PPI on RFID

by on October 6, 2004 · 4 comments

The Progressive Policy Institute is very active on technology issues, providing a thoughtful point of view from what I guess would be ‘center-left.’ They take a bit of a “get over it” point of view on privacy, which is worrisome at times, but entirely welcome in the RFID debate. Here is PPI’s new piece on RFID, aiming to calm the hypesteria about RFID and privacy.

It’s SO odd when ‘consumer groups’ rail against technologies that will lower prices and improve the quality of goods for consumers. Thank you PPI for tamping down on that nonsense.

Just in case you missed it, here’s my piece on the social influences that will steer RFID to the benefit of consumers and a long, deeply engaging letter to the editor I sent to Information Week.

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About Jim Harper

Jim Harper is the Director of Information Policy Studies at The Cato Institute, the Editor of Web-based privacy think-tank Privacilla.org, and the Webmaster of WashingtonWatch.com. A Poli Sci major at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Jim served as Editor-in-Chief of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly in his final year at Hastings College of the Law. Prior to becoming a policy analyst and advocate, Jim served as counsel to committees in both the U.S. House and Senate. He avoids genuine life experience by watching lots and lots of reality TV.

Read more articles by Jim Harper.

  • http://www.leftcoastconservative.com Derek

    Jim, I work in a grocery store as the computer guy and let me tell you, RFID is coming whether anyone wants it or not. Truth of the matter is Walmart wants it, so that means everyone that hopes to sell their stuff there will do it. Which means most everyone else is on board. Great site, thanks!

  • http://www.leftcoastconservative.com Derek

    Jim, I work in a grocery store as the computer guy and let me tell you, RFID is coming whether anyone wants it or not. Truth of the matter is Walmart wants it, so that means everyone that hopes to sell their stuff there will do it. Which means most everyone else is on board. Great site, thanks!

  • http://jakking.typepad.com Jak King

    It is sad that you think that “lower prices and improv(ing) the quality of goods for consumers” are the be-all and end-all. Slave labour and death for quality defects would both lower prices and improve quality. Would you support those too?

    We are already experimenting with RFID chips to track inmates in prisons, and sex-offenders once released. Pretty soon there will be insidious commercials seeking to have all of our children tagged in case of kidnap and natural disaster. Peer pressure will drive this forward (“you mean you don’t want to protect little Johnny?”) and within a generation the government will be able to track every move we make.

    I’m willing for supermarkets to be a little less than optimally efficient to protect us from this fate.

  • http://jakking.typepad.com Jak King

    It is sad that you think that “lower prices and improv(ing) the quality of goods for consumers” are the be-all and end-all. Slave labour and death for quality defects would both lower prices and improve quality. Would you support those too?

    We are already experimenting with RFID chips to track inmates in prisons, and sex-offenders once released. Pretty soon there will be insidious commercials seeking to have all of our children tagged in case of kidnap and natural disaster. Peer pressure will drive this forward (“you mean you don’t want to protect little Johnny?”) and within a generation the government will be able to track every move we make.

    I’m willing for supermarkets to be a little less than optimally efficient to protect us from this fate.

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