AEfx
Well-Known Member
Not really any privacy laws that apply here, because privacy laws are based around dissemination of secure info, and largely about notification of what your information is used for. So, as long as they make due effort to let everyone know what's going on (be it printed on the back of the ticket in tiny words, or what have you) there really isn't any law against Disney using RFID however they please on their own private property.
I feel the same way about this as I do my TiVo. My TiVo collects data on what I watch and sends it to TiVo, who uses it to contribute to Nielsen ratings, as well as other programs. It's valuable marketing data, but I have zero issue with it. If TiVo would like to know that yesterday I watched Hannah Montana and then flipped over to watch a recorded Larry King Live, I'm totally OK with that. It's information that could be published in a newspaper for all I care - I do not consider what I watch on TV to be anything but a source of amusement to my friends.
The same feeling applies to this. I couldn't care one iota less if Disney wants to track me as I trek about the parks. I don't plan on doing anything "wrong", and if it's helpful for them to track how many times I go on "Haunted Mansion", stop for a drink, or even if they know how many trips I make to the bathroom - big deal. None of that information can be used to harm me (OH NO! My boss might find out I went on the Haunted Mansion 3 times in a row!), it's useless to pretty much anyone but Disney, and if they want to do it - yay for them.
Privacy is important, but too many people go WAY overboard and say it's "principle" even when it's not a concern like it isn't here. They talk of "Slippery Slopes", etc. - and that's just a false "world is ending" argument. In fact, Disney already has much more concrete data on us than this will ever provide - they keep guest logs of your communications with them, they can track your purchases (even on different credit cards), they know your birthdate in many cases, etc. That's real world info. Tracking you as you move through their parks is not going to affect anything outside of your time there.
I take a more logical approach to it - what info do they/can they collect, and what could it's future effect have on me. In this case, if Disney puts RFID in tickets (which seems the only logical place), it doesn't affect my trip at all, and it can only help future developments IMHO.
All that said, I don't think the "next gen" RFID stuff really matters much anyway. I'm really not interested in most things it could probably do (like the name thing, etc.) and I just feel kinda blah about the whole thing, just like I do with so-called "interactivity" in rides that supposedly everyone demands these days (which I just don't see).
The only interesting application I can really think of would be the next-gen character costumes - presumably if their faces move then there is a 2nd person doing the talking from elsewhere, and it would be handy for a family to be able to use an RFID ticket with, say, their kids name on it or their hometown, so the character could interact with the children like they 'knew' them, instead of having to ask names, etc.
