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October 18, 2004
SF library RFID
SF library RFID: Alorie Gilbert at CNET says that a plan from the San Francisco Public Library to reduce costs by putting radio-frequency tags inside their books is drawing flak from certain groups: "San Francisco expects to start the project next year even though the plan has drawn sharp criticism from local privacy activists, including the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Because RFID tags can be read from a few feet away though bags and clothing, they worry that government agents and other snoops with the right equipment could stealthily intercept the signals from books sporting the tags to find what's on people's reading list." I ride the streetcar a couple of times a week, and see the books people are reading that are stamped "SF Public Library"... I sorta wonder why I'm being taxed so they can read romance novels impregnated with the microbes of other people, but I don't think I'd stand outside a big building in city center with a wand to learn the same thing. (Heck, why not just open the building overnight as a transient hotel, and put the entire collection online? I guess there's a lot of stuff I don't understand..... ;-)
Posted by John Dowdell at October 18, 2004 2:22 PM