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Old August 19th 06, 03:01 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Jose[_1_]
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Posts: 1,632
Default POL $640.00 to fill the tanks...

It is not =my= shopping at WalMart that invades my privacy, it is the result of =other= people shopping there that does.
This makes no sense at all. How so?


What invades my privacy (or will in the future) is the proliferation of
RFID tags on products. It's not happening much yet so people who are
concerned are dismissed as tin hats. But it is not difficult to imagine
a future in which almost all items are implanted with RFID tags, and
RFID readers are cheap (i.e. you could get them at Radio Shack for $35).
In such a case, stores, bars, restaurants, and other venues might
install the devices to keep track of customers the same way cookies are
used to keep track of web visitors, and for the same reason. The
plethora of items carried on one's person could not only be pretty
reliable a guide as to who you are, but as these items appear in
combination with other items, they are a guide as to who you associate
with. This would be incredibly valuable information if it could be
sifted through by powerful computers. It would be (deemed to be) useful
in crime investigations, border patrol, terrorist prevention, and if the
country keeps going in the political direction is it heading, could be
quite scary.

For this to happen, RFID tags would need to be implanted in a sufficient
number of innocuous devices, and this is something that would not happen
unless somebody can benefit financially from it. Well, big box stores
can reap significant savings by using RFID tags, and WalMart has enough
clout with manufacturers (themselves pretty big entities) to entice them
to do so. They are already doing so with other things. And when
products are made to Walmart specifications, everybody gets them that
way, whether I buy at Walmart or not.

I suppose I could walk around naked.

Jose
--
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