Privacy Controversy Dogs RFID Startup

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Menopausal Ponderings blog, which published the company's Jan. 9 news release announcing progress in development: "Another very bad 'innovation.' I tell you, we are on the way to being marked."

Adds another blog, called Thought-Crime, "People—if we can't wake the rest of America up, we'll all have those infamous tattoos on our forearms as we are corralled into concentration camps. Only this time around, they can monitor us electronically with the ink. Absolutely crazy." Pydynowski says he's become accustomed to the drumbeat of the blogs. "It's something you are going to have regardless of what you do." But I wonder. Is the blog flogging inevitable? Or could the company blunt its effects?

At a time when entrepreneurs are increasingly socially conscious—there are even business plan contests for socially conscious startups—I suspect Somark could get some respect by acknowledging the very real concerns farmers and consumers have about the privacy implications of RFID tagging.

Address the Concerns

Consider this approach: What if the company committed itself to not making the technology available for the tracking of people beyond use by the military to monitor soldiers? Or what if it insisted on specific safeguards to privacy before it would consider making its technology available for use on people? Yes, such commitments could dampen some potentially attractive market opportunities, but such opportunities are likely years off anyway, and in the meantime, the commitments might relieve a great deal of pressure that a young company can do without.

Even more broadly, the company might create a discussion area on its Web site where the issues around RFID tagging could be debated. The discussion would no doubt become passionate. Such openness might have the effect of disarming critics and creating a more favorable brand.

What I am suggesting is that a young startup facing passionate opposition to its first product may need to think more deeply about the implications of the product and then go on the offensive in an engaging way, rather than simply hunkering down.

For additional discussion on this issue, see David Gumpert's blog, www.thecompletepatient.com.

David E. Gumpert covers business/health issues and also writes the biweekly What Entrepreneurs Need to Know column.