The latest issue of the GILC Alert draws attention to a cooperation agreement signed recently by Verisign, which operates the .com and .net top-level Internet domains, and EPCglobal, a consortium of companies promoting wider use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. Their partnership "may lead to the creation of a global Internet-based surveillance system," warns GILC. Verisign will "operate an Object Naming Service (ONS) as the root directory for a new global tracking network... Some experts fear that this linking of RFID tags to the Internet will worsen [privacy invasion] problems and create a situation where consumers' preferences and geographic location could be tracked with ease via the Information Superhighway. Moreover, the announcement of the Verisign-EPCglobal deal provided no indication as to what measures will be taken to prevent the abuse of personal data collected through the new system."
RFIDWatch is an online news service created by Andreas Krisch to monitor developments in this field.