Big Brother and now private companies

> However, the type of
> chips used in product packaging have a range
> of under one foot.

Today.

Tommorrow. Who can tell.

Yesterday. It took a room full of computers to send a man to the moon.

Today. I have more computing power in my laptop.

Beware the creep.

Michael Ross

Chips in animals have proven to work.

Ten minutes into the future when products are chipped.

Small chip implanted in the wrist of a human. Linked to bank accounts and whatnot.

Fill shopping trolley. Push trolley through reader. Swipe wrist of point of sale reader. Transaction complete.

Pulled up for speeding. Police scan wrist - know who you are, where you live, how many points left on license, whether you own guns, etc.

Sounds silly now. Fact I imagined it means it is possible... and actually probably at some point in time... unless we stop it before it is too late.

Michael Ross

Not arguing that there are privacy issues, however there are much greater things to be concerned about. Ubiquitous GPS, software that phones home (Microsoft XP etc.) preventing you using your property in the way you want. Some years ago I wrote an article about a rap on the knuckles Mattel got for providing software with toys that phoned home and requested details from the user, almost always children. Now as adults we can weigh these decisions as to how much privacy we choose to give up for convenience, but when they start targetting children I get offended.

At present the limit on RFID range is physics. The small passive device can only be activated by sending power from a reader. To read from a greater distance needs logarithmically more powerful readers, ie enough to fry your brain as they read whats in your handbag. Sure, new physics may change that picture, but at the moment these tags are mch less of a worry than other privacy issues.
> Today.

> Tommorrow. Who can tell.

> Yesterday. It took a room full of computers
> to send a man to the moon.

> Today. I have more computing power in my
> laptop.

> Beware the creep.

> Michael Ross