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RFID: What sort of trouble does this technology enable?
Firearms&Freedom ^ | 2008-02-08 | Mike Acker

Posted on 02/08/2008 5:55:20 AM PST by Mike Acker

What sort of trouble does this technology enable?

Technology can be a Good Thing but that doesn't mean we should fall over the bar-stool implementing new technology -- "just because it's there"

We need to ask the question: What sort of trouble does this new technology enable?" before we proceed.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: realid; rfid
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To: Lazamataz

Now Laz, be nice or I’ll paintball your little black helicopter Red, White and Blue.

;^)


21 posted on 02/08/2008 6:48:06 AM PST by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: Lazamataz

mornin’ t’you too, Laz ... haven’t seen ya’ for a while ... how y’bin ?


22 posted on 02/08/2008 6:52:00 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: Mike Acker

Maybe the fact that someone, somewhere, will have the ability to know everything you buy, eat, wear, drive, where you go, etc...and either tell or sell that info to someone else.


23 posted on 02/08/2008 6:55:05 AM PST by stuartcr (Election year.....Who we gonna hate, in '08?)
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To: Mike Acker
I am more than a moderator. I am a GOD! Tremble before me and bow your head, mortal!


24 posted on 02/08/2008 6:55:21 AM PST by Lazamataz (Why isn’t this in Breaking News????)
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To: Mike Acker
Photobucket
25 posted on 02/08/2008 6:56:33 AM PST by redstateconfidential (If you are the smartest person in the room,you are hanging out with the wrong people.)
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To: Mike Acker

On the up side, I guess it will create lots of jobs...there will be a great need for people to manufacture the rfids, the monitoring devices, and the monitoring personnel themselves...all in some third world country.


26 posted on 02/08/2008 6:57:05 AM PST by stuartcr (Election year.....Who we gonna hate, in '08?)
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To: misterrob

Just as the guns in the wrong hands...


27 posted on 02/08/2008 6:58:01 AM PST by stuartcr (Election year.....Who we gonna hate, in '08?)
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To: Mike Acker
we cannot allow that sort of thing to intimidate folks who may have good thoughts to share

Understand this: I will cook you and eat you.

28 posted on 02/08/2008 7:00:49 AM PST by Lazamataz (Why isn’t this in Breaking News????)
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To: knarf

I have been wonderful! I have discovered that Karen — my would-be fiance — was a liar and a cheater, so I moved on from her. I am seeing two gorgeous women non-exclusively right now. My career has taken off; I have a wonderful opportunity to partner with a multimillionare I met in the program of recovery I particpate in; my health is exceptional and I continue to lose weight and gain lean muscle mass.

If it was any better than this, it would be a felony.

How are YOU?


29 posted on 02/08/2008 7:04:11 AM PST by Lazamataz (Why isn’t this in Breaking News????)
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To: The Spirit Of Allegiance
Now Laz, be nice or I’ll paintball your little black helicopter Red, White and Blue.

My happystick is still stained from when you paintballed THAT.

BTW: That hurt.

30 posted on 02/08/2008 7:05:31 AM PST by Lazamataz (Why isn’t this in Breaking News????)
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To: Bear_Slayer

There is nothing in that document that said you have the right to a computer, a car, tacos or anything else either.


31 posted on 02/08/2008 7:07:11 AM PST by misterrob
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To: stuartcr
Maybe the fact that someone, somewhere, will have the ability to know everything you buy, eat, wear, drive, where you go, etc...and either tell or sell that info to someone else.

Unless you're paying cash (do they still take that?), they pretty much know that information now, if you go to major stores where everything is scanned. The only thing RFID brings to the table is LOCATION. However, in theory, RFID is extremely low power and therefore very limited in range. Of course, some sophisticated signal processing could probably solve that.

Unfortunately, the genie is out of the bottle. Anyone who thinks they're living in anonymity is fooling themselves.
32 posted on 02/08/2008 7:09:10 AM PST by BikerJoe
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To: stuartcr

Yes but we cannot deny people access to them simply because a few misuse them.


33 posted on 02/08/2008 7:09:38 AM PST by misterrob
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To: Lazamataz

So Thor decides to go down to earth and “partake” of the local feminity.

