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Utah Leads the Way Toward RFID Privacy Legislation
An anonymous reader writes "Wired News reports that Utah's House of Representatives passed the first-ever RFID privacy bill this week, 47-23. Utah state Rep. David Hogue said that without laws to ensure consumer privacy, retailers will be tempted to match the data gathered by RFID readers with consumers' personal information. 'The RFID industry will carry the technology as far as they can,' said Hogue, sponsor of the Radio Frequency Identification Right to Know Act. 'Marketing people especially are going to love this kind of stuff.'"
Has RFID users formed their own lobby yet? Retailers have their own. Notice how powerful Walmart is in that respect. They will just lobby the US Congress to create an over-riding law allowing RFIDs to be used as the retailers see fit. Vote smarter next time around and everyone vote!
A tech law in advance of the tech.
That's the way it should be, rather than trying to throw together a hack job after the tech has been around for a while.
Nice for them... Now if they can control what thier senator wants to do on a national level then we can talk...
Is there such a thing as an RFID tag locator? Could someone electronically-savvy pitch in on this? Can I have a little device that beeps louder as it gets closer to a tag?
Why come out with a new law each time there is a new form of technology? Just make it illegal to use ANY electronic database to surreptitiously track people. This can include facial recognition, RFID, gait recognition, electronic nose systems, cell phone triangulation, licence plate OCR, or any possible unforseen technological advances.
Marketing people especially are going to love this kind of stuff
Is there anything wrong with that so long as somewhere in our future we make sure that information isn't accessed 'inappropriately'?
An example of such abuse it as marketer looking up information an a prospective date, or a baristor using racel profiling digs up information about you that would prejedice a jury.
That's what we all fear...
But if this leads to cheaper and more acurate (and less bothersome) appraisal of market fashions, then that's as appropriate as asking surveying people.
RFID's provide that ability to collect data never before possible. This won't go away because it's just simple too useful.
We of the tinfoil hats must use our energies to combat inappropriate use of information.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
"when voters care, issues happen" Trouble is that they don't care and cannot remember three months into the future who said what or voted which way. Terrible truth. Look at who we elect over and over. SOS.
Yeah the retailer should never know when you buy condoms, so when you go up to the counter to pay for them rip off the bar code and assure the clerk it's the right one while keeping the condoms in your pocket.
This is really dumb, the store knows when you buy personal items if they have a RFID tag or not. When you go to the counter and pay for the items, hey someone's gonna know! And it kind of tips people off when you carry them in your cart or basket. Also, if you use a CVS card or anything like that they keep track of what you buy and send you flyers and ads home based on that information.
We're not too far from the thought police at all? Where the hell did that come from? RFID tags can't read your mind, if you have one on your body no one's gonna be able to track you from a satellite, it doesn't transmit brain waves. You'd need a reader really close to the device anyway. Not like the CIA is gonna follow you around with a RFID tag reader, that'll defeat the purpose of having the tag installed secretly in the first place.
I agree with you up until you say
In some ways this is the ultamate offshoring of a service job
This is not offshoring jobs, it's technology making certain jobs redundent. Since this technology will be cheaper than labour it will win. Jobs are great and all, but people need to be "net productive", at least in theory
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
This might keep the marketing dogs at bay but politicians must be having wet dreams at what this could acheave - imaging linking all this data, you basically have a distributed array of people sensors and an extensive log of where any one person has been on tap 24/7. How about installing RFID readers _everywhere_ - put them in airport check-ins, public transport, traffic lights, libraries, schools, the pavement, and you have amazing coverage. You could see what people were buying, reading, eating, wearing, even what underwear they had on and the best thing is it would happen automatically - the computer would build up profiles of people based on what tags were moving around, it would be able to fill in blanks from other databases - eg get on a plane and that set of RFID takes belongs to the name on your passport. Shops would be only too happy to give their database to the government in return for a few favours.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
You have to understand... companies do not want business from nutjobs like you because you take more time than you're worth. A http_referrer? Are you nuts? Oh wait. You are. That's not your history... it's just the site that you came from. Virtually every single website does this so they can see where their advertising money is spent the best. I don't think that an http_referrer qualifies as doing "anything" to gather info. It's equivalent to walking into a small store and the owner asking where you heard about them. But, like I said, people like you are very few and far between, so anybody with an online business really would be smart to tell you to take a flying leap. Satisfing a handful of paranoid nutjobs at the expense of knowing where their customers come from is a very bad tradeoff. BTW, have you ever thought of defeating their evil schemes by opening a browser and typing "newegg.com"??
Personally, I don't like this at all because of the possibilities of data mining and telemetry, and personal profiling and advertising with that data. It's good to see some eyes without cataracts in the government once in a while, but eventually consumer apathy and corporate rollout will make this a non issue. C'est la vie.
he said technologivally, were not far from the thought police.
Perhaps you have some condoms in your pocket. then every where there is a rfid rader, there is someone who knows what is in you pocket.
You go to the story to buy a couple of things, then suddenly the cart announces there is a sale on condoms. now everyone know you have condoms.
Or perhaps you hacve some mdication you would rather someone didn't know about?
Walk into an interview, and the company know you take diabetis medication. well, better hire someone else because of the insurance risk.
