BIG BROTHER

193 – Sunday, July 12, 2009

In today’s paper, my sister-in-law ran across an item obscurely tucked away on page 4-A of the Nation and World section of the St. Petersburg Times. She brought it to me saying, “Here is some more information for your blog!” I have to oblige. The article heading was ‘Chips in official IDs could make the carrier traceable’ and covered a self-described ‘ethical hacker’ who, with the employment of about $200 worth of readily available electronics, is able to download onto his laptop unique serial numbers from chips on RFID tags. An all-new acronym meaning radio frequency identification, this technology is already in use in several states and endorsed by Homeland Security as well as other governmental agencies for the purpose of ‘easily tracking US citizens entering and leaving border states’ – get outta here! Now if the government could just find a way to implant these devices on illegal aliens, terrorists, and felons I would be 100% behind it, however, if an ‘ethical hacker’ can get personal information about law-abiding citizens, what is to keep those illegals, terrorists, or just plain criminals from doing the same? My brother has suggested that I may be growing more cynical and pessimistic as I grow older – he is possibly correct, but can someone help me see the upside in this RFID thing? Be careful what you say, however, big brother is watching!

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