A Chip in Your Shoulder - Should I get an RFID implant? (Slate)

RFID technology has been receiving a great deal of media coverage lately, particularly its potential privacy impact. Slate is carrying a good article that reviews the technology, the latest fuss about the VeriChip and the utility of RFID to stalkers:

A Chip in Your Shoulder - Should I get an RFID implant? By Josh McHugh:

".... Any potential revolution in human tracking or mundane convenience comes with a fundamental insecurity. A scanner operating at the right wavelength can read an RFID chip. That means that any hobbyist can just buy an RFID reader and use it to keep tabs on the chip-implanted people that happen to walk by. Here's a list of RFID readers that can plug into various handheld computers—the 125 kHz readers, including this $425 model, would pick up a VeriChip. Models like this 2-inch-by-1-inch 125 kHz reader could be hidden quite easily. It wouldn't be hard for a tech-savvy stalker to rig his scanner to activate a camera whenever it detected an RFID chip. By logging the times that your implant was scanned, he could easily track your comings and goings

You could make your RFID chip unreadable by putting a blocking device like Mylar fabric or a metal plate between the chip and the reader. RFID chips could also be made to transmit their information in encrypted form, but VeriChip hasn't announced any plans to do so. Until it does, it might be best to keep RFID chips outside your epidermis. And a special message for all you kids out there: If your parents insist on microchip implantation, just make sure you've got some Mylar armbands lying around the house."