Is RFID on Your Radar?

Have you seen Amazing Amanda, the doll that shipped last year? Hold some food in front of her and she'll respond one way, show her a toothbrush and she'll respond another way. When she sees her potty—well, you can only imagine. How did Amanda get to be that amazing? With a technology called RFID, a kind of "barcodes on steroids" technology that's showing up everywhere.

Instead of using barcodes and a scanner, RFID technology uses radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. The information is stored on a microchip with a little antenna on it—the RFID tag. An RFID reader that's usually somewhere else reads the tag. The unique information is stored and retreived in a database.

An old friend of mine is the features editor at RFID Journal, and I asked her for an overview of where the tags are showing up nowadays.

Tracking People: In prisons, it's the high-tech version of the ball and chain. In libraries, it's a high-tech library card that can contain all sorts of information (like if you've already read that book).

In Stores: RFID tags on inventory let stores know when inventory is out and what's selling. They're used to alert stores about everything from produce that's about to expire to which cut of jeans is most popular.

Driving Around: E-ZPass and other tag systems for paying tolls are based on RFID. Lots of car lock systems use RFID; even Zipcar, the shared car service, uses it.

Tracking Your Own Stuff: Remote Play sells tags that let you keep track of your cellphone, iPod, or other device. It emits an alarm if you separate from your device.

Your Sporting Life: Wave a card at Qwest Field and you won't need to carry any money to the Seahawks game. MasterCard has a promotional watch you wave over items you want to purchase at the World Cup soccer match.

Amusements: Visit the Great Wolf Water Park and resort chain. It uses RFID-enabled wristbands so guests can wander cashlessly, even unlocking their rooms. From Dollywood  to cruise ships, RFID is a child locator. Check out SafeTzone to plan your next RFID vacation.

Kids Safety: A Japanese robot with an RFID reader acts as a school security guard and some US schools are using RFID to track kids for pickups at dismissal.

Make you a bit queasy to think of random RFID readers putting together information from every item on the planet? It doesn't sit well with Katherine Albrecht, head of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering either. Spend some time on the Nocards website, but understand that most of the technology experts find Albrecht and others like her a bit on the fringe when it comes to privacy concerns.

The editors of RFID Journal explains that passive tags don't broadcast information. The information that comes from the tag is stored in a database, hence the technology is as safe as any other database. (See the related post on new US Passports being issued this fall.)

What do you think? Can we reconcile the benefits dervived from tracking people and things with the need for privacy?