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The Trouble with RFID
wintermute42 writes "Simson Garfinkel, author of Practical Unix & Internet Security along with Gene Spafford and Alan Schwartz,
has an article in The Nation on RFID tags. They're not just for tracking stuff. They can track you too."
My understanding, based on earlier articles that have been posted on this website, is that the RFID tags are specifically built to withstand these sorts of problems.
They disconnect their antenna if they sense a surge to protect their circuitry.
And it makes sense -- if you're using these for tracking merchandice, you wouldn't want some shoplifter taking the RFID equivalent to a tazer with them, shorting out the RFIDs, and then walking out with your product.
(personally, I didn't see anything new from this article than any of the other articles posted before on the subject. I don't think there have been particular suggestions of targeting window shoppers, but the general proximity issues have mentioned repeatedly before)
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Maybe now, but think down the road a few years. You have an RFID tag in your jacket, shoes, pants, cellphone, carkeys, and wallet. You walk by a sensor, and it ties all thoes things together.
Sure, you change clothes, but what about your phone? What happens when you wear the same pair of shoes with different clotes? The data warehouse ties that serial number in with your profile and builds a profile of all the items you own. There's not an easy way to eacape that.
I work in datawarehousing. We have a system that processes about a billion transactions a day. Each record is far mor complex than than a simple RFID and station ID. We also tie multiple records together into transactions. The scenaro above could be very real.