Blocker Tags to Protect Privacy From RFID Tags

geekee writes "According to an article at CNET, RSA Security is developing a 'blocker' tag that disrupts RFID tag transmissions, protecting a person's privacy from those who would abuse RFID technology. The blocker tag would be embedded in your watch, for instance. This method has an advantage over destroying the RFID tags after purchase because useful information on the tag could help consumers (e.g. laundry instructions)." According to the RSA scientist quoted in the article, privacy concerns regarding RFID have been overblown, but it's still worth being proactive when finding ways to defeat the tags.

Comments

Shoplifting?

[ksuMacGyver]

Wonder how this would affect shoplifting? Just wear the watch and walk out $0 deducted from your bank account?!

Re:Shoplifting?

[psyco484]

Win enough illegal search and siezure (sp?) lawsuits and they likely won't bother you. This is of course assuming you're not stealing from them.

If the cops can't search my car without consent or a warrant, I'll be damned if a supermarket clerk can search me.

Re:Shoplifting?

[eht]

They'll make a Anti-RFID detector and you come in the store it goes off, sorry sir, you can't bring that in here.

Quite a few stores won't let you shop carrying a backpack, so I figure they'll do sometihing along those lines.

Don't like it? You don't have to shop there and they have the right to refuse you business as long as they aren't discriminating against a class of people(I don't think paranoid is a legal class of people).

Re:Shoplifting?

[ceejayoz]

You'd lose an illegal search and seizure lawsuit, most likely. You went into the store, which is private property. Not only that, but the fact that you're wearing a device specifically designed to jam their anti-theft devices is enough cause for suspicion.

Same reason airport security can search every person as many times and as thoroughly as they wish, but the police can't come to your house and do the same w/o a warrant.

Re:Shoplifting?

[Hungus]

Think again about your statements about what they can and cannot do. In fact they can detain while the police arrive. So not only are you not a lawyer you are not familiar with the law, I suggest you become so.

Disclaimer - I work with lawyers and for a private investigations and security group.

Re:Shoplifting?

[nolife]

I don't know if the law considers the difference but being searched at an airport and government offices is to ensure safety of people inside, not to catch that magazine you swiped from airport newsstand. That is why you get scanned on the way IN.

Going lotech

[Empiric]

Juels said that he foresees a day when tags in clothes can tell washing machines the proper way they need to be washed.

This just seems like really stretching for a scenario in which RFID tags will be useful beyond inventory tracking (What happens when 5% of your laundry says "warm" and the rest says "hot")?

Before paying RSA for advanced laundry stealth technology, I think I'd first try something a little more straightforward, like a few seconds in my microwave.

Is that legal?

[PeteQC]

is that legal to block radio frequency? Isn't it the same problem that movie theaters came across when they wanted to block cell phones' frequency but they can't because of the law?

IANAL, but I think it may not be legal!

Re:Tin Foil Hats Too?

[Anonymous Coward]

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. May your chains set lightly upon you. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

Re:Tin Foil Hats Too?

[Izago909]

Will that be your story after someone is sued or prosecuted based on RFID evidence? How many people will have to fall before you become concerned?

Re:Tin Foil Hats Too?

[alizard]

Is the RSA also going to start selling Tin Foil Hats?

No, you can keep right on selling them.

You should write and thank them.

I don't think these devices would even be remotely practical for another 3-4 years when RFID's will be prevalent

3 or 4 years aren't all that unreasonable considering they have to do the R&D (i.e. get the blocker down to a chip manufacturable for under 10 cents) and find consumer product manufacturers willing to partner with them to get it into the consumer market.

Build security in from the beginning...

[mnmlst]

What a concept! Near the end of the article is the quote about how hard it would be to add the blocking capability at a later time. I would hope these guys are looking at a LOT of security aspects to this technology before they unleash it everywhere. Interestingly, Business 2.0 is currently running an article on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF) and how they have just now really begun to get "wired". Naturally, they are using a lot of RFID technology to track their rail cars. As recently as ten years ago (when I interviewed with them) they were still using paper and pencil. Sometimes an engineer would stop a train and call back to the dispatcher on a pay phone. Bring on the RFID's. MOM, I want a train!

Re:Site slowing - copied text here to be safe

[Mrs. Grundy]

If only we could get some RSA technology to block this guy from continuing to contribute bogus posts.

Seriously, the whole thing reminds me of Sylvester McBean's magical Star-On Star-Off Machine.

Re:Site slowing - copied text here to be safe

[Anonymous Coward]

Why?

You'll pay and pay

[frovingslosh]

One of the advantages being promoted for the tags is that you'll be ableto take a shopping cart, just run it through the checkout line, and the scanner and RFID tags will quickly add up everything in your cart. You can expect this technology to become as prevalent as bar codes are now. But with such a system and tags that are not disabled after you leave the store, you're likely to end up being charged again for your shirt, or watch, or underware or shoes or some item in your pocket with an embedded tag if you are close to the cart when it is scanned. It will become the new way of scamming the customers, soon to exceed the scan prices often being higher than the shelf price but never being lower.

RFID Silliness

[ticklemeozmo]

Seriously, how long does it take to seperate whites from darks and if you are in that serious need of time, you have a scheduling issue.

