MADISON, Wis. -- Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is a new technology that might revolutionize the way businesses and even governments track objects.

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And while experts say RFID holds tremendous positive benefits for both industry and consumers, questions remain about how invasive this technology could be for people.

RFID technology uses radio waves along with microchips and antennas called tags to give an object a unique number, similar to the idea of a Social Security number for items. Receiving devices called readers then remotely track the object from a distance and download information about it, WISC-TV reported.

While businesses and government officials see applications for the technology, many have expressed reservations about who, what and when entities would have access to such information.

Here's just one concern: There are federal government plans to install RFID on interstate highways for automatic toll charging and law enforcement purposes. Privacy advocates said that such a system could track drivers' movements as they travel. This scenario is just one example of a technology that some fear will spin out of control, WISC-TV reported.

Those expressing reservations about the concept are asking people to imagine a world where virtually everywhere anyone goes, their buying habits and even their movements could be tracked. The information will be downloaded to various databases -- all without their knowledge or consent.

Some privacy advocates said that it's entirely possible because of RFID technology. Some even wrote a book called "Spychips" to criticize the concept.

"It's an up-and-coming technology with very serious ramifications for consumers and citizens," said Liz McIntyre, co-author of the book and a privacy advocate.

Some have taken to calling RFID technology "spy chips" because they can be hidden in products, places and even people and then scanned without anyone knowing about it.

"These tags can be read from a distance right through things we normally think of protecting our privacy -- our purses, backpacks, our wallets, our shirts, our shoes," said McIntyre.

At a recent UW RFID workshop, a vendor, Michael Bruham of Panatrack, told businesses that his product can read tags in items up to 250 feet away. Such tracking abilities hold huge advantages for retail and other industries and some are moving quickly to use them in fields from agriculture to pharmaceutical drugs, WISC-TV reported.

"It's a big deal. It's a big deal," said Bruham. "It potentially has the capabilities to address all kinds of issues that we never really had clean answers to."

Some privacy advocates said that they aren't impressed. They said that without regulation, the near future could see the widespread use of RFID chips and readers in stores and all kinds of public places.

"Places like airports, trains, buses, sports arenas, libraries, theaters, elevators, restrooms, all of this, to the best of our knowledge, could happen and there would be no law preventing, say, a manufacturer or retailer or government from doing that," McIntyre said.

Advocates said that plans to put tags in everything from credit cards to automobiles to government documents could lead to massive downloading of information and ultimately, unwanted profiling, identity theft and even government surveillance, WISC-TV reported.

State Rep. Marlin Schneider said that he has huge concerns.

"RFID is a very insidious technology," Schneider said. "I don't think the government has any business knowing whether I go to a grocery store, or to a tavern or whether I go, visit Visions on East Washington Avenue. It's none of their business, and I don't think people ought to be monitored in such a fashion."

The worry is backed up by things like an IBM patent that will be used for "identifying and tracking persons using RFID-tagged items in store environments." The patent said that the tag scanner will scan "the RFID tags on a person ... and correlates it with … the transaction database" so "the exact identity of the person or certain characteristics ... can be determined."

The patent says, "This information is used to monitor the movement of the person through the store or other areas."

RFID is spreading in the federal government already with the State Department putting RFID chips in all new passports despite ongoing information security concerns.

An independent federal report cites such RFID concerns including "tracking an individual's movements and profiling an individual's habits."

Backers of RFID concede that there are some problems, but they say that technology itself, like encryption, can fix them.

"There are many techniques that are being developed that can protect and solve the issues. So it's a matter of again refining those techniques," said Alfonso Guiterrez, director of the University of Wisconsin's RFID Lab, which is exploring the technology's capabilities.

"The question is, 'How do you kind of encapsulate all those techniques in a very tiny microchip?'" Guiterrez said.

Privacy advocates said that they don't want to ban RFID, but restrict its use to protect consumers. They said that they want to see RFID tags disabled when people leave the store along with mandatory labeling for all RFID-tagged objects. Anything else, they say, carries too many risks, WISC-TV reported.

"Knowledge is power," Schneider said. "Power corrupts absolutely. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

There are efforts on both national and local fronts to pass some protections. In Wisconsin, Schneider has a proposal to outlaw the use of RFID chips in public documents. The state has already has banned putting chips in people without their permission.

Still, Schneider said that National Guard troops might have to get them if the federal officials decide to use them.

Note: Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage. This story is the second of a two-part series on RFID technology, the benefits and the concerns.