[LINK] US-AMA far too complacent about human RFID tags

[Karl Auer]

On Wed, 2007-07-04 at 00:08 +1000, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote:
> I am arguing that people will take up the 
> technology because they will want its benefits, and they will perceive 
> these benefits to outweigh its risks or it will "enhance" their life. I 
> also don't see it as "authority" imposing its will (us against them), I 
> see it as people making choices to use the technology (or not).

There is ample evidence that unless people are well-informed, they will
sell their birthright for a mess of pottage. By "well-informed", I mean
informed so that they understand, not just that they are presented with
a page of small-print.

Privacy is the most obvious area where this is true; people will tell
perfect strangers the most private of information, will allow anyone to
photograph their drivers licence or passport, will submit to being
photographed in public buildings and even private spaces. Most give it
no thought at all, and in many cases there is NO benefit to them at all.

Microsoft, a year or so ago, had a movie-making competition. All entries
became the absolute property of Microsoft, to do with as they pleased,
with no further reference to the entrant. The entrants bound themselves
(by merely entering, not just by winning) to permit Microsoft to use
their names and images of them in any place or medium and for any
purpose. ANY purpose! There were thousands of entries, because people
stood to win something. These sorts of amazingly one-sided conditions
are by no means uncommon - childrens' colouring in competitions done by
the local video shop have similarly objectionable conditions.

In short, you cannot speak of choice unless there is a real, informed
decision, not just the "perception of benefit". Without that, you just
have people (well, typically corporates) exploiting the ignorance of
others.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)