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Benetton Clothing to Carry RFID Tags
An anonymous reader writes "Clothing manufacturer Benetton has announced that they will begin embedding RFID tags in clothing for inventory control purposes. You can
read more about this at SF Gate." morcheeba adds more information: "EETimes is reporting that Benetton will be embedding a Philips RFID chip into the label of every new garment bearing the name of Benetton's core clothing brand, Sisley. The 15 million chips expected sold in 2003 will allow monitoring of garments from production to shipping, shelves and dressing rooms. The I.CODE chip (tech info) used in Benetton's labels will include 1,024 bits of EEPROM and operate at a distance of up to 1.5 meters. RFIDs look like they would be extremely uncomfortable in some Sisley clothes."
..is the 1.5m range on these things a function of the tag itself or the antenna that "probes" it? i.e., could I get a big fat antenna and go, I guess, war-driving for RF tags? ("Oh look, my neighbor Bob just bought a thong. Better go tease him about it. Wait, he doesn't even have a girlfriend. I better not")
Radio waves are funny, sometimes they bounce around and show up in places you don't expect them!
I feel it is an invasive technology that has the potential to cost you a bit of my freedom and anonymity.
Anonymity? Yes, but that's just an illusion anyway. Anybody who wants to can gather as much information about you as his heart desires.
Freedom? No. And don't dust off that old "slippery slope" argument, either. It's as bogus today as it was when it was first conceived, when one caveman used it against another caveman to argue that cave paintings were generally a bad idea.
I do care and they won't be getting my money from now on.
For the record: how much money has Benetton gotten from you in the past?
I write in my journal