Weekly column: Why not to regulate RFID... [priv]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: August 30, 2004 7:21:23 PM EDT
To: politech () politechbot com
Subject: [Politech] Weekly column: Why not to regulate RFID... [priv]



http://news.com.com/2010-1039-5327719.html

Don't regulate RFID--yet
August 30, 2004, 4:00 AM PT
By Declan McCullagh

Not many people may remember this, but Phil Donahue was one of the
digital age's first technophobes.

In 1974, the TV talk show host denounced the Universal Product Code,
better known as the bar code, as a dastardly plot that would let
grocery stores trick consumers. Grocers would replace price tags with
bar codes and confuse shoppers, Donahue informed his viewers
repeatedly.

Donahue's predictions turned out to be nonsense, of course, and today,
the humble bar code saves Americans more than $17 billion a year in
grocery stores alone.

But the technophobe mentality just won't quit. Now a clutch of privacy
fundamentalists is calling for new laws to target radio frequency
identification (RFID) technology...

There are legitimate privacy concerns about RFID tags, which I
outlined in a column more than a year ago. But RFID companies already
are proposing solutions, indicating that legislators should be
extremely cautious before stepping in with one-size-fits-all
solutions....
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