So I stumbled upon an article today and it spoke about the Good, Bad, and the Ugly when it comes to new ways of using RFID chips in today's fast pace society. It mentioned a few points that I felt were very interesting. Stores may come up with a tracking and surveillance system that monitors who takes certain items off the shelf and will also notify the store if that person walks out of the store without paying for that item. This may seem like a good idea but the author of this article mentioned that this system does not account for a customer who picks up an item and eventually leaves the item in a random place. He also mentioned how this system will also encourage customers to steal from other shopping carts within the store.
I am very leery of RFID chips because I think that they have the potential to take away from our civil liberties and also develop a new avenue for crime that is harder to regulate. How would you feel if companies had a system that identified your face along with your buying habits. If you pay by credit card, they will also know where you live. This is valuable information for the marketing departments of every food selling company in existence. I would not feel comfortable being watched and tracked like a lab rat. Also, imagine if it got to the point where people walked around with implants of their credit cards and social security information on an RDIF chip. This could lead to more violent crimes and even kidnapping situation.
So how do companies come up with a way to implement RFID technology without taking away civil liberties and without creating new ways of shoplifting?
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