RFID Privacy

RFID privacy might not be at the top of your list of primary concerns, but it’s something that’s all around you.

Conspiracy Nuts Unite!

You are be tracked RIGHT NOW. You know it. hey know it. Yes, those people who have been looking for you are going to find you. hey’re going to find out about the way that you’ve been cheating on your taxes, trying to count cards when playing poker, and they know you don’t brush your teeth every day. All of those conspiracy theories are right. Go hide in your bathroom with aluminum foil on your head and wait for the signal to come out.

Truly, there are people in the world who think this way. But the truth is that most people have better things to do than to track what others are doing. And your life, let’s face it, it ain’t all that interesting anyway. When the invention of RFID (radio frequency identification) first came to light, it seemed like a simple way to get more things done or to track the movement of animals and shipments of products. Simple enough, right? Sounds good, right? Well, the more that conspiracy nuts wracked their brains, the more they began to see how this should be used to hunt them down. (And do what? Put more conspiracy theories into them?)

Choosing to Be Tracked

So, where are these RFID chips and what are they doing? hese chips are simply emitting radio waves in order to show someone who is tracking the signal where the source of the signal is. hink of it as sort of tracking devices without the spy connection (of course, if you are a spy, we’ll keep that to ourselves).

You might be tracked by RFID in these ways:

  • When you drive through a toll road
  • Seasonal parking
  • Car sharing
  • Public transit
  • Animal tracking (well, okay, you’re not an animal, but you can have a chip put into your cat or dog)
  • Products for sale
  • Passports
  • Race timing chips
  • Museums
  • Schools
  • Implants
  • And more…

So, yes, you can be tracked in all of these ways, but these chips are certainly not designed to find out what you’re doing at any particular moment. More than anything, they’re designed to help find where you are when you need to be found, while also helping to transmit small bits of information.

Convenience vs. Privacy

The latest innovation of RFID chips is that they can help to send credit card information when it needs to be transferred during a sale. Some credit cards are offering RFID chip cards which can be tapped on a certain reading device to hand over your credit card information without having to swipe your card, which is such a terribly difficult movement anyway. But when information is transmitted, there is always a chance it might be stolen from the air, if the person is dedicated enough. After all, the information is designed to be collected, so it makes sense that bad people might want to collect it too.

The many resources on RFID technology and privacy can help you to see where RFID is already being used and how you might be able to protect yourself from possible RFID privacy issues.

Yes, your information is floating in the air, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that RFID is a bad thing.

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