Interesting if not somewhat disconcerting article on wired.com today, School RFID Plan Gets an F about a small California town that was paid byInCom(which has a really bad website), a RFID tracking company, to test the technology.

RFID, which has been in the news a bunch lately, gives the user the ability to track things, or in this case people, with small embedded chips that send out a radio frequency. Since the RFID chips have no embedded power source, they don’t send out a frequency unless in the presence of RFID scanner, so they’re not active for just anybody to track. This is also the technology behind those completely automated supermarkets that allow you to check out without removing anything from your cart that we’ve all been hearing about.

For obvious reasons, when applied to people, there are some privacy concerns. Compounding those concerns is that the school neglected to tell parents that such a system was in place. The idea behind the system is to allow simple tracking of attendance and to prohibit trespassers by mounting scanners above each classroom door. The scanners pick up the RFID chips embedded in student ID cards and send the data to a central server which then relays the information to the teacher who then visually identifies the student. It’s not as complicated as it may sound, but it may be as much overkill.

Now I’m certainly not the first person to write about the privacy issues involved in RFID chip tracking. Many people are afraid that once we have RFID chips embedded in all our products, a burglar could get a cheap scanner and scan houses to see if there are any items that apply to the B&E discount. To be honest, I’m not sure how that’s much different than looking in a window.

The other issue is that we’re loosing our privacy in regards to what we buy and when we buy (see:Lawmakers Alarmed by RFID Spying ). Here’s an example: Let’s say your sneakers had a chip in them that tracked tread wear. You go through a scanner at the grocery store that senses your sneaks treads were wearing low. When you checkout you receive a coupon toward new shoes. Sound farfetched? It’s not.

When applied to students, though, it brings up a whole new spectrum of privacy issues. For one, do we really need to keep that close of tabs on them? When all kids want is for their parents to trust them, what kind of message does this send to them? The more insudious problem, however, is obvious. If a predatory adult knew the tracking system for the kids and had a scanner, they could target and track a child in a much more concealed fashion.

I’m really on the fence when it comes to RFID. I can see all the good that comes from it. Then again, I think anything is good that allows me to be more lazy. I also see the privacy issues and the ojectifying of people. I mean, nothing says I love you like being assigned a 15 digit code.

What do you think?