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"  On August 1, Walmart began a pilot program using &amp;quot;smart tags&amp;quot; on men&amp;#039;s basic apparel (jeans, socks, and underwear). The clothing packaging and hangtags have chips embedded in them that allow store staff to quickly identify what items are in stock. Privacy advocates have raised concerns about the tags being too &amp;quot;smart.&amp;quot; Why? What is a smart tag? These labels use electronic product codes (EPCs) that replace the traditional UPC barcodes found on merchandise. While barcodes have to be scanned individually, EPCs use radio frequency identification (RFID) -- the same technology that allows tollbooths to read the pass on your car&amp;#039;s windshield and debit your account. At Walmart, staffers wave special handheld scanners at the tags to read the info from a distance and quickly learn what&amp;#039;s in stock. Says Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman, &amp;quot;A shelf might look full of jeans, but there may not be a variety of sizes. We can check more frequently throughout the day to know what has to be replenished, so our customer can find what he needs.&amp;quot; EPC technology was first hyped about seven or eight years ago, says National Retail Federation (NRF) CIO Dave Hogan. Now that the production cost of the tags is coming down, the technology is becoming more viable. &amp;quot;I see it having a real benefit for grocery stores to be able to quickly identify items that are nearing or past their expiration date,&amp;quot; Hogan says. Why are privacy advocates raising a red flag? Their main concern is the fact that these tags can be read at a distance. With a wave of a wand, unscrupulous marketers could learn your shopping habits without your permission, and burglars could possibly scan your trash to find out what newly purchased goodies you have inside your home. Another fear is that the chips could even be embedded within items themselves, meaning you could end up an unwitting walking marketing pawn. Privacy advocates theorize that companies could learn the most common brands, styles, or sizes by scanning your and other peoples&amp;#039; clothing to determine what to manufacture or stock. These worries stem from a greater debate about the inclusion of RFID in driver&amp;#039;s licenses (available for a premium in several states to expedite North American border crossings), and in US passports (which became standard practice in 2006) -- your every move could be monitored. Should you be worried about smart tags? In terms of Walmart&amp;#039;s (and likely other retailers&amp;#039;) use of them, probably not. The main reason: The tags can be cut in half with scissors or soaked with water and rendered unreadable. Hogan points out that the NRF&amp;#039;s stance is that these tags should be removable (and Walmart&amp;#039;s are). And even if the tags are still intact while you&amp;#039;re shopping in other stores, it&amp;#039;s probably a nonissue, too. As Hogan says, &amp;quot;A store&amp;#039;s scanner might be able to read the tag, but it would not be able to tell where it came from. Retailers do not have access to other retailers&amp;#039; databases.&amp;quot;  And as for the trash-scanning concerns, well, thieves are more likely to visually scan your garbage for big-screen TV boxes or the like -- no fancy tag reader required. Concerned about ID theft? Learn how to protect yourself. In case you needed more convincing, my colleague Rachel Rothman makes a case for why you need a paper shredder. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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