As I was doing my year-in-review posts here at the RFID Weblog, noting what commentators felt were the achievements of RFID during 2006, one thing seemed missing to me. No one made a bid deal out of what I thought was one of the big stories of 2006: the increased consumer acceptance of RFID.

Last year we saw an aggressive rolling out of RFID-enabled passports, credit cards, ticketing systems and other applications of RFID that touch consumers. Yet, despite a flurry of some residual activism at the beginning of last year, from the book Spy Chips, we saw far less consumer concern about RFID and less of an outcry over its usage, than in previous years.

In part that was due to industry and government getting more adept at providing information to the public -- and getting in front of the issue instead of always in damage control mode.

I thought we were making progress toward public acceptance. I thought that until I saw this press release from The Smart Card Alliance, which seems to be trying to distance RFID-enabled credit cards from supply chain and other uses of RFID. Unfortunately the way they are doing it is by casting aspersions on RFID, as noted in this press release:

"There is a public misperception that all RF-enabled technology is synonymous with RFID," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Alliance. * * * Vanderhoof emphasized that RF-enabled smart cards are able to meet all the guidelines in the Alliance's best practices document. The use of RFID tags in identity credentials, however-due to their long read range of up to 25 feet and lack of appropriate security features-could leave users open to the types of fraud and identity theft most feared by privacy advocates and government officials, he said.

Yep, that's what they seem to be saying: That bad RFID! It's so darned insecure -- we don't use it. Don't confuse us with RFID! Our cards have on-board computers that protect you. RFID does not and RFID is exactly what you all fear.

I won't even go into the hair splitting taking place over what is RFID and what isn't.

For a variety of reasons that I have written about before, I think contactless credit cards pose no particular security/privacy risks to consumers. Consumers are protected from the threat of loss by a combination of laws and credit card company policy, to the same extent as non-RFID enabled cards. And I have yet to read of anyone who has ever lost a dime due to insecurity in their EZPass toll payment pass.

I'm all for consumer education and getting out in front of issues and being proactive. Just not this way.