT of interest in putting RFIDs into our society, and I don't think the interest is for the reasons that we're being given. Besides which.. I REALLY can't say I think a faster trip through the checkout line could be called "great progress".

For instance there's been a story about it being possible to use RFID tagged medicine containers to warn against negative drug interactions. Please.. the RFID would have nothing to do with that process, you'd need a computer with all the drug information, and a bar code would let it do that just as easily as RFIDs would. It's an invented excuse. Pharmacies probably already maintain a computer database of their customers. As you say, Harra, the information is already there. So why do we need these radio tags that can be read remotely without our knowledge?

I don't think you understand the kind of personal information that you can get about ANYONE for the right price. The code from a toll road pass system is just a number, but in my state (Illinois) that number is being used to give people speeding tickets (after we were promised it would NEVER be used for that), and it's become a popular mechanism for establishing people's whereabouts to attempt to prove that a spouse has been cheating in divorce court.

You are represented by a bunch of these numbers. And they're interconnected. And there's little protection for the databases that contain the information.

It doesn't help that I'm seeing news stories about companies that illegally acquire this information and then sell it. It seems that they give their illegally acquired information to law enforcement agencies for free and in exchange they're allowed to continue doing what they do.

For one final data point, consider that there are things that the government is forbidden from doing themselves (building up information databases about US citizens, that sort of thing) but which they are allowed to pay private companies to do FOR them.

So when I see that numerous private companies want to load up all of my possessions with radio tags that can be read remotely without my knowledge but I'm told that it's really okay, and I'm given a bunch of weak excuses as to why this ultimate invasion of privacy is really a good thing.. no, I don't believe it for one second. If they want me to be carrying tags that can be read remotely without my knowledge I'm left to assume that they have a desire to read them remotely without my knowledge.