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Rep. Jeff Morris, serving the 40th District Serving San Juan, eastern and northwestern Skagit and southwestern Whatcom counties. |
Morris RFID-Privacy bill passes Legislature; ready for Gov’s Signature
April 3, 2009
OLYMPIA –
The state Senate on Thursday passed
House Bill 1011,
a measure sponsored by House Speaker Pro Tem
Jeff Morris
(D – Mount Vernon) further protecting consumers and citizens from
unwanted invasions of privacy.
This marks
Morris’ second consecutive year passing significant new consumer protection
measures in Olympia, after last year’s landmark and first-of-its-kind
legislation prohibiting the malicious use of radio-frequency identification
(RFID) microchips turning up in a greater number of consumer products, as
well as government-issued identification like driver’s licenses and
passports.
Last year’s
law championed by Morris made it a Class C felony to intentionally scan
another person’s identification using a remote device without his or her
knowledge and consent for the purpose of fraud or identity theft. The
practice is known as “skimming.”
This year’s
legislation prohibits a government office or business from remotely reading
an identification device, unless the government or business is the same
entity that issued the identification device. Those exemptions recognize
legitimate uses, such as use by law-enforcement agencies or for other
public-safety purposes.
Morris
believes consumers have a right to make a conscious choice whether they want
to accept a radio-frequency-identification chip. “Items they purchase or
identification they are issued should not contain a microchip without their
knowledge – a chip that could leave them vulnerable to ID thieves,
marketers, or ‘Big Brother’-style government agencies.”
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is a tagging-and-tracking technology
using tiny electronic tags or chips embedded in household products, ID
cards, and even clothing. When prompted by a radio transmission from a chip
reader, these chips transmit data – whether a product’s price or, more
ominously, a person’s name and address.
HB 1011 now
awaits Governor Gregoire’s signature before officially becoming new state
law.
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Contact: Jeff Morris 360-786-7970
Downloadable photo: http://www1.leg.wa.gov/documents/house/members/photos/morris.jpg