Cheap, Paper RF ID Tags To Replace Barcodes?

Chris writes: "From EETimes: "International Paper Co. and Motorola Inc. have developed a low-cost RF identification system that could become commonplace on disposable items like cereal boxes, replacing the ubiquitous bar code." While the article does mention that the cost of the technology must drop further (from about 10 to 30 cents per ID to a couple of pennies), it overlooks the potential impact on privacy. (Just imagine embedding these tags in your clothes.)"

Comments

kinda scary

[Mike Bridge]

"There are going to be trillions of tags like these on all kinds of consumer products, and they'll tell us exactly where those products are in the supply chain at all times," said Larry Kellam
"hmmm, all these 'Debby Does Dallas' tags are coming from that house, what a weirdo"
"the signatures from those 2 stolen cases of PS2's are coming from there..."
"click, click, Hey! that house over there has a tag for that new Expensive TV set, lets go break in and steal it!"

Re: not.......really ..scary.

[deglr6328]

almost all types of RF tags carry no power source of their own.

they are merely a number encoded chip connected to an induction coil. when the coil is brought near an oscilating magnetic field it induces a current that drives the IC and emits a small amount of coded RF energy from a tiny antenna. simply make the driver field strong enough to cause the ohmic heating in the tag's induction coil to burn it out and no more "the gubment's trackin' me!" delusions to worry about.

Uh, guys this is rather OLD news...

[Svartalf]

My former employer had a similar chip- I was designing enterprise class systems around the use of it.

The name of Intermec's product line using it is Intellitag 500[tm]. Little chip not much bigger than a glass head pin in diameter. Put it on stickers, etc. for inventory control, parking access/billing, etc. What makes Motorola's BiStatix chip special is that it doesn't need a foil antenna- conductive inks will do for most close-range applications.

Jamming them isn't going to be easy. They work off of RF backscatter- they don't transmit anything. They impress a modulation on a reflected carrier. They're basically a very fancy RF mirror and reflect ANY RF in the range that they're tuned for.

Overloading them isn't going to be very easy. The power levels are in the ball park of 500-1000 watts of RF power. Most of these units operate in the 900MHz, 2GHz, or somewhere around 5GHz in Europe. You'll cook yourself with these power levels.

Oh, and the original trade-press releases from Motorola were around the January/February timeframe. I believe that EE Times originally covered this sometime around June, if memory serves.

The "P" word

[Future Linux-Guru]

Do geeks in general tremble at the thought that someone may be invading their own private space, or does Slashdot have an agenda?

Week, by week, by week the great Gods of Slashdot deliver upon us editorialized half-rants about privacy concerns---and it just does not seem like that big a deal to me.

Should be easy to remove

[Spooky Possum]

Just applying a decent strength RF field will burn out the circuit.

An antenna can always act as a reciever as well as a transmitter.

This is how some anti-shoplifting tags work (although most are magnetic) and applying a strong RF field is precisely how they're disabled.

This also suggests an interesting denial of service, if you can get the RF strength high enough from *outside* the building where they're being used.

Practical applications and limitations

[Masem]

It would seem to me that given the size and the like, this tag has a very limited range, maybe measured in meters. Not strong enough, even, such that someone standing outside your house could determine the identity of any objects within it, even if on the other side of the wall. Add to that a limited shelf life, and I don't see how this can be used as a 'permanent' identity system.

On the other hand, it can bring about two major application uses: shoplifting is one, as this type of id would be harder to tear off compared to the various tags they have now. The other is from an AT&T commercial (I think), where you push your grocery cart into a stall, wait a moment, and your total rings up, speeding checkout lines. Possibly even 'smart' cupboards and refridgerators could come from this.

Sure, there's privacy issues in some of these cases, but they're the same privacy issues that we deal with now with those frequent shopper cards. The technology really doesn't introduce anything new.