RFIDs - The End of Your Privacy?

You might well already have RFID technology in your house. I have. RFID or radio frequency identification is a formal term for surveillance microchips and they're really catching on. I had one implanted in my dog. If he winds up at the SPCA, they'll pass a scanner over him that will reveal his chip data. From that they'll be able to get my name, address and telephone number and will, presumably, call me to collect my hound.

RFIDs are getting really, really small and really, really cheap and there are some who think it would be a really, really good idea to pop one beneath your delicate hide and mine. In fact it may only be a matter of time.

This excerpt from a story in today's Daily Mail:

"The microchips - which are implanted under the skin - allow the wearer's movements to be tracked and store personal information about them.

"They could be used by companies who want to keep tabs on an employee's movements or by Governments who want a foolproof way of identifying their citizens - and storing information about them.

"The prospect of 'chip-citizens' - with its terrifying echoes of George Orwell's 'Big Brother' police state in the book 1984 - was raised in an official report for Britain's Information Commissioner Richard Thomas into the spread of surveillance technology.

"The report, drawn up by a team of respected academics, claims that Britain is a world-leader in the use of surveillance technology and its citizens the most spied-upon in the free world.
It paints a frightening picture of what Britain might be like in ten years time unless steps are taken to regulate the use of CCTV and other spy technologies. "

The British report isn't alarmist. In fact, some jurisdictions are already dealing with this threat to our privacy. RFID technology has been around since the patent was issued in 1973 but it has only been recently that the chip has evolved to be really small and astonishingly inexpensive - as little as five cents a piece. The chips were once "read only" but new "read and write" versions are available.

Wisconsin has banned the implantation of RFID chips in people and other jurisdictions are moving in the same direction. The RFID industry, however, isn't giving up that fight. The chairman of VeriChip corporation has been actively lobbying for the use of RFID chips for immigrants and guest workers.

Exploring the use and threat of RFID technology is far beyond the scope of this blog but this is something you need to follow. The mere threat of terrorism has already caused our governments to narrow historic civil rights, including privacy rights.