Following on my last post about RFID, a good friend of mine sent me this slashdot link which links to this article, from which the following quote comes:

" Why is this so scary? Because so many of us pay for our purchases with credit or debit cards, which contain our names, addresses, and other sensitive information. Now imagine a store with RFID chips embedded in every product. At checkout time, the digital code in each item is associated with our credit card data. From now on, that particular pair of shoes or carton of cigarettes is associated with you. Even if you throw them away, the RFID chips will survive. Indeed, Albrecht and McIntyre learned that the phone company BellSouth Corp. had applied for a patent on a system for scanning RFID tags in trash, and using the data to study the shopping patterns of individual consumers. "

As the title of the article puts it, "You need not be paranoid to fear RFID".

When I got my Tech-Ed pack this morning (Thank You Microsoft SA!), I noticed it contains an RFID card which is going to track what events I go to etc. I am not at all concerned about anyone knowing where I am over the Tech-Ed weekend, so although the following line of thought is Microsoft inspired it is by no means directed at them, however, with the ever suspicious and over active imagination I was born with I started wondering just how much they plan to track me, and also the larger implications of being required to carry these RFID cards on your person.

With a short investigation*, it turns out the range is typically only a few feet at best unless it's the 'UHF' variety or has an internal power source (not sure what the Tech-Ed one is, although it doesn't seem to have any batteries).

No doubt the storage abilities and range of these devices will increase over time and that does get me wondering about where the line between a companies desire to increase their knowledge of their customers and ones personal privacy should be drawn. At least with a line-of-sight device like a barcode you have some freedom of choice, but do we really want to see a state of affairs where you can not go to a public place or event without carrying what could essentially become a tracking device?

What do you think? Am I just being paranoid again?

* RFID FAQ here.