The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
This week we see the beginning of the end for one of the humblest little symbols of the technological age, the product bar code. Invented to make scanning product prices fast and efficient, the bar code may soon become a thing of the past; but its replacement is a small invention causing a large controversy. Tiny computer chips called Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) have been designed by Hitachi. Smaller than a single grain of pepper, and designed solely to send out a tracking signal such as a serial number, these tiny chips cost less than ten cents each in and are to be implanted in products for the first time this week. Using this technology, manufacturers say they will be able to control their inventories and track their products from the assembly line through the shipping process, and onto store shelves more easily, preventing theft, and making the entire process much smoother. A great product for manufacturers, and many retailers like the idea as well. In a few years, a consumer will be able to walk into a store, pick up a cart full of goods and simply walk out to their car, first passing through a scanner which would read the price codes from all of these tiny chips and then automatically debit a pre-selected bank account. Governments like the idea as well. The European Union is currently investigating implanting these chips into its currency, making counterfeiting virtually impossible. The controversy surrounding this technology lies in concerns about privacy; what happens after these products leave the store? Theoretically, a company could track a product directly to the shelves in your home, the chip continuing to emanate a signal from your medicine cabinet or pantry, sending information about its location back to the company who activated it in the first place. This would allow companies to build a database of the products you buy and marketers to zero in on your habits. The manufacturers of the chip say this won't happen as consumers will simply walk through a scanner implanted in the frame of a supermarket door and the chips will be deactivated. However, this technology could rapidly evolve into a privacy nightmare. A chip implanted in your car could allow it to be tracked wherever it goes, your cell phone could be followed in your pocket as you shop, and ultimately, just like in the science fiction movies, the citizens of a future generation could be tracked throughout their lifetimes after they have had a tiny identity chip implanted under their skin at birth. While it seems far-fetched, it seems logical to me that the ability to track anything could lead to dangerous thoughts by companies craving information to make their marketing schemes more effective, or by governments seeking to further enhance their security measures in dangerous times. Mr. Fisher can be contacted at: [email protected]
