The NYTimes reports on new technology aimed at stopping thefts. My first thought was, "This will violate the 'privacy rights' of shoplifters and other criminals." And, sure enough:

Consumer privacy is also an issue. It would be easy to combine credit card data with information from the retail chips to know who bought what, and when � and, conceivably, to track the product even after it left the store.

"I don't think the average consumer understands the threat to personal privacy that these kinds of technologies can present," warned Alan N. Sutin, a partner specializing in information technology at the law firm Greenberg Traurig.

OK, consumers aren't shoplifters, but the principle ones who will benefit from Sutin's qualms are. There's a big difference between real privacy violations and the kind of thing that most libertarian yuppies worry about. Anybody can drive past your house and look at your kids at play, but they're not all child molesters and when it's the cops, you don't need to think they're building a case against you for abuse.