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Monday, April 25, 2011

Don't Forget the Scary Side of Tech

Technology provides us with countless benefits and improvements to our lives, namely medical procedures and medication that can drastically extend the health of a dying child or victim of a terminal illness. Thus, without argue, I would never suggest a reduction in technology. Nonetheless it is important to be aware of the dangers that accompany such advancements. The RFID wallets featured above were created because of a danger due to technological advancement. Their aluminum case provides protection against RFID scanners that can scan one's credit cards in one's wallets, stealing one's identity. This can cost the owner an amount up to the limit on their card, a long lasting bad credit score if one can't make the payments, and a stressful time dealing with credit card companies. This crime is possible just by walking past someone on the street who has such a scanner in their pocket thanks to technological advancements. Another even more extreme danger is the ability for criminals to walk down the street using a device that can cause an installed pace maker in one's body to malfunction. These and many more dangers are out there and we will have to deal with them in order to continue to also benefit from advances that can save lives and make life easier.

1 comment:

  1. It's funny how two sided technology is. On the one hand, as you mentioned, the technological medical advancements are helping make people healthy and curing diseases left and right. But on the other hand, we have global terrorists wanting to use technology for terrible things. Or in this case, people just wanting to steal an identity. While it's scary to consider why we need such technology, like the RFID wallet, we are using this technology for people's protection and for the general "good." Hopefully identity theft won't become so prevalent that we all have to invest in these special wallets (truth be told, I hadn't heard of these before). But unfortunately, it's not out of the question. So as technology blazes ever forward, be grateful everyday that we have people working to create new innovation that will serve to protect us and fight for the best interests of humanity. Even when technology is used for illegal or hurtful purposes, we will have people working to fight those bad intentions with bigger and better technologies.

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