On a tin-foil-hat note: this is how freedoms are taken away.

• "It's for convienence!"
• "But it'll save time... no one is going to monitor what types of razor blades you buy."
• "If you just swipe your finger, you'll check out quicker, save time and money 5% off to customers who use RFID!"
• "I'm sorry, but it's a requirement that all people have RFID tags in their heads. well, people were cutting off their fingers to not be tracked by us. And anyone who doesn't submit to InstaTrace is considered a criminal."

I hate to sound like a Montanian, but consider this when security and freedoms are concerned (I forget who said it, didn't bother googling).

"When you draw a line in the sand, and step over it, it does not appear to be a big step from your last position, so you allow it. But if you continue to allow it, over time, you will realize (albeit, probably too late) that you do not have your original position in sight as you turn around."

Lame excuses for RFID

[SuperBanana]

This method has an advantage over destroying the RFID tags after purchase because useful information on the tag could help consumers (e.g. laundry instructions)

Man, these RFID people are getting desperate. First it was "it'll stop theft". Then it was "It'll keep food from getting spoiled/infected. And that'll keep food safe from....TERRORISTS!"(Don't worry, I missed that train of thought too, but the T word is like 'dot com' was a couple years ago, so...) Now it's "it'll help you do your laundry." If you can't remember how a certain shirt gets washed by the time the little printed tag wears out, you either need fewer clothing, or a brain. Besides, what's the washing machine gonna do, scream at you like your mom/girlfriend/wife/CowboyNeal would, for mixing the underwear with the christmas socks? How useful.

Now, of course, I have one question- I assume there'll be maybe two bits for water temperature(cold, cold/warm, warm, hot), two bits for fragile-ness(delicate, knit, perm, regular), maybe two bits for color-compatibility(how much it bleeds) and color(dark, color, white, etc).

The question is- can we get an Evil Bit added?

Spoofed RFIDs

[MoogMan]

I think it would be cool to have a system where a device sends out all (or many) RFIDs to confuse a reciever.
Another thought is that it could send out a bunch of random RFIDs thus (hopefully) protecting anonymity but keeping statistics useful?

Like they haven't thought of that.

[Chuck Chunder]

These things contain unique IDs. A shop will only be scan out and charge for an item that it has identified as being in stock. Once it's been purchased and scanned out of the system if you go back to the store (or another store) you won't be charged because that store knows it doesn't have a product with that ID to sell.

Re: Like they haven't thought of that.

[CyberDave]

That's an interesting way of doing it. Keeping an in-store database of what hasn't been sold, rather than a database of what has been sold. If you were to keep track of what's been sold, you'd need a massive infrastructure to coordinate that information (millions and millions of tags and thousands and thousands of retail locations).

Of course, I'd still prefer some sort of field-programmable device where a flag in the tag could be set to indicate that it's been bought (like demagnetizing the anti-theft Electronic Article Surveilance (EAS) tags).

Also good would be an option to have the tag disabled completely upon purchase, though that sort of defeats the purpose of having a washer that can automatically adjust the cycle for your laundry or a cupboard that can detect when you are getting low on Top Ramen and let you know.

And one thing people seem to always overlook: there's a difference between putting the tags in the packaging and in the product. Put it in the package, and the retailers still get to do all their fancy inventory tracking stuff, but once you buy it and take it home, you're likely to throw the package away and poof...RFID tag is gone.

Put it in the product, and it's likely usable for the lifetime of the product.

Oh, and some federal standards for privacy protection would be nice, too (not just in regards to RFID). And yes, I know that there is no guarantee of personal privacy in the US, Constitutional or otherwise.

That's my take on this stuff.

CyberDave

Re:God I hate those tags

[Anonymous Coward]

Blockers will be outlawed before they ever make it to market.

Re:God I hate those tags

[RetroGeek]

the price of Freedom is eternal vigilantism.

Or you can simply EMP them. Blow the circuit, and then nobody can read the ID.

Shouldn't take too much if a pulse either, as they are so small.

Next big item on eBay: portable EMP generators.

Attracting attention to yourself

[RonnyJ]

If it's possible to detect the source of a blocking tags, you could just be attracting far more attention to yourself in a store. Instead of a machine monitoring you, you could have a security guard...

A better idea...

[Baron_Yam]

What size range would the holes in a screen need to be to block RFID frequencies? I think it might be nice to embed such a mesh in the lining of a purse or jacket...

Re:But...

[cgranade]

Then the system would be coopted by not so well-meaning neocons to make sure that we all are buying flag-adorned stamps...

Depends on where you are.

[hayden]

In Australia the search thing is covered by contract law. When you enter a store you enter into a contract with the owner. That contract by default does not include having your bags searched. By putting a sign outside the store that is clearly visible before you go into the store they can change the contract. It must be before you enter the store so you can refuse to agree with it by not entering the store.

IANAL but my sister is and she gets really shitty about this.

Vigilantism with RFID blocker tags

[hayden]

Because they're so small you could hide them near the scanners and ensure they don't work at all. Of course it'll piss off the repair people. Doesn't work in the store. As soon as you take it away it does.