An article about the forthcoming Auto-ID system, which consists of tiny transmitters and chips (the size of a grain of sand) which send out radio-frequencies for the purpose of tracking products (and any physical items) anywhere along the supply chain. Basically this means that information as to the whereabouts (and status) of items can be detected universally, once the technology is in place. And this, well this is just nuts:

“The European Central Bank is quietly working to embed RFID tags in the fibers of Euro bank notes by 2005. The tag would allow money to carry its own history by recording information about where it has been, thus giving governments and law enforcement agencies a means to literally ‘follow the money’ in every transaction. If and when RFID devices are embedded in banknotes, the anonymity that cash affords in consumer transactions will be eliminated.”

The only thing I wonder here though, is if the US puts this technology into its bank-notes, how are they going to still be able to continue their massive cash-based illegal drug trafficking? Well, I guess if you control the system, you could just wipe the records clean, huh?

This is a totally crazy concept too:

“Radio frequency is another technology that supermarkets are already using in a number of places throughout the store. We now envision a day where consumers will walk into a store, select products whose packages are embedded with small radio frequency UPC codes, and exit the store without ever going through a checkout line or signing their name on a dotted line.”

…applications could include shopping carts that automatically bill consumer’s accounts (cards would no longer be needed to link purchases to individuals), refrigerators that report their contents to the supermarket for re-ordering, and interactive televisions that select commercials based on the contents of a home’s refrigerator.

Now that shopper cards have whetted their appetite for data, marketers are no longer content to know who buys what, when, where, and how. As incredible as it may seem, they are now planning ways to monitor consumers’ use of products within their very homes. Auto-ID tags coupled with indoor receivers installed in shelves, floors, and doorways, could provide a degree of omniscience about consumer behavior that staggers the imagination.

PS. This technology is also frequently referred to as “RFID tags”, if you’re interested in researching it further.

Another good article about it from the Register, and one from Wired. This shit’s serious. It will change everything and threatens to obliterate privacy. You should learn about it now, before it becomes ubiquitous. PS. Wal-mart is requiring ALL of its suppliers to have this technology implemented by 2005, or else be dropped (ie, go out of business). They did the same thing with bar codes before this. As if you didn’t already think Wal-mart was evil, right?