the Celtic Cross Collective (original) (raw)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Razor blades and medicines packaged with pinpoint-sized computer chips and tiny antennae to send retailers and manufacturers a wealth of information about the products -- and those who buy them -- will start appearing in grocery stores and pharmacies this year.
Within two decades, the minuscule transmitters are expected to replace the familiar product bar codes, and retailers are already envisioning the conveniences the new technology, called "radio frequency identification," will bring -- even as others are raising privacy concerns.
Potential for spying
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of a watchdog organization, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said retailers should be required to disable the tags before a consumer leaves a store.
"Simply stated, I don't think most people want their clothes spying on them," Rotenberg said.
Researchers developing RFID tags for products so far have focused on the supply chain and limited the range at which a product could be detected. Once their use becomes universal the cost of the tags could be as little as a nickel each, they say.
Sanjay Sarma, the lead researcher at the Auto-ID Center in Massachusetts, says that by adding more functions to the chip, installing a battery and attaching a longer antenna, a receiver far away could read all the information on a chip, including its exact location.
Alerting consumers, marketers
Homes equipped with receiver-readers could alert consumers when they are running low on orange juice or their prescription for heart medicine is about to expire. Hooked up to a national network like the Internet, the at-home devices could also provide details to marketers about a family's eating and hygienic habits.
Sarma acknowledges that gigantic privacy concerns the technology raises, saying one way to address them would be letting consumers disable the chips once they leave a checkout counter.
"Any technology can be abused and we've got to be prepared, be watchful for the abuse," Sarma said.
Ron Margulis, a spokesman for the National Grocers Association, said the privacy concerns are far outweighed by the benefits of RFID. Retailers, he said, could respond much more quickly to product recalls and prevent people from becoming ill from tainted products.
"You do give up a bit of privacy but the benefit could be that you live," said Margulis.
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