Your in a town that is run by a religeon, and you have some material on you that would be 'against the rules'. suddenly your life just got a lot harder.
the CIA won't have to follow us if the readers are every where, would they?
no they can't read you mind, but they tell the world what you own, and people will infer there own reasons why you would own them. And believe me, nobody is going to infer anything positive.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Want to guarantee passage of this law? Want to guarantee similar laws get passed elsewhere?
Subject the (senators|congresscritters|Members of Parliment|...) to the effects of life without it.
"Well, Senator Bedfellow, let's see. You bought condoms, yet your wife is out of town. You bought wine. You bought SuuperCalais (large economy bottle). You drove your car through the Expressway to a little hotel."
www.eFax.com are spammers
There's a difference between "Tee-hee, then this one guy came in today and he bought
I expect that the biggest discernable change RFID is going to cause is the deliberate modification of personal behavior to prevent this kind of information from being PRESENT so that it cannot be collected.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
There's a big difference between having one clerk notice for a moment that you are buying something embarassing and having it stored in a database for convenient perusal at any date in the future by multiple parties and without your knowledge or permission.
The thought police idea comes in when you change your behavior based on the above.
"Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
While I don't ACT any differently I certainly do my share of database pollution, wrong phone numebrs, bad zip codes, etc. Every chance I get. Just because I don't like being watched, and don't make it easy, I don't act any differently when I am.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Also the company isn't called Matrix, that is the name of the program/database in question.
If anything this probably prompted the passing of the bill this thread is discussing. The Matrix flack brought the issue of privacy rights to the front of everybody's minds, so when someone proposed a bill to "protect the privacy rights" the legislators were probably trying to climb over each other to be the first to vote for the bill.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
It says "G.W. Bush" on my RFID tag, and they're never wrong.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
This entire discussion is moot, as I'm having it with someone who doesn't believe in prophets or scripture (modern day pharisees and sadducees, like I said before), so this will be my last post.
Yes, Brigham Young was a prophet. No, I do not agree with that statement. But that is pointless anyway, because the statement was made before the civil war, in a very, very different time. And the only source is the Journal of Discourses, which has never been considered a source of church doctrine.
If you only analyze a group by their teachings or actions of 150+ years ago, then every american is a bigot against indians (american soldiers murdered tens of thousands of them) and every catholic is a barbarian (leftover from the cruisades). But neither of those are the case, just like neither I or my church are bigots.
Bye.
Then I assume you have no problem with meth, cocaine, marijuana, or any other drugs either? There is nothing wrong with them, it's just when people become *addicted* to them that there is a problem?
I'm willing to bet that clearly half of the people in this country were conceived in the heat of a passion that was enhanced by the effects of alcohol
Remember, I live in Utah where we don't drink and do have the biggest families of any group in America. I'm pretty sure people would still have kids just fine without alcohol. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find that a higher percentage of unwanted and abused children were conceived under the influence of alcohol than without.
Don't stop at banning drinking gambling and pornography!!! Look at how many people are addicted to consumerism.
Yes, consumer debt is at an all-time high. And why not, there is no responsibility for anything else in America, why should there be responsibility for spending? We have the right to do anything in America, surely that means get ourselves in to debt and then file bankrupcy.
"The price to society is simply too high." And of course, you have the wisdom to mandate this.
So you don't think the toll alcohol alone takes on America is too high?
I can think of 17,419 families in 2002 that would disagree with you. Alcohol related deaths account for 41% of all traffic deaths each year. (I'm sure the other 59% were people rushing to the mall to get into debt).
Here are some child abuse statistics:
Everyday three children in the U.S. are murdered by a parent or caretaker.
18,000 are permanently disabled every year.
565,000 are seriously injured every year.
Three million children were reported as victims of child abuse and neglect in 1999 in the United States.
I would be very surprised if less than 41% of that abuse wasn't related to drug and alcohol abuse.
Think of how many movies and tv shows involve a father coming home drunk and beating the wife or kids.
So yes, I think the cost of alcohol on our society is too high for a little fun on the weekends. Plenty of people have just as much fun without it. I also think that if we didn't have alcohol already, and a company tried to release it as a product and it was found to cause 17,419 deaths a year and all of the other "side-effects" that it would never be approved by the FDA or any other government organization. As it is, it is deeply entrenched and trying to get rid of it would be political suicide.
But I stand by my argument. As a country, as communities, and as families we'd be better without drugs and alcohol.
Which mafia-like companies are you referring to?
Sorry, I live 2 hours north of Las Vegas, so my comments were directed specifically at that town where the owners of the casinos are very, very powerful and don't spend their time just going around and building playgrounds.
There is at least one tribe where each member gets profit sharing of the casino's cut. IIRC, this was to the sum of $30,000 per member.
I can see how this may be good for the tribe in general (schools, hospitals, infrastructure, etc), but I would think a check for $30,000 each year that required no work or effort would be a very bad thing for the individuals in the tribe (or any group for that matter).
"Something for nothing" robs people of their work ethic, skews their reality, and often ruins them for life. I remember a guy that went on the game show "Press Your Luck" and beat the system and won $106,000. It absolutely ruined his life and hastened his death. The same has been found of many lottery winners. Work is a good thing, free money only seems like it.
I happen to be a social drinker...