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Sun Joins RFID Program
per unit analyzer writes: "C|Net is running an interesting article on Sun's recent affiliation with MIT's Auto-ID initiative. The article is a layman's intoduction to passive RF tag technology. The concept is to replace the ubiquitous UPC bar code with a 5-cent RF-tag. When hit with the right excitation signal, the tag emits its own RF signal encoded with a 96-bit number. The privacy concerns are obvious; items people buy could be tracked anywhere they happen to go. How would you like the security scanners at airports or even the local high school be able to generate a complete inventory of the consumer products carried by each person coming through the door? (OK Johnny, hand over that pr0n magazine in your backpack...) The Auto-ID ilk includes many of the major consumer product manufacturers and retailers. Incidently, the American Radio Relay League is also currently fighting an uphill battle to keep the RF-tag technology of Audo-ID Technology Board member Savi Technology out of the 70cm Amateur Radio band in the US." We have a couple of earlier stories about RFID tags.
The issue of the cost of the tags is looked at heavily in the article, but that's a long run consideration. In order for the cost of the tags to really be applicable the stores have to have the readers installed in the checkouts. Readers which are likely to be horribly expensive - and management drones are notoriously tight when it comes to spending money on "new" (to them) technology.
Warning: you suc
If this goes on credit cards and drivers licenses then I can scan you and get everything but your signature and (perhaps) the expiration dates. I can check that you're not carrying cards or IDs in more than one name (useful for airport security). I can scan you as you walk in the door of my rug store and check whether your cards are gold or platinum, and have my systems check whether a purchase of a certain amount can be covered. This means in many situations it won't matter if you dress up or dress down, because there will be a more accurate metric of your worth available - presuming you aren't carrying someone else's stolen wallet. Clothing would be an obvious use for this since many stores already have bar code plus security tag on each item - this would replace both. Serve 'em right if the introduction of the technology drives down sales by subtracting from the semiotic value of rags as wealth indicators.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
My retail-store place of employment has a system which is occasionally used during the busiest of times when all the available cashiers are on-line and there are still long queues. A manager uses his hand-held bar code scanner to zap all the items in a customer's cart while he's waiting in line, then all the cashier has to do is scan the bar code on a little card and the register rings up every item that the manager zapped.
Speaking as a cashier who's worked with this system, I would find it very convenient not to have to scan every item before I bagged it (especially with the arcane "rings per minute" efficiency monitoring system my store uses, which requires pressing weird button combinations to stop the clock when we're not doing something). And speaking as a customer, I would find that sort of speedy checkout much more enticing.
They just have to balance the convenience with privacy concerns somehow...
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Because these loopy RFID tags are on different frequencies- you're going to have to hit a lot of different frequencies. Spark-gap oscillators will effectively jam anything up into the microwave domain. The catch is that it jams everything and you'll eventually draw attention to yourself.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I work for a systems integrator and I have evaluated and used RFID in a couple of systems. There are only a handful of scenarios where using the RFIDs makes sense right now.
One scenario where RFIDs do make sense is in large warehouses and storage systems. With barcodes, the fork truck operator must be fairly accurate in his aim to get a proper ID back. With the RFIDs, he has a lot more room for error. A single RFID can identify what is in a skid of product, so the cost is relatively small.
A situation where RFIDs don't work well is in the consumer market. Currently, beverage makers are able to print the barcode directly onto the container (case, can, bottle). With RFIDs, the manufacturing must add an extra step in order to apply the ID. The additional cost of the ID, plus the cost of modifying the packaging system is far too great right now to justify using RFIDs. Add to this the fact that most supermarkets will need to install new equipment at the checkout for identifying the products. It is a change that is not worth making when the current barcode system works very well.
For those concerned about someone scanning all of your products in a single sweep, don't be (at least not with today's version of RFID). You have to be within a couple of feet of the ID to get it to respond. Also, several brands of the RFIDs are reprogrammable, so you could simply reset all of the IDs when you got home. Most likely, the ID is applied to the packaging, and not the product itself, so you could just throw out the box as well. I have found in my testing that if more than one ID is within the activation range of the reader, the reader will not get the right value. So you can rest your fears (at least until a better RFID tag is created).