Your Microchipped Future Not So Sci-Fi
Pastor Dale Morgan
Your Microchipped Future Not So Sci-Fi
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Technology already exists that could lead to the tracking of purchases
and people. Critics fear a loss of privacy.
By Todd Lewan
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 01/27/2008 01:22:46 AM MST
Here's a vision of the not-so-distant future:
• Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you
buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to
track consumer items — and, by extension, consumers — wherever they go,
from a distance.
• A seamless, global network of electronic "sniffers" will scan radio
tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes
instantly so that customized ads, "live spam," may be beamed at them.
• In "Smart Homes," sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will
inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets —
all the while reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the
occupants' private lives.
Science fiction? In truth, much of the radio frequency identification
technology that enables objects and people to be tagged and tracked
wirelessly already exists — and new and potentially intrusive uses of it
are being patented, perfected and deployed.
Some of the world's largest corporations are vested in the success of
RFID technology, which couples highly miniaturized computers with radio
antennas to broadcast information about sales and buyers to company
databases.
Already, microchips are turning up in some computer printers, car keys
and tires, on shampoo bottles and department store clothing tags. They
are also in library books and "contactless" payment cards (such as
American Express' "Blue" and ExxonMobil's "Speedpass").
Companies say the RFID tags improve supply-chain efficiency, reduce
theft and guarantee that brand-name products are authentic, not
counterfeit. At a store, RFID doorways could scan your purchases
automatically as you leave, eliminating tedious checkouts.
At home, convenience is a selling point: RFID-enabled refrigerators
could warn about expired milk, generate weekly shopping lists, even send
signals to your interactive TV so that you see "personalized"
commercials for foods you have a history of buying.
Potential for abuse
"We've seen so many different uses of the technology," said Dan Mullen,
president of AIM Global, a national association of data-collection
businesses, including RFID, "and we're probably still just scratching
the surface in terms of places RFID can be used."
The problem, critics say, is that products with microchips might do a
whole lot more.
With tags in so many objects, relaying information to databases that can
be linked to credit and bank cards, almost no aspect of life may soon be
safe from prying eyes, says Mark Rasch, former head of the
computer-crime unit of the U.S. Justice Department. He imagines a time
when anyone from police to identity thieves might scan locked car trunks
or home offices from a distance.
"Think of it as a high-tech form of Dumpster-diving," Rasch said.
Passive vs. active tags
Presently, the radio tag most commercialized in America is the so-called
"passive" emitter, meaning it has no internal power supply. Only when a
reader powers these tags with a squirt of electrons do they broadcast
their signal, indiscriminately, within a range of a few inches to 20 feet.
Not as common, but increasing in use, are "active" tags, which have
internal batteries and can transmit signals, continuously, as far as
low-orbiting satellites. Active tags pay tolls as motorists zip through
tollgates; they also track wildlife.
Retailers and manufacturers want passive tags to replace the bar code
for tracking inventory. These radio tags transmit Electronic Product
Codes, number strings that allow trillions of objects to be uniquely
identified. Some transmit specifics about the item, such as price,
though not the name of the buyer.
The recent growth of the RFID industry has been staggering: From 1955 to
2005, cumulative sales of radio tags totaled 2.4 billion. Last year
alone, 2.24 billion tags were sold worldwide, and analysts project that
by 2017 cumulative sales will top 1 trillion — generating more than $25
billion in annual revenues for the industry.
Privacy concerns, some RFID supporters say, are overblown. But industry
documents suggest a different line of thinking, privacy experts say.
A 2005 patent application by American Express itself describes how
RFID-embedded objects carried by shoppers could emit "identification
signals" when queried by electronic "consumer trackers."
In 2006, IBM received patent approval for an invention it called
"Identification and tracking of persons using RFID-tagged items."
The documents "raise the hair on the back of your neck," said Liz
McIntyre, co-author of "Spychips," a book that is critical of the
industry. "The industry has long promised it would never use this
technology to track people. But these patent records clearly suggest
otherwise."
Corporations say patent filings shouldn't be used to predict a company's
actions.