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Be Afraid—of Ignorant Bloggers
5 CommentsFolks who logged on last week to Yahoo!, one of the Web’s most trafficked sites, were confronted with a headline that said, “What’s Tracking You?” A subhead said: “Identification chips such as the speck on this label are getting so small, they could be anywhere. A concern?”
That blurb linked to a blog entry by Tom Samiljan, who bills himself as “The Gadget Hound.” The entry was entitled Be Afraid: Powder-Sized RFID Chips. In it, Samiljan remarks about a story he read about Hitachi’s plans to start marketing RFID tags no bigger than a speck of dust. He points out that Hitachi believes these could be used in paper, currency, gift certificates and the like.
Samiljan questions whether “the terror” around RFID is over-hyped. He points out that he practically touch his PayPass to the point-of-sale reader at his local drug store, then goes on to say, “When I go through a toll booth, my RFID-enabled EZ Pass box is only about ten feet away from the sensor. So maybe it is time to watch what you eat, lest Big Brother starts to track you wirelessly (or you spill some RFID powder from which evil ID thieves that can extract your vital stats!).”
It’s hard to imagine how incredibly ignorant you have to be to equate a tiny RFID chip that has an onboard antenna and a read range equivalent to the length of an ant’s eyelash with a battery-powered transmitter stuck on a windshield. It’s a bit like suggesting we should be afraid of digital cameras because the government has super-high resolution cameras on satellites that can capture images of people on the ground.
This kind of irresponsible blogging only serves to misinform the public and turn people off a technology that could make their lives safer and more convenient. The Gadget Hound should either do a little more research before spouting off or stick to topics he knows something about.
That blurb linked to a blog entry by Tom Samiljan, who bills himself as “The Gadget Hound.” The entry was entitled Be Afraid: Powder-Sized RFID Chips. In it, Samiljan remarks about a story he read about Hitachi’s plans to start marketing RFID tags no bigger than a speck of dust. He points out that Hitachi believes these could be used in paper, currency, gift certificates and the like.
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Samiljan questions whether “the terror” around RFID is over-hyped. He points out that he practically touch his PayPass to the point-of-sale reader at his local drug store, then goes on to say, “When I go through a toll booth, my RFID-enabled EZ Pass box is only about ten feet away from the sensor. So maybe it is time to watch what you eat, lest Big Brother starts to track you wirelessly (or you spill some RFID powder from which evil ID thieves that can extract your vital stats!).”
It’s hard to imagine how incredibly ignorant you have to be to equate a tiny RFID chip that has an onboard antenna and a read range equivalent to the length of an ant’s eyelash with a battery-powered transmitter stuck on a windshield. It’s a bit like suggesting we should be afraid of digital cameras because the government has super-high resolution cameras on satellites that can capture images of people on the ground.
This kind of irresponsible blogging only serves to misinform the public and turn people off a technology that could make their lives safer and more convenient. The Gadget Hound should either do a little more research before spouting off or stick to topics he knows something about.
READERS' COMMENTS
Comments to that article
I agree with you 100%. Did you also look at the comments generated by this particular article? Unfortunately most were by people who are apparently terrified of RFID because it can be used to track anyone anywhere. RFID technology was equated to Big Brother, government conspiracy, and worst of all, Revelations and 666! I'm suprised at the ignorance of the general public!
Posted By: Jim Whitehead 3/2/07 at 10:13 AM
no surprise
you should never be surprised at the ignorance of the general public. maybe technologists should explain their work to the public rather than complaining to each other.
Posted By: spotter 3/5/07 at 12:49 PM
ignorance
Ignorance isn't bliss. Ignorance can be dangerous. If people reject something out of ignorance than they could wind up rejecting something that could save their lives. We do need to do a better job of educating the public. I tried to bring the industry together but no one is willing to commit funds for such a project. Too bad.
Posted By: Mark Roberti 3/6/07 at 6:47 AM
Just a matter of time
at present the read range of the powder chip is very short but will surely be increased greatly over time. in 10 or 15 years it may be entirely feasible that these chips can be read over very much larger distances.
Posted By: sam mac 2/28/08 at 8:13 PM
A matter of time and physics
It is likely that improvements in the technology will allow for much longer read range. It's equally true that consumers will likely get control over the technology as companies try to attract consumers, rather than repel them. I've used the example of cookies in browsers. At first, these served only the interests of the Web sites. But companies that make browsers wanted to appeal to consumers to they gave people the ability to accept or reject or delete cookies. Now cookies benefit users more than companies that want to track them because they allow us to customize sites, log in quickly, etc. It is a mistake to think that companies can force RFID or any other technology on people.
Posted By: Mark Roberti 2/29/08 at 11:32 AM