We reckon the British Government should brush up on its Romeo and Juliet (the play from which the quotation is taken and a staple text studied in English schools). The UK Government is currently trying to convince the British public that the unpopular ID card it pushing is not an RFID (radio-frequency ID) card, but a "contactless" or "proximity" card. Like campaigning MP Lynne Jones, we too fail to see the difference between how an RFID-equipped ID card and a "proximity" card work.

UK tech news site The Register has got very excited about all this. Place an RFID-tagged card or passport in the vicinity of a reader and it will read it, as it will a "contactless' or "proximity" card, says the site. The problem is the British public has issues with RFID cards, feeling that they could be used to monitor them as if they were, well, criminals.

The UK newspapers, despite sometimes being technologically challenged, seem to have belatedly cottoned-on to issue too, with, for example, the Daily Mirror saying the cards contain "spy chips" which use radio transmitters, allowing "law-abiding citizens to be tagged like criminals on parole".

This story will run and run -- and continue to smell too.

E-tales is edited by Jo Bennett. Send your tales of wit and woe to etales@computerworld.co.nz