Some topics never seem to get any good press. One of them is RFID. The word is almost synonymous with illegal mass surveillance. You may recall them being surreptitiously attached to your dustbins by local councils. Or perhaps used to monitor your movements on London Transport. Or even moves to track released offenders by satellite. I’ve no idea who does the PR for the technology, but I can’t imagine it’s a lot of fun.
Even the best efforts to make it sound like a good thing have a pretty creepy tone. Like the report I came across this morning, from Aberdeen Research, which sets out to show the marvellous business benefits that the technology might bring:
Aberdeen’s research shows that 38% of enterprises using RFID are doing so to improve the cost, safety, and reliability of managing work-in-process. (WIP) Best-in-Class organizations are leveraging RFID to both improve the the productivity of their workforces all the while simplifying the implementation and ongoing management costs of their networks. The findings are drawn from a survey of 220 organizations, a subset of the 1100 organizations participating in Aberdeen’s RFID research.
So how have you managed to improve productivity, boss? Oh, we’re spying on all of our employees using tiny embedded microchips…
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Why all this resembles me a strip of Dilbert?
Maybe because it’s easier to take it ironically than seriously?
Welcome Back
I reckon BA should start using RFID to keep better track of people’s luggage and to actually confirm whether a bag and its owner are on the same plane. What have they got to lose, they can’t get much worse!
Ah — but you’d never hear that story because they’re doomed. Doooomed, I say.
@Carlos — time for that coffee?
RFID comes from the shop floor / logistics tagging game so not suprised re WiP stats.
I have a piece of research in my hands predicting that if RFID gets to $0.01 we will be putting them in everything — pieces of clothing, car keys etc. The Use cases given are of course all very heavenly (find those keys) but a moments thought comes to some serious abUse cases, never mind a total, irrevocable loss of privacy.