From Wired: RFID is too powerful a technology and Wal-Mart and its suppliers are too cozy with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the companies to be trusted with the data gathered from radio tags on consumer goods, say a civil rights lawyer and a privacy law expert.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,62922,00.html

But companies, led by Procter & Gamble, are opposing RFID legislation, and want consumers to allow them to keep
RFID tags active after checkout, and to match shoppers’ personal information with particular items. That means they want to track not only what you buy, but what you do with the product after you buy. How creepy is that?

From News.com: Software maker 321 Studios, which until recently offered a way to make perfect copies DVDs, said it has appealed a pair of court rulings that bars it from selling its product.
http://news.com.com/2110-1041_3-5184607.html

I’m not sure I understand the problem here…there are available open-source applications for various operating systems which do exactly the same thing.

I hate to admit it, but the national telemarketing Do-Not-Call list has been a real success, at least in my household. Admittedly, after years and years of answering every telemarking call with, “I do not purchase anything from telemarketers…immediately place this number on your do-not-call list,” I was down to two or three a week before the list took effect, but since it has in October I can count the number of calls received on one hand - my short one, no less.

So it was actually a surprise when, on a bright Saturday morning, I was greeted by a strongly-Indian accent calling from Fidelity Something-Or-Other Mortgage Company asking me if I had a mortgage.

Yeah, like I’m going to tell some stranger whether I owe money on my house or something.
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