Privacy groups question RFID use in medicine tracking

"As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers the use of radio frequency identification tags to help fight counterfeit prescription drugs, privacy advocates are cautiously watching to be sure consumer privacy isn't lost in the process. Last year, the FDA called for the widespread use of RFID tags to help ensure that drugs sold to consumers are legitimate (see "FDA Backs RFID Tags for Tracking Prescription Drugs". Under the FDA proposal, RFID tags would be used on cartons and pallets of drugs throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain by 2007. The problem, according to privacy advocates, is that the FDA is considering more than just tracking large shipping containers or crates of medicines with RFID tags; it could also use the tags to track individual medicine bottles or even individual tablets. That, privacy advocates said, would be invasive." Source: computerworld.com