How important is privacy to you?
Wireless has a way of getting around. And criminals have a way of getting around security mechanisms to profit from the information contained on RFID Tags.
Do you refuel at Exxon? Exxon uses "SpeedPass," a convenient way to pay for gas using just a swipe of your wrist. But convenience brings vulnerabilities.
This article, Why We Need New Rights to Privacy, gives a clear picture of the threat posed by modern criminals hacking RFID systems for monetary gain, or malicious purposes:
Excerpt:
Thanks to the real state website Zillow, it's now super easy to profit from your neighbor’s suffering. With a few easy clicks, you can find out “if a homeowner has defaulted on the mortgage and by how much, whether a house has been taken back by the lender, and what a house might sell for in foreclosure,” as the Los Angeles Times recently reported.
After using the service, you can stop by the Johnsons’ to make them a low-ball offer, perhaps sweetening the exploitation with a plate of cookies.Maybe that’s not fair. Zillow doesn’t let people opt-out, but the company omits borrowers’ names, has a process for correcting mistakes, and uploads only legal information that was previously—albeit inconveniently—available.
Why We Need New Rights to Privacy: Because of technological advances, we must spell out what used to be taken for granted. By Evan Selinger
