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And They Shall Know You By Your Books

Posted by timothy on from the don't-like-the-books-of-that-one dept.

Val42K writes "People have been concerned about provisions of the Patriot Act that would grant law enforcement access to your library records. Now libraries are considering placing RFID tags into books instead of barcodes. The RFID tags will (supposedly) be turned off when you check out of the library, but could they be turned back on? What about the possibility of you being located and tracked by the books that you carry?"

2 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. Complete nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    The idea that your RFID tag can be tracked and monitored over a great distance is complete nonsense. The guy who submitted this needs to get a refund on that tinfoil hat of his.

    Nothing like a really dumb conspiracy theory to hold back progress. People, these tags are readable up to a few inches. Maybe a foot at most. They are nothing but glorified bar codes. Good for tracking inventory at most.

    Do you use credit? Do you have a license? SIN? Bank card? Trust me, you have more things to worry about being tracked by than your stupid library purchases.

  2. Tinfoil by motyl · · Score: 5, Informative

    Simply pack the books you borrow into tinfoil, or an aluminium case. It is really very easy to cut radio waves around small objects.

    You could just shield the inside of your bag with any metal foil.