[Politech] U.K. union "outraged" over RFID tagging of workers [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Wed Aug 10 2005 - 15:40:33 PDT


Why not RFID or Verichip implants too? More on this topic:
http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2005/07/18/30851/.htm

-Declan

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Maybe of interest to Politech -- Article spotted: "Tracked 
Workers Outraged Over RFID Tagging"
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 13:26:25 -0400
From: David Brown <dave@private>
To: <declan@private>

You may have already spotted this; seems relevant to other content you've
posted:

http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,1844663,00.asp

"...The stated fear is they'll be tracked every time they take a break or
head for the rest room. The unstated fear: Every movement becomes trackable.
Employers, using the information gathered by ever-present radio waves, could
see which warehouse worker really is most efficient and prioritize hiring,
firing and overtime accordingly.

[...comparison to biometric payment trial in Albertson's grocery stores...]

[...author switches from reporting to unsubstantiated opinion, but with an
interesting conclusion:]

What makes the customers at Albertson's happy about being identified
personally is they get something in return for it: a more convenient method
of paying for their purchases.

What makes the union workers in the U.K. unhappy about being identified is:
They can't see what they get out of it.

Here's a capitalistic thought: Share the wealth. If you can keep track of
what each warehouse worker does, whether by tags or by fingertips, reward
the most productive with bonuses. [...]"

Dave

--
David Brown
dave@private

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