Thirty years ago or so there were concerns among personal privacy advocates about the uses and possibly misuses of bar codes. What sort of information was encoded there? What personal data is being compiled when the store scans your purchase? It was new and mysterious and led to several debates on the implications of their use. Indeed, it turned out some stores were compiling databases of cutomer preferences by linking the items scanned with the customer’s data obtained from frequent shopper cards.

These days the new “threat” to our personal liberty is the RFID tag. Radio Frequency IDentification tags are currently being used in very limited trials, with major retailers examining their usefulness in tracking pallet shipments and store inventory. A much more extensive rollout was planned, but due to a negative reception by public groups and even some online pundits, most retailers have backed off making any large-scale plans for RFID until the security issues are better understood and explained to the public. Even those who attempt to present a more balanced point of view concede there are security issues to address. Meanwhile, RFID manufacturers are trying to convince everyone of the practical uses of their product while trying to downplay the security concerns. So it would seem that while these tags have their practical uses, they also foster realistic concerns. Are RFID tags evil or benign? Are they the newest Big Brother tracking device? Can they be produced in such a way as to do what they were intended to do while at the same time assuring the public that their privacy is being respected?