[LINK] Re: RFID in Govt, and in People

[Eric Scheid]

On 5/10/06 11:21 AM, "Marghanita da Cruz" <marghanita at ramin.com.au> wrote:

>> What NEW privacy concerns are specifically raised because of RFID?

> It is the ease of tracking that RFID offers over Barcodes that raises
> issues....identifying people or their habbits by their rubbish bins and
> their contents, where they live by tracking where the book/clothing
> goes...are these applications are in the realms of science fiction or
> now legitimate objectives.

I heard that supermarkets might use RFID to keep an eye on the level of
various goods on the shelf ... to know when the item is removed from the
shelf. All to do with maintaining inventory levels or something.

Combine that with library cards with RFID chips one might carry in one's
pocket, and They might now be able to track what books people read *in* the
library (ie. the books they *don't* checkout).

The thing is, is this feasible?

(this prompts another curious question: we've had great and long debate
about the range for reading RFID, and I've also noted comments about RFID
readers being overwhelmed with too many responses ... but could one design
an RFID reader with very limited range, ideal for scanning the smaller set
of RFIDs physically within 12" only?)

e.