If you worry about the privacy and surveillance consequences of Internet cookies, auto toll transponders, supermarket chain “discount” cards, cell phone location tracking, etc., wait until you see Auto-ID Technology. Embedding ‘RFID Tag’ smart chips into everyday objects will allow them to be tracked by ubiquitous receivers linked to the Internet. Sure, shoplifting might become a thing of the past, but other implications are mindboggling. Start with the scenario depicted in Minority Report of stores recognizing returning customers with individualized sales and promotional strategies; go on to changing your health insurance rating because of the amount of alcohol or junkfood the database says you bought, or developing a risk profile based on the books and magazines you buy. What size database would the Carnivore or Echelon programs need to track five or six objects in the possession of every adult in the population to draw correlations that would allow continuous realtime tracking? I’m not enough of a computer wonk to know, but there are probably some of you out there who can do a back-of-the-envelope order-of-magnitude calculation. My guess is that it would indicate it is feasible.