[Information Technology] RFID

I have to confess that I am not tech savvy. In this age, it seems as if showing ignorance toward these myriad of rapidly developing technologies could make you lag behind others. I want to devote some amount of time introducing some technologies that might affect our lives in a profound way. If I can come up with some, I would like to post my thoughts regarding some business implications as well.
The first one is about RFID. It stands for Radio-frequency identification. Wikipedia defines it as “the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.” I heard that it functions as an inventory tracking system by some companies such as Wal-Mart. If applied well, it will bring about tremendous opportunities to trim down costs. Here is a good link introducing this new technology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC7HEZ-Luy4&feature=related
Actually, as the reporter in the clip says, it was around us for over 50 years. It was mostly used in the military field, and commercial applications appeared on the surface just recently. And one thing that is worth taking note is that it seems to have a clear benefit in comparison with barcode systems. While barcode systems have to scan one product at a time, RFID can scan hundreds. Nevertheless, while there are some optimistic views about this nascent technology, there are some practical problems that are surfacing as well. First off, the costs associated to build the infrastructure could outweigh its benefits. Though, it is becoming widely used from some retail giants, it seems to have a big outlay. For instance, the tags that one attaches to track an object costs about 5 cents. There seems to be more room for development on this matter. But, the biggest problem lays on the fact that it could invade one’s privacy. I cannot think about an instance where my movements are being tracked from some company for commercial use. There needs to be a balance being made between advancement of technologies and its control as well.