Senator Leahy Calls for RFID Technology Hearings

securitas writes "Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy has called for congressional hearings into radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The comments were made Mar. 23 to the Georgetown University Law Center's conference on video surveillance technology during a speech titled 'The Dawn of Micro Monitoring: Its Promise, And Its Challenges To Privacy And Security'. Leahy suggested that RFIDs may require federal regulation to ensure the public's privacy rights. Leahy is quoted as saying that the combination of RFIDs, sophisticated databases, networks and the Internet means that, 'We are on the verge of a revolution in micro-monitoring - the capability for the highly detailed, largely automatic, widespread surveillance of our daily lives.' He goes on to say that, 'We need clear communication about the goals, plans, and uses of the technology, so that we can think in advance about the best ways to encourage innovation, while conserving the public's right to privacy.' (Leahy's RFID speech transcript)"

Comments

I suggest (just to get this out of the way now)

[Anonymous Coward]

... investing in companies that produce aluminum foil and copper mesh.

Finally...

[TopShelf]

Wow, a congressional committee is now going to weigh in! In 5 or 10 years, I'm sure they'll have something interesting to say about today's situation...

Re:RFID is good tech with great abuse potential

[Gildor]

>Unfortunately it can also put big brother in >your pocket, shoes, shirt and pants.

That gives a whole new meaning to "wardrobe malfunction"...

Re:put item in microwave. voila, no more rfid tag.

[The_Mr_Flibble]

Or even better reprogram all your rfid tags so that they think your carrying a car tyre (or three) or an engine block or a refrigerator. (Will battleships have an rfid tag ?)

Yes

[Greyfox]

Ok, when you read the next line, do it in the voice of Professor Farnsworth:

Yes! Each customer will be subjected to a blast of MICROWAVE RADIATION at the door, which will safely destroy the RFID tags without harming the products they're attached to! An ingenious solution! Whaaa?

Yuh Huh

[Greyfox]

Kind of like the radiation from your monitor should disperse within a few feet and be unreadable to anyone. I bet the same black vans that are already following you around can read the tags just fine, and what will you do once they know your fashion sense?

Agent 1: Reading target now. Oh... Oh my God... He's wearing a shirt from the gap and pants from Old Navy!
Agent 2: That... son... of... a... BITCH!

Re:RFID is good tech with great abuse potential

[nomadic]

I agree. My worry is not so much monitoring as it is public safety. How do I know twenty years from now my girlfriends/SOs necklace/ring won't have an RFID tag in it saying what it is and how much it's worth. Some shady character comes along, uses his blackmarket scanner to figure out if she's worth mugging and then mugs her.

Or, even worse, she gets a blackmarket scanner and finds out that the necklace you bought her is really a cubic zirconium...

RFID tags are WAY cool

[Gr8Apes]

Just think of all the ways you can screw with "data trackers". I can see it now - big batches of random RFID tags auctioned off on ebay. People walking around with little foil bags of RFIDs, periodically pulling a few new ones out, and putting others back in.

Look, here, someone's just walked past with an 8000# stuffed hippo. Wait, here he is with a Ford F150. Wait, there he goes with a Harrier Attack Jet. Think of all the fun you could have. Especially with stores and security guards. You have RFIDs that code to their products, they hual you in for "shoplifting". Whoops. You sue - big bucks. :D