Goodbye bar codes; hello radio tags

Facing increasing resistance and concerns about privacy, the United States' largest food companies and retailers will try to win consumer approval for radio identification devices by portraying the technology as an essential tool for keeping the nation's food supply safe from terrorists.

The companies are banding together and through an industry association are lobbying to have the Department of Homeland Security designate radio frequency identification, or RFID, as an antiterrorism technology.
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Experts estimate industry could save billions of dollars each year in inventory and logistical costs with RFID. Trouble is, privacy advocates see RFID as a massive invasion of privacy. They say the technology would let retailers, marketers, governments or criminals scan people -- or even their houses -- and ascertain what they own.
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"If we get a declaration from Homeland Security that this is the step we need to take to protect the food supply, that's the step it will take to move this technology forward," said Procter & Gamble supply-chain executive Larry Kellam at an RFID industry conference in June.

There are now hundreds of millions of RFID devices in circulation, and companies like the giant Proctor and Gamble want billions more.
Eleven McDonald's restaurants are running pilot programs with RFID payment wands made by Texas Instruments. [...] readers can detect tags as far as 90 feet away. RFID tags can also be detected faster, often in less than 100 milliseconds, and can store more data, up to 1MB."