Colin Jervis at FutureHealthIT just put up a post called RFID: is the tag tipping? that gives some great examples of the problems with RFID I speculated about in my recent Upgrade Your Baby post. Here's a couple examples, but do go read his post: there's more there, including links to the primary sources of the examples I've stolen from him.
Security, specifically referencing the use of RFIDs in passports:
Security experts working with Dutch TV quickly intercepted and cracked encrypted transmissions from a prototype passport’s RFID tag. This allowed access to personal information stored on the tag—a worrying development for the US, where RFID-tagged passports will be available in the next few months.
Clearly this concern would apply to any RFID tag containing HIPAA-protected information.
Effectiveness (something I hadn't thought about in my post:
Food and drinks manufacturers, on the other hand, are concerned that RFID may not be the panacea it seemed. On liquids and metallic objects passive tag read rates can be lower than 40 percent—hardly the basis for comprehensive supply chain management. Similar problems are found in healthcare settings, where signals from tags can also be distorted by the babble of equipment emitting at radio frequency.
This does not sound promising. Forget what I said about deterministically identifying your toddlers among all those others in the daycare center that look just like him or her.
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