Automation, the Future and “Smoking Gun” Hysteria
Wired Magazine reports on RFID chips being used in British license plates. These chips are also used or considered being used in clothing and food products, and in the automotive world with other applications.
For example, and RFID chip in your food, combined with a unit in your refridgerator or cupboards, could tell you when you’re out of cereal, that your milk’s gone bad, or write up a grocery list for you. Parents could use RFID chips in their teenagers’ cars to make sure they’re not off making babies at Naked Cliff, or to locate a lost toddler in a shopping mall.
But there are those people who say that the government (whichever one applies to you) would be able to use these devices to collect information about you that you might not be willing to give up. Those people are called “insane.”
Of course, there is the very real fact that corporations would have access to all aspects of your personal life and no doubt use that to market their products more selectively to you. If they know that you drink lots of milk they’ll hoist more milk coupons your way (remember Minority Report, when the ads are focused right at Tom Cruise). Google does this, though, and I find it refreshing. Advertising happens, it’s how much is left on your shoe that matters.
quiddity
It’s evident to me that Bob is a master of all knowledge and Mr Nathan is clearly jealous of his lexical prowess.
nathan
Bob – while those are all valid issues and I am leaning towards agreeing…
I swear you go and find this stuff on the Internet somewhere and then write it as if it were your own…
Since when do you speak like that?
phrases like “few privacy concerns exist” and words like “merely”
HAH! Plageurism is a penalty you will die for under penalties of a law!
b0b
yep, i’m with the Quid Miester General on this one, i am also insane. i don’t so much care about the marketing though. think about this, a criminal could take an RFID scanner through a parking lot and see what stereos and other products are in cars, or hell even your home. said criminal could see you make a purchase of an expensive item, and perhaps that item has no RFID but you were carrying other products that did, his RFID scanner could help him track you and follow you home to rob you of your new sweet ass purchases.
few privacy concerns exist when RFID is used merely to track warehouse goods. but when RFID chips are embedded in ID cards or otherwise linked to personal information the privacy risks increase dramatically.
because the potentials for misuse along with privacy invasion concerns are very real, it’s something that we need to watch closely as this technology develops.
i can’t wait till i can say “I told you so, i told you so nah nah nah nah na.” it’s going to make you feel this |—| big.
olivia
Hahaha Chad, that was highly entertaining!
chad
i like radio commercials and advertisements. i never have an interest in what they are saying but i like the way they say it. it’s so entertaining. thier like, ‘let’s make a big deal about * insert product*’. and then i’m like, ‘hahahaha! can you believe what a big deal they just made about *corresponding product*’ i love them, they’re so entertaining. better than music on the radio, where they’re playing for themselves, and even if they’re pop songs geared to what ‘i’ like, they are so long. all unlike your average awesome radio commercial or 30 seconds of deep voices and funny squeeks and jingling jingles, that i may hate, but love to. a song is like, ‘there’s no escape’ but a commercial is like, ‘i’m coming to get you!!!’ but then ‘guffawhaha, just kidding, see ya later!’
but i don’t want to be too intruded upon. i don’t want to be driving around listening to a good song and then my personal advertisement butts in or if i’m trying to read and my personal advertisement announcer calls me up to tell me about the new sale on super bowl tickets.
or do i
Cait
WalMart has already been using these chips in some products. There was a big fracas over it a couple of years ago. One product I remember was lipstick. I don’t know if other retailers are using them yet.
Quiddity
no no no nathan.
I hate that people will make assumptions about what I may or may not be interested in based on my gender, race, age or eating preferences. I hate that anyone would ‘target’ me because I have an intest in health foods over fast foods. I think that advertisers will never simply ‘give up’ on certain people and that advertising will only become more, instead of less intrusive.
I am also convinced that the goverment will take information about my tampon buying habits and use it against me when the revolution comes.
nathan
No.
That’s my answer to you Quid-diddy.
You see, you are being marketed to everyday. But right now you’re seen as “25 – 35 white female, Manchester UK” and so you get everything from tennis rackets to tampons thrown in your face. They know what stores you’re most likely to frequent, what streets you’re most likely to drive on, and how much you’re willing to spend on what items.
They already know everything about “you” except that “you” aren’t necessarily interested in tennis rackets and tampons. This sort of chip would reduce the amount of “SPAM” advertising you see everyday. No one is going to waste a perfectly commercial for hunting in the African safari on a vegetarian, etc etc etc.
If you think about it, you might see that this would be one of the best things to ever happen to advertising. Additionally, once they realized that advertising isn’t working on some people, those people would cease from being advertised to.
And Google’s ads do target you personally, as personally as anything could ever get – they read your search terms or gmails and then give you the products that you’re most likely to want based on what you’re searching for. It’s brilliant, and so much better than Yahoo! and Hotmail’s “Click on the Lobster and win a free dinner” bullshit.
Quiddity
yep, it’s true I’m “insane” and I have the certificate to prove it. I hate this idea. I don’t want to be marketed to or have people tell me what’s good for me. Google targets ads but not personally so i don’t mind so much.