■"Tiny Antennas To Keep Tabs On U.S. Drugs," by Gardiner Harris, New York Times, 15 November 2004, p. A1.

We are just beginning to realize the potential of tiny sensors, or what some call "smart dust." The Food and Drug Administration has got drug manufacturers to agree to put tiny transmitters into the labels of gajillions of medicine bottles as part of an effort to combat counterfeiting.

This is just the beginning of this technology, which most of us have already bumped into thanks to cell phones (have you checked your settings regarding your phone's ability to display its/your whereabouts at all times when on?).

This whole smart dust thing is going to be the technology that allows America to remain an open society while remaining a safe society. You want to track visitors to the U.S.? Here is your method that's at once somewhat annoying and a bit frightening. But you know what, it'll be a good thing. We need ways to allow maximum connectivity with the outside world while not feeling totally vulnerable to all sorts of things we can't track, trace, follow, or prevent.

As with all technologies that enable freedom and convenience, a loss of privacy seems inevitable. But that's not necessarily true. It just means we need new rule sets to deal with this additional form of connectivity/transparency.

So as a great man once said, "trust, but verify."