Daniel, I find the first half of your paper particularly compelling. RFID cash cards, like the Octopus, seem to me to have traits that protect both privacy and convenience. In fact, they seem like a great compromise.

However, the second half confuses me a bit. I read your argument to say, basically, with so many other privacy concerns (cameras, cellphones, etc., etc.) we should not be concerned about RFID. Instead, you argue, privacy activists should "lobby[] for legal protections." To me this position is contradictory. How do you convince people that privacy matters if you ignore a source of its decline? People need a reason to take action. Political lobbying needs feet or dollars to make it go, and people worried about RFID privacy adds both.

Another problem with your position is that it is equally true of any and every privacy concern. Don't worry about cameras-you carry a cellphone, right? Don't worry about your cellphone-you pay with a credit card, right? Privacy is eroded by many different technologies. Arguing that we should ignore one simply because beneficial uses exist for it that do not invade our privacy as much misses the point that it is the aggregate effect which erodes privacy.

-- JustinColannino - 01 Apr 2009