He goes to the local pub...

No...

Wait...

Nevermind - this joke is kinda rude...


34 posted on 02/08/2008 7:12:26 AM PST by Peet (Insert clever phrase here.)
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To: Mike Acker

We’ve always had trouble with misused technology. That’s human nature. The second thing somebody did with an invented object was something they shouldn’t have. The fact of the matter is that RFIDs are incredibly useful in a large variety of legitimate applications (mostly inventory control and package tracking). And really the horse has left the barn, if you want to stop RFIDs from being misused you need to work on the usage, RFIDs themselves are here to stay.


35 posted on 02/08/2008 7:14:11 AM PST by discostu (a mountain is something you don't want to %^&* with)
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To: Lazamataz
I'm well, thanx.

The hits jus' keep on comin' ....

36 posted on 02/08/2008 7:15:11 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: Peet

Send it to me in Freepmail!!!!


37 posted on 02/08/2008 7:15:41 AM PST by Lazamataz (Why isn’t this in Breaking News????)
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To: BikerJoe
This probably applies here .... When I went to the polls to vote in Nov., 2004 ... my wife's name was already gone ... she died in June.

I thought that was pretty telling.

I never notified anyone or anything.

38 posted on 02/08/2008 7:18:02 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: Mike Acker
I>We need to ask the question: What sort of trouble does this new technology enable?" before we proceed.

What are you, Amish?

I'm only half-joking. Many years ago, I read a story in Wired Magazineabout the Amish to approach to technology. This later article casts more light.

Author Bruce Sterling made some contacts amongst the Amish, and revisited a few more times; i recommend searching the site for "bruce sterling contacts" (without the quotes). It really is interesting, at least to me.

They're not, as most outsiders assume (and I did), knee-jerk opposed to any new technology; they oppose luxuries, not practical necessities. They oppose telephones in homes, which they feel encourage people to stay inside and weaken a sense of community, but most communities have outdoor telephones. It's much more nuanced than I thought, and I encourage reading the articles.

Coming back to RFID, it certainly has great practical applications and potential for abuse. We already have credit bureaus, computer databases, surveillance technology, wiretaps, e-mail surveillance, GPS tracking, SPECTRE, COYOTE, TEMPEST, and all manner of other technology that can be abused. To me, sweating over RFID is worrying about closing the barn door when the horses are long gone.

I see some great possibilities for RFID. Embed tags in all prison uniforms, and you know where everyone is all the time. I wouldn't be difficult to automatically spot patterns of a suspiciously large number of people closing on the same locations, and thereby alert the COs to a potential riot. Soldiers with RFID could find wounded comrades more quickly.

Put an FRID in the bracelets they put on hospital patients, and you can track where anybody is all the time. Especially useful for elderly patients who tend to wander off.

On a more mundane level, you could go to a grocery store, grab a shopping cart with RFID and a small touch screen, tap in your shopping list, and get exact directions to where you can find the stuff you want. The collected data is tied to the cart, not to you, so no worries if you don't want the world to know you're buying herpes meds.

Or you could go to the airport, borrow a bare-bones PDA at the ticket counter, and get directions to your gate and up-to-the-second updates on your flight status. Hand it back at boarding.

I'm fine with it, with the right ethical and legal guidelines. First of all, no one should have an RFID tag on his person without an explicit notice (I'd make an exception for one planted under a legally-obtained warrant). That notice should include the specific uses for the data collected and have an opt-out option.

I wouldn't support implanting RFID in a human body. I wouldn't support its use in secret, with exceptions for criminal investigations under a warrant, same as with wiretaps, bugs, hidden cameras, and GPS tracking.

39 posted on 02/08/2008 7:18:08 AM PST by ReignOfError
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To: BikerJoe

Benefits of RFID:

Inventory management and control
Cost reductions
Security
Safety
Improving packaging of products
Animal control/retrieval
Property identification
Theft prevention
etc. etc

Risks:

All of the creative things people come up with to steal, spy etc,


40 posted on 02/08/2008 7:18:36 AM PST by misterrob
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