I don't want no tag!

The now-ubiquitous bar code imprinted on the products we buy soon
may become a technological relic, replaced by something called Radio Frequency
Identification, or RFID.

The tags with tiny computer chips can be scanned quickly and at a distance,
and could radically alter the way we shop, according to Vivek Subramanian, an
electronic engineer at the University of California at Berkeley.

"When we eliminate the need for line of sight, you don't have to do things
individually anymore," says Subramanian. "You can take a whole supermarket cart
and walk out [the door]."

Everything in that cart would be scanned at once and automatically charged to
your credit card.

Already Used

RFID is already in use at EZ PASS tollbooths and at Mobil Station gas pumps
using a device called SPEEDPASS, and at Chicago-area McDonald's restaurants,
where fast food is faster than ever because no money ever changes hands.

McDonald's senior vice president Jim Johannesen says, "We've been at it for a
year now, and in the course of that year, usage of the SPEEDPASS has
tripled."

As these so-called "smart tags" become smaller and cheaper, they will be
embedded in almost everything. Sensors in a shelf will tell a storekeeper or
homeowner when inventory is low and even automatically place an order over the
Internet.

During a demonstration at Accenture Incorporated, a company working on the
technology, an automated voice informed a person who had taken something from a
shelf, "You need to restock macaroni and cheese."

Since some homeowners might not especially want their pantry shelves talking
to them, the voice mechanism can be de-activated, with the computer technology
still recording the inventory situation, and even placing orders for
re-stocking over the Internet.

Hand-held scanners for the technology are already in use at some stores.

At the upscale store Prada, scanners read tags on clothing and give customers
details about every item. Katherine Ross, the manager of Prada in New York
City, says the device tells, "the customer what colors this comes in, what size
it comes in, by what it says here on the display screen."

Scanning Strangers?

One day, we could even get information from tags embedded in clothes people
are wearing. Simply walk up to someone whose tie or blouse you admire, hold a
small scanner near the item, and the scanner's monitor will tell you how much
the item is and where you can buy it. You can even push a "buy" button right
then and there, ordering it from the Internet.

While handy for compulsive shoppers, it could prove irksome for people who
might not want to share information about their clothes. In fact, the technology raises all sorts of ethical questions.

"It is potentially possible that I could make an RFID tag that I could attach
to you without you knowing," Subramanian says. "For example, I could put a sticky RFID tag on the floor and when you walk over it you pick up a tag and I could track you."

Children might find their worlds changed, as well. A doll of the future may
have sensors that allow the child to take the doll shopping. The child would
use the doll as a scanner, picking up information on doll accessories from items

on store shelves, and then transferring the data later to a home computer.
The child could then e-mail the list to her parents, who, no doubt, will rue the day they bought the doll in the first place.

Toying with the new technology may have some annoying results. The trade-off,
according to its proponents, is that we will have much more information at a
much faster pace.


This report originally aired on World News Tonight on Nov. 30