This article was originally published by RFID Update.
October 18, 2004—The need to educate consumers and the general public about RFID was highlighted at the Enterprise Wireless Technology show held last week in London. The Chief Technologist at IT services provider Noblestar said in his keynote address that education is the only way to assuage consumer suspicions of RFID technology. Once apprised of its benefits, he assured, consumers will most likely accept and embrace the technology. The problem now is that “fringe” opponents of RFID such as CASPIAN are far more vocal and effective at getting their message heard. Futuristic applications such as smart refrigerators that recognize their contents and automatically print out grocery lists paint a far more compelling picture than the Orwellian gloom-and-doom trotted out by opponents. Also noted were the many ideas for disabling RFID tags at checkout, a practice that would render privacy concerns moot. Side note: expect a strong resurgency in the privacy debate after last week’s FDA approval of VeriChip, a technology that even many RFID proponents find creepy.
Read the article at ZDNet UK
