The consulting company I work for just finished a massive research project concerning RFID technology. As the team technical writer, I slogged through hundreds of articles on the subject - what it is used for now, what it will or could be used for, and how our client could benefit from it.
But I found all that input gave me some freaky inspiration, and a lot to think about.
Since finishing the project and presenting it, I have found out that several of the people I came into contact with before the project are working for companies that either sell or use this type of technology.
For example, when the fam and I went to Lennox to see the fireworks on the Fourth, we ran into a fellow we'd met briefly before. I'll call him Jonesy. Jonesy was much nicer to talk to on this occasion than the last time I'd met him, mostly due to the fact that he was EXTREMELY drunk.
He was involved in programming the RFID chips that are part of a new credit card program called "blink" - you don't have to swipe the card, just flash it at a reader and enter a PIN.
I mentioned some of the ways RFID is being used now, especially by the military and DoD. Field hospitals in Iraq tag every patient with beacon RFID tags, identifying them and tracking them in the hospital. So they knowe where everyone is, including POWs. *shrug* Made sense to me.
Jonesy was freaked out. "That's a violation of their Civil Rights!" I pointed out that, in the military, one does not have Civil Rights because one is no longer a Civilian(unless things have changed since my days as an Army Brat). He blinked and said, "Oh."
Seriously, though, Homeland security wants to put them in all passports. Some people are even getting chips implanted with medical information in place of MedicAlert bracelets, much like the chips people have recently begun putting in their pets. There is talk of having RFID chips in health insurance cards that could be read when you enter a doctor's office or emergency room, to speed up the paperwork or whatever.
There's an element of gee-whiz to the technology, and it's really hot right now, since Wal-Mart and the DoD have mandated it be applied to all the goods they are supplied. It really does work better than bar codes for use throughout supply chains.
But the "what if" machine in my head wants to make it so much more ominous... I wonderedwhat Hatrack thought about it.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
The Passports notion is idiotic; many of the uses aren't so bad.
The big problem with most of the uses is that they're being embedded and can't be easily deactivated, meaning they remain on after one leaves the store, which could lead to significant criminal and privacy violating potential, depending.
Otherwise they'd be like bar codes only for at a little distance and capable of being done more than one at a time.
Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
The ones the military uses are powered to transmit a signal and have GPS, so they can track their supplies from satalites. Whuch is handy, but bulky and expensive for any application other than war (at this point).
Posted by Chreese Sroup (Member # 8248) on :
I fear that many have lost sight of what the government's role is: To protect the rights of the people.
That said, RFID has some cool potential. I don't like the idea of it used with secure items. These items I would include would be my personal information, credit information, and any information that I do not want to be public knowledge: Ideas, works, books, etc.
You could however do some cool tracking of objects, an example would be test rockets, triangulation with multiple nodes in the surrounding area.
I don't think I personally would renew my passport if I didn't have to, eleven years is a long time.
With RFID you could even have an array of items that are only broadcasting when you send a specific signal to that one thereby allowing you to locate one in many.
With regard to the Walmart case, if they only have it in the pricetag, which will be removed before I leave the store, I am all for such use to track inventory.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Another use of RFID I think will be extremely useful is with commonly rented goods, such as DVDs -- it will make inventory tracking systems significantly easier.
Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
Quick, let's tell Netflix! Before they hack me off again...
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I'm all for product tracking and inventory systems, no problem
Using it to track people, like Brettyly described with the students - not so cool with it.
Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
I got an ad for a watch that you give to your children to wear that has a batter-powered RFID chip and GPS. YOu sign up for tracking using GPS satallites and can track your kids over the internet.
My reaction went from "Neat! you can get your kids back faster in case of abduction, or something" to "Holy Cow! If it starts there, where will it lead?"
And Homeland Security has been very careful to use the terms 'contactless chips' when referring to RFID chips in passports instead of using the term 'RFID'. It may be a PC thing, or an attempt to distance themselves from negative aspects of the term while going ahead and using it however they want.