RFID (Radio Frequency ID) tags are small tags containing a chip which can be 'read' by radio over short distances. Recent trials involving attaching these tags to products have raised concerns about privacy, as information on the tag could be read long after the product was purchased. The tags continue to work indefinitely, so attaching tags to, for example, clothes, would could be used to track people's movements. Because RFID tags contain intellectual property in the form of a computer chip, deactivating the tag would count as circumventing an intellectual property control measure, and so would be illegal under the IP Enforcement Directive.
This consequence of the IP Enforcement Directive demonstrates the dangerous effects of IP controls on civil liberties. As computers become increasingly omnipresent, the IP law that restricts our freedoms in regards to computers increasingly also affects our everyday lives. Intellectual property law is increasingly being used by corporations to restrict the activities of individuals, and recent initiatives from the WTO aim to extend this use of IP law. The EU Copyright, Software Patent, and IP Enforcement Directives are all designed to make EU law comply with the WTO's Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
http://www.ipjustice.org/081103codepress.shtml
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/indprop/piracy/index.htm
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Comments
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Another thought
13.08.2003 14:16
Tim
Whatever
13.08.2003 21:32
We surely need information circulated and a campaign launched for citizens who are still properly alive to do just this en masse, whatever the legalities
dh
What are the arguments for these tags?
21.08.2003 13:43
David
"benefits"
21.08.2003 17:08
Erin
Open qustion
22.08.2003 12:40
Thanks
.
Jama
Destroying RFID Tags
22.08.2003 14:25
Alex
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