Whether you know it or not, RFID, or radio frequency identification, is becoming a part of your daily life.
That development has some people worried about restrictions on privacy and potential identity theft, and so the industry is out making its case right now that RFID is safe and valuable.
From passports to debit cards, the wireless, paper-thin computer chips are being embedded in a growing array of consumer products.
The chips can store and transmit far more data than an old-fashioned bar code, and promise to make it easier to make purchases, get through customs, drive down a toll road, keep track of your luggage at the airport and more.
The Dallas area is a major center for RFID development, design and implementation, with giant companies like Texas Instruments and Wal-Mart down to dozens of tiny startups working to make the region live up to its self-inflicted moniker of being The RFID Hub.
But privacy advocates worry that the technology is, at best, insecure and, at worst, an easy way for corporations and governments to keep tabs on their customers and citizens.
The RFID industry disagrees, and Dan Mullen, president of AIM Global, a trade group that advocates for the technology, spent some time on the phone with me today talking about what the group feels are the myths around RFID.
Highlights of the conversation are after the jump.
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