Could ID scan make life easier?

Much has been written about the downside of the emerging surveillance state. The fears, one may hope, are perhaps exaggerated. But surveillance increases.

Is there an upside? Maybe. Consider the potential benefits of RFIDs (radio-frequency identification devices).

An RFID is a sealed glass capsule, about the size of a grain of rice, that transmits information, such as a serial number, when queried by an electronic reader.

It doesn”t need batteries. RFIDs are used for such things as tagging cattle: The device is inserted painlessly beneath the animal”s skin. When the bovine walks by a reader, which functions something like the anti-shoplifting sensors in stores, the RFID transmits the cow”s identifying number, which is recorded in a computer.

RFIDs have been inserted in people, too. Diabetics, for instance, sometimes accept the devices. The idea is that if the patient goes into shock, the ambulance crew can obtain his patient ID number from a RFID scan and almost instantly summon the medical records over the Internet.

Medically, this is a great idea. Politically, it may not be.

Civil libertarians worry, perhaps with good reason, that the technology will lead to electro-tagging of everyone and thus allow tracking of our every move.

They suggest that first, soldiers will be required to be “chipped” to facilitate medical care on the battlefield. Then federal employees in sensitive facilities might be subjected, then workers in private companies, and the surveillance would permeate. Well, maybe. And RFIDs can be spoofed, faked, removed surgically and implanted in another.

The drawbacks are obvious in terms of potential totalitarianism. However, it is the advantages that will encourage adoption.

Today, identifying ourselves is a nuisance, sometimes a major nuisance. We have a driver”s license to identify ourselves as having passed a driving test. We have credit cards, frequent-flier cards which we typically lose, cards for the VIP lounge, another card to show that we are certified scuba divers, passports, membership cards for clubs, gyms and hospitals.

There are other things that we perhaps do not think of as matters of identification, but are. A Metro card identifies us as people who put money into a fare machine. An airline ticket identifies us as people who paid for a flight.

Now, if we were all securely tagged with our Social Security numbers, all of this would go away. At the airport the electronic reader would check your number instantly against records at the State Department and determine that, yes, you had met the requirements for a passport. Should you be in a wreck, the paramedics would have instant access to your blood type and allergies to medicines. In the library, you would just find the books you wanted, and walk out. RFIDs in the books themselves would be read automatically and they would be charged to your account.

The convenience would appeal, but more important would be the change in society. It is humiliating to be constantly checked and identified as if we were criminals.

In an anonymous, mass society, clubs must ascertain that you are a member, yes. But the suspicious scrutiny by a not-necessarily-polite gatekeeper is unpleasant. If people were electronically identifiable, a person could just walk in.

Politically, perhaps perilous. But we are headed that way, and there is an upside of at least feeling less watched.