MSNBC on lobbying to avert a ban on use of RFID in identity documents in California: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9038305/
State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, has introduced first-in-the-nation legislation that would ban for three years the use of government IDs that could be used to track the movement of California residents.
The bill, called the Identity Information Protection Act of 2005, would make it a misdemeanor to illegally obtain information from an RFID card — a process called skimming. It also would require what tech lobbyists call a high level of security for government-issued RFID cards and require any agency issuing RFID cards to tell users annually where the card readers for the devices are located.
“This bill is very accepting of the technology, but it admits that there are legitimate privacy concerns,” says Mr. Simitian.