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These are tiny embedded chips that respond to an external radio signal by transmitting a unique digital code that can then be used to identify the tag and whatever it's attached to.

Of course this technology has actually been around for many years and is already being widely used in NZ for such things as animal identification and even protecting expensive plants (such as exotic palms) from theft.

The big problem overseas however, is the fear that this technology will be mis-used so as to compromise the public's privacy.

Thanks to mass-production and the resulting very low costs, RFID tags are even appearing on supermarket shelves as a method of providing stock-control and even pricing at the checkout.

In this regard, they're a more convenient alternative to the good old bar-code.

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Barcodes are all well and good -- but you have to line up the code so that it can be read by the scanner, something that takes extra time and therefore represents an extra cost to stores.

By comparison, RFID tags work even if the product is already packed in a bag and, in theory, you can dispense with the check-out operator altogether by simply having the little conveyor belt run under a tag-reader. This would tote-up all the products and prices, print you a bill and prompt you to swipe your EFTPOS card to pay.

So what's with all the bitching from the USA and UK?

What makes RFID any more invasive than all the other technology which could already invade our privacy?

Let's face it - if you pay for your groceries by plastic or if you have a loyalty card (Flybuys etc) then there's nothing to stop every item you buy in the supermarket from being linked to your name already.

How do you know that the supermarkets (or any retailer for that matter) doesn't already have a huge dossier of your purchases on their computers?

And who the hell cares anyway?

I think the real reason that people are worried about RFID is that the tags can be read without you being aware of it.

In the minds of some conspiracy theorists, this means that the packet of razor blades you've just bought could betray a mass of information -- such as the route you took to drive home (assuming you passed by a myriad of other RFID readers along the way). But hey, your cellphone probably betrays that information anyway.

Quite frankly, I've got no problems with RFID tags being attached or built-in to anything I buy.

The reality is that the range of these tags is extremely limited so they're not a particularly practical way of tracking people's movements once outside a store, and the benefits exceed the risks.

If your local supermarket is able to determine that you like Brand X Vanilla and Cherry yoghurt, and that you almost always do your shopping on a Friday night, then the odds are much better that when you go to buy your groceries, there will be a fresh pottle sitting there waiting for you.

As far as privacy goes, there are a lot worse things to worry about than RFID.

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