Hare-brained ideas

Human rights militants are worried that the RFID tags are ways of spying on motorists. Congresswoman Liza Maza warns that the RFID tags could be used to violate the right to privacy of individuals. She also fears that military and possibly police spooks—like those sicced on National Artist for Literature Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera and novelist, visual artist, and UP professor Dr. Jun Cruz Reyes—would use the data from the tags against citizens opposed to anti-poor government policies and critical of the wrongdoings of the Arroyo administration.

The party list member of the House of Representatives sees the LTO and other law-enforcement agencies, being equipped with gadgets that can read the RFID tags’ signals, becoming capable of Big Brother surveillance on targeted vehicles and their drivers in real time. The congresswoman wants the
LTO to be transparent, explain to the public what the RFID plan will really do and the various levels of information the RFID tags will make available to government spies.