I am not normally a fan of legislation that "protects" us from new technology, but I had to think hard about a recent article posted on CNet. The article discusses supposedly hasty laws to control privacy issues around RFID. The thrust of the article is that such laws are knee-jerk reactions to technology drafted by Luddite legislators.

These issues were in the news recently with the Federal attempt to insert RFID tags into US passports, but they have been around for a while. With tags in the products we buy someone will be able to snoop and find out what brand of jeans we are wearing and what cereal we are eating for breakfast, or something like that. Some people get excited about things like that.

On the other hand, I have seen marketing types salivating over what they could do with technology like RFID. I consulted with one of the major Las Vegas resort outfits where a consultant was full of interesting ideas. For example, a couple walks up to the hotel restaurant. The RFID tag in the guy's player card ID's him to the maitre'd, who welcomes them by name. "Good evening, Mr. Smith. Would you and your wife like the same table you had last time?" Very cool, except maybe last time he was with a different Mrs. Smith...

New technology does have to be examined through the lens of common sense. Stores do collect more information about us then I am comfortable with, but poorly thought out laws against useful technologies like RFID don't really help.

Larry Mittag