Priority Interrupt by Steve Ciarcia Be Careful How You Define “Convenient”

I laughed at some of the predictions that were made 20 years ago about how computers and interactive communication would infiltrate our lives. It isn’t that I go kicking and screaming into every technological advancement. It’s just that I like to see personal benefits before I adopt new ways of doing things. In curmudgeon speak, this translates as, "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."

In truth, I’m not quite as crusty as I’d like people to think. I tend to own the latest computer architecture. I bought a PDA before they were popular. I own a car that is intimidating to all but computer-generation people. And, I set up a wired/wireless house long before others saw the benefits. Still, I’m not sure I’m ready for the one prediction that is only now coming to fruition—wireless identification tracking.

One of the more outlandish past predictions was the ubiquitous Internet-connected appliances and the infamous refrigerator that monitored its contents and automatically ordered things from the grocery store. The shock of such an idea at the time wasn’t because we couldn’t conceive of an Internet-interface and LCD screen in a refrigerator. (After all, who in 1920 could have conceived of an automatic ice cube maker in every refrigerator?) It was the absurdity of thinking that someone would actually want to go through the trouble of scanning the bar code on every item entering or leaving the refrigerator just so they could say the refrigerator handled the inventory. This idea was nutty, and anything requiring this much manual involvement is hardly useful.

But, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Your next refrigerator may have this capability for real, thanks to cheap radio-frequency identification (RFID).

RFID isn’t new. We’re all familiar with the antitheft clothing tags in department stores. A transmitter in the doorway energizes the RFID circuitry through a flat antenna in the tag. The energy received through this antenna powers a radio transmitter embedded in the tag that sends out the equivalent of a radio bar code. Conceivably, by comparing the information from the tag to sales receipt information from the cashier’s system, the store’s information system can know everything about the product passing through the doorway and whether or not it was paid for.

Today, because RFID is still relatively expensive per ID point (approximately $0.50 to $1), it is applied mostly in supply-chain and high-end inventory applications. Adding a $1 tracking tag to shipping containers, fur coats, expensive machinery, laboratory equipment, and even military hardware is an easy decision.

As RFID becomes less expensive (a couple pennies or less), we will see it incorporated into many more high-volume applications. In the future, the luggage tag attached to your suitcase when you check in at the airport will contain an RFID chip that interacts with the automatic baggage routing system. Conceivably, every item on the store shelves will have an ID tag embedded in its label. Then, you could walk down the aisles of a grocery store and directly fill your shopping bags. As you exit the store, a scanner interrogates your grocery cart and automatically charges the credit card it senses in your wallet. When you get home, you fill the refrigerator shelves and it also scans and records its contents. Eventually, the "system" we live in will have the hands-off ability to gain complete knowledge of our purchasing, consumption, travel, and communications history, all in the name of convenience.

The bad news is that when such a system has all the details of your life, it’s just a matter of connecting the dots. It’s a wonderful idea that the clothes you wear could have electronic ID tags that a clothes washer can identify. Undoubtedly, Maytag will be among the first manufacturers to automatically set the optimum washing cycle by scanning your load of laundry. Or better yet, the washing machine will alert you when something in the pile is labeled "dry clean only." This sounds ridiculous, but it will happen.

We will also have to contend with the fact that someone out there will indeed be connecting the dots. Unless RFID tags can be disabled at will, the credit card information (hence, your complete ID) used to purchase a new pair of shoes will be irrevocably linked to those shoes. So, you could be tracked whenever you wear them.

It’s only the tip of the iceberg of what could ultimately come to pass, but the little bit of dot-connecting and tracking we see today points to what could happen in the future. Turn on your cell phone, make a credit card transaction anywhere, or pass through a highway toll using E-Zpass and they’ve got you! Be careful how you define "convenient."