You’re next

I wasn’t sure how my commentary on RFID and the nature of liberty would do in PC Magazine. Thus far the comments are fantastic. This columns should have some legs and maybe make people more aware of these intolerable people-tracking technologies.

Here is one of the great comments within the forum:

Proponents say the RFIDs are only readable at about six inches. Bull. It has been shown that with the correct receiver antennae you can read an RFID 40 feet or more away. Toll transponders regularly read from 30 feet or more. I don’t need to say how easy theives will find that to steal your card info. Governments will start using it to track your movements. Let’s face it, we are only a few years (at most) away from speeding tickets by mail. Photoradar is commonplace and all they have to do to see if you are speeding with RFID is measure the time traveled between tollbooths right now. Police will be able to point an antenna at you and read your driver’s license without even taking it out of your wallet. Jaywalking? Rollerblading on the sidewalk? Instant ticket. The officer doesn’t even need to stop you. I’m sure they will pass some law to make it illegal to block the RFID with a shielded wallet eventually.

This is a dangerous realm that our government officials are moving us to.

Benjamin Franklin said it best “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

I can assure you that the government in Singapore is taking careful notes seeing all this as a good idea.