Blog Insights: Tinfoil hats, or unfortunate reality?

CNet reports that the bill in question, recently introduced into the California state legislature, would "prohibit any person from forcing any other person to undergo an implant in their body of a radio frequency identification device." Of course, that's not a very common scenario today anyway, so the Cnet blogger calls it nothing more than a useless "feel-good" bill. But two things are happening that are cause for concern. First, government intrusion of privacy is at an all-time high (warrantless wire-tapping, etc.), and second, RFID technology is advancing in many ways. There are vocal advocates who proclaim that humans should be "tagged." And according to the Wireless Weblog, there is one company that already requires employees to have microchips implanted in their arms as a condition of employment. Remind me to put that one on my list of places I would never want to work. This is no "feel-good" bill. It's a legitimate bill that should be passed immediately, not just in California but everywhere, because it takes pre-emptive action against the possibility of a grave injustice that could realistically happen.

This bill is no flash in the pan, and State Senator Simitian has been concerned about the issue since 2005, when a California elementary school proposed "chipping" all their students to keep track of their whereabouts, notes the RFID Law Blog. The Northern California ACLU blog notes some of the vulnerabilities of the technology, and the possibility for serious infringement of privacy: It would be theoretically possible for a person that has been "chipped," or even a person who is holding an RFID-enabled ID card, to be tracked by virtually anyone with the right equipment. Besides the very real risk of identity theft, it would be possible for government agents (or anybody for that matter) to learn the identities of people attending protest rallies or other public events where the right to privacy and anonymity should be taken for granted.

A lively discussion on Slashdot takes critics to task. The American Electronics Association tries to downplay the risks, saying that RFID has been in place for more than 50 years-although that appears to me to be besides the point. RFID chips are a great technology. It's terrific for tracking lost dogs, pallets in warehouses, and equipment. But as most of the Slashdotters agree, using it to track humans is just plain wrong, and besides being a monumental invasion of privacy, it also opens the door to widespread identity theft.