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RFIDs at work: future shock
We human beings tend to make the most extraordinarily inaccurate predictions about the future.
In 1948, for example, George Orwell thought that 1984 would bring with it an authoritarian state, mind control, and a new language devoid of emotion.
In the 1960s, Arthur C Clarke foresaw 2001 as a "Space Odyssey", with spiralling capsules orbiting the earth in time to a Strauss waltz.
So, one would suppose that despite brave - and sometimes bizarre - predictions about future technology, the gadgets and predicted for our society almost never come to pass.
Or, at least, most of the time.
Technology has developed over recent years which, by any measure, probably belongs in the realm of science fiction. And that has some interesting implications for employment law.
Radio Frequency Identification devices - RFIDs, as they seem to be called - were originally designed for application in consumer products. They are small transmitting devices, about the size of a grain of rice, that can be inserted almost without detection in clothing, or the packaging for foodstuffs.
And here's how it works: when RFID passes by a monitor, information can be instantly downloaded, such as the date of manufacture, a recommended expiry, or details about intended destination. All of this information is, of course, very handy for someone who may wish to monitor the progress of an article of clothing from factory to retail store to consumer. Or, perhaps, a store owner who wants to make sure that all of the products on the shelves are not past their expiry dates.
The technology knows almost no bounds. The day could be near when your fridge can send a text message to your phone, telling you which groceries need to be replenished - or you might walk into your favourite clothes store, to be presented with a printout of the different types of clothing that you need to buy (because you have not replenished your fashion stocks in the recent past).
All well and good, you might imagine. Until someone discovered that it is possible to insert an RFID into a human being - just under a layer of skin.
Why would you want to do this? Because, in any number of occupations, it may be important to know who a person is, what characteristics they exhibit, and where they are.
For example, if you were a soldier, it would be quite handy to have a device which could tell medics about your identity, your blood type, and where other medical information might be found about you.
Taking another example, if you were a foreign diplomat working in a South American country, you might find it comforting to have an indelible identifier which could be used to track you if you were kidnapped.
But what about other occupations? Wouldn't an RFID enable an employer to track a worker who might be expected to work on a "time clock" basis. And what comfort would a worker have about the information that was being monitored? Isn't this a potential invasion of privacy?
These questions are not imaginary - in Mexico, the Attorney-General has required 160 of his staff to have RFIDs inserted in their bodies so that their movements (and work habits) can be tracked.
The short answer is that some serious privacy issues would arise under New Zealand law around the use of RFIDs. These have recently been examined by Professor Paul Roth of Otago University. While ostensibly a potentially helpful piece of technology, RFIDs could raise a number of serious issues that might have connotations of George Orwell's own Big Brother.
So should we be worried?
Well, on one hand, we already accept as reasonable a significant degree of monitoring in our workplaces that didn't exist several years ago.
For example, you may have noticed that it is now a reasonably regular event for taxis to have GPS technology. And other similar occupations - like collections staff - also use GPS tracking as a regular part of their work environment.
Put simply, this type of technology can help make work more efficient - and also provide some security for people working in dangerous occupations.
And anyone who uses a swipe card to gain entry into their workplace should probably be aware that this information can be monitored and recorded - even where you try to use a swipe card in someone else's building (unsuccessfully).
Big Brother may be closer than you think.
So, next time you are reading the latest press release about the issues surrounding micro chipping in dogs, think carefully about your own future: it may not be long before you are being asked to have an RFID inserted under your skin!
