Legislative panel discusses RFID technology

The Advanced Communications and Information Technology legislative committee discussed RFID tags today at the Capitol to determine what, if any, regulation should be placed on this technology. Also present was Simon Langford, Director of Electronic Product Code (EPC) Strategy at Wal-Mart.

Sen. Jimmy Jeffress filed a bill during the 2007 legislative session seeking to prohibit RFID tags from being used for the purpose of gathering or dissmeinating information related to the demographics of the purchaser after the sale (SB195, referred for interim study in today's committee meeting). Wal-Mart is seeking to use the technology to read the tags as they come off delivery trucks in an effort to track back any defective or harmful product to its source. The tracking also will help Wal-Mart cut down on theft. Here's today's Associated Press article from the committee meeting.

RFID tags are already placed in several products: passports, transportation payments, credit cards, automotive products, etc. It's possible that we'll begin seeing them used far more routinely. The California Legislature has debated two RFID-related bills, mainly dealing with RFID being used in personal identity cards and documents in California. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed one bill that would've set limits on RFID regarding the privacy of citizens (California SB 768 of 2007).