MIS in Action- Assignment # 2

Q.1 Describe some RFID applications that might pose a threat to privacy. What information does RFID enable them to track?
-Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a type of automatic identification system.
-The purpose of an RFID system is to enable data to be transmitted by a portable device, called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed according to the needs of a particular application.The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location information, or specifics about the product tagged, such as price, color, date of purchase, etc.
-RFID applications include tracking apparel and consumer packaged goods, tires, patients and personnel and currency and payment systems. In addition these systems enable business owners to have real-time access to inventory information. Tracking tags are also implanted beneath the skin of family pets.
Q2: How do these applications threaten personal privacy? How serious is this threat?
These applications threaten privacy in some cases such as attaching RFIDs in apparrel which would enable companies to know our cloth wearing preferences and the frequency of the different tytpe of clothes that we wear and in car tires or in other retail items where companies would be able to monitor the freshness etc of a product that would be classified under directly invading the consumer's privacy without his or her consent.
This threat is pretty serious because there are always abusers of technology out there and if there are no checks and balances in the use of this technology , we as human beings will have no sense of privacy at all.Whatever perception and sense of privacy that we have will be lost forever because we will constantly have the feeling that our lives are being monitored by people sitting in some control room and its a pretty scary feeling when you think about it.
Q3: Should these RFID applications be deployed? Why or why not? Justify your answers.
These applications threaten privacy in some cases such as attaching RFIDs in apparrel which would enable companies to know our cloth wearing preferences and the frequency of the different tytpe of clothes that we wear and in car tires or in other retail items where companies would be able to monitor the freshness etc of a product that would be classified under directly invading the consumer's privacy without his or her consent
However , this application can also be highly useful because if Governments start attaching RFIDs to currency it would greatly reduce cases of money laundering. Moreover this technology would be extremely beneficial in cars as it would if not eliminate, then drastically reduce car thefts and law enforcement agencies would be able to easily track down stolen cars.This would not only be beneficial in the developed world but also in a developing country like ours where car theft is an extremely big issue. Another very useful application of this technology would be to plant these cips in endangered animals which would enable researchers to keep track of them and this would greatly reduce poaching incidents which are a huge concern for every naturalist,biologist who is involved in protecting wildlife.
Overall after weighing the pros and cons i think that the use of RFIDs should be implemented but only in matters of security and areas where it could help save lives but implementing it in consumer retail goods is not a wise idea because ultimately it will lead to retailers abusing and misusing this technology in their efforts to obtain excessive information about consumers.