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RFID: The New Big Brother ?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the break-out-the-tinfoil-hats dept.

Makarand writes "The possibility that we could be tracked not because we have a microchip implant but merely because we wear clothes, eat and carry objects around is real according to this article on C|net news. A technology called RFID (radio frequency identification) consisting of miniscule microchips the size of a single grain of sand that listen to a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID can make this possible. Most RFID tags use the power from the initial radio signal to transmit their response and hence can be placed anywhere imaginable. Retailers are adoring this concept and soon everything more expensive than a Snickers bar will sport RFID tags making tracking possible through our own personal possessions. The privacy threat comes when RFID tags remain active once you leave a store and currently the RFID industry seems to be giving 'mixed' signals about whether the tags will be disabled or left enabled by default."

2 of 554 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What? by Zathrus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you think the little mylar strips in US money are for COUNTERFEIT protection

    Do you think they're for TRACKING YOU? haha.

    Lord. My brother used to work on the theft prevention systems they use at stores -- you know, the little magnetic strips on clothing and other goods that would set off the alarm if not deactivated first. This is not considerably different from RFID or the mylar strips in bills.

    Do you have any idea how easy they are to defeat? Bend the strip and you change its resonant frequency. Put two strips up against one another. Wrap them in tinfoil. Any one of a half dozen other methods.

    As usual, they only work against the idiots, which so happens to be 90% of your criminals.

    And, of course, your rampant conspiracy theorists who don't actually have any bloody clue how reality works.

  2. Density of receivers by rotenberry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Before anyone panics there are several things to consider:

    1. Unless the receiver can determine the distance to the RFID tag (and this is usually not the case), the tag's location cannot be determined with any greater accuracy that the distance to the nearest receiver. To "locate" a tag, there must be many expensive receivers no how many cheap tags there are. Remember, we live in three dimensions.

    2. The range of passively powered tags is only a few meters, and they all tend to reply at the same time when a bunch are pinged, causing interference.

    These difficulties can be solved, but not soon.