An excellent article exploring both the technical and privacy issues on RFID has been published in NewsFactor. It's by Steve Ulfelder
Ulfelder quotes Katherine Albrecht, executive director of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering), one of key leaders on the anti-RFID side. Albrecht, who calls RFID tags "spy chips," is the person who is responsible for the boycott of Benneton and Gillette, which caused both companies to apparently pull back from their immediate RFID plans. (I've spoken with others, though, who says that the pull-back of Gillette had nothing to do with Catherine.)
But Ulfelder notes that RFID is not standing still. He writes that TI has developed an RFID chip that can survive dry cleaning, and Wal-Mart is moving ahead on RFID chips for palates.
Here's a pointer to the new item on the TI-RFid chip. The article is titled "Texas Instruments Announces 13.56 MHz RFID Tag for Textile Rental and Dry Cleaning Applications" and was posted on 11 August 2003.
Posted by: Gene Bob at October 12, 2003 12:24 PM