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RFID Coming 'Whether You Like It Or Not'
VTBassMatt writes "According to an interview with Scott McGregor of Philips Semiconductor in BusinessWeek, RFID tags are coming whether we like it or not but of course won't affect our privacy. Choice quotes from the article include such gems as, '[P]rivacy concerns around RFID tags are a little like concerns about supermarket scanners years ago. When the laser scanners were coming out, everybody was saying, retailers are going to collect information about what you buy. And none of that happened.' Is that why I have two loyalty cards on my keyring and three more in my wallet?"
It's simple... just switch out loyalty cards with someone you know (the farther away they live the better) every three to six months or so. This should render all of the personalized collected data pretty useless: "He moved twelve times in the past two year and went from a vegan diet and vitamins to red meat and beer"
-- Stu
/. ID under 2,000. I feel old now.
You going to eat that last can of Progresso Minestrone, or not?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Or you can always use Rob's card. He doesn't mind.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
We'll all have to start wearing RFID blockers.
:-(
You mean I'll have to upgrade my tin foil hat?!
Get paid to code OSS
"Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity"
I for one, have faith that our new RFID overlords are too stupid and disorganized to make real capital out of the data. Or as a friend, who worked for the U.S. Census once said, quoting the X Files "If the truth is out there, they lost it"
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
This may open a market for chrome codpieces. Maybe they can even run Linux.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Me: "I fancy a fish finger sandwich"
Fridge: "Your fish fingers are 3 days out of date."
Me: "Why won't the microwave open?"
Microwave: "Those fish fingers are 3 days out of date. I'm not having them in here"
Me: "Open the microwave door, HAL..."
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
You just met THE Average American---too bad you let him get away. If we'd just locked him in a box in your basement, then that would've solved many of the world's problems...
Yeah, right.
doesn't matter I have 2 "loyalty" cards with most big places I shop at regularly. both of which has BOGUS information on them. and yes, I can still pay with a check using the bogus information cards. they dont even cross check as the cashier STILL types info from your Drivers license..
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Recently I was in one in Phoenix area and there was a very nice looking woman in front of me. As the cashier said her name out loud, I repeated it and said it was nice to meet her too. She, quite understandbly, got very upset that now some complete stranger knew her name.
I tried to calm her down and state that she should be upset at the store policy of doing that, because her name shouldn't be spoken out loud so any creep -- like me -- could learn it and be one step closer to being a stalker.
Anyway, the cashier got huffy too. Ah, the fun you can have when shopping at a store 2,500 miles from home where you don't have to worry about running into these people again!
Imma high rolla'. I neva leave the house witout my roll o' fitties!
=]
"Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
Perhaps it makes no real difference, but in some small corner of my mind I feel like I'm sticking it to the man. . .
Sure, until your friend decides to buy 50 copies of 'Catcher in the Rye' and a crate of ammunition with your card and the men in the black helicopters come for you.
He doesn't comment his code either, he better believe in god because there be pitchforks and programmers outside.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
That explains all this junk mail you insensitive clod!
- John Smith, Anytown AK
If I am shopping at a grocery store that uses the loyalty cards, I usually just borrow one from the person right behind me in line.
I once borrowed a card from a vey nice lady who was buying tofu and granola. I was buying an absurd amount of steak. I kind of wondered what kinds of targeted mail she got from that one...
-ShelbyCobra
Living life in the right side of the s-plane
That's disgusting.
If an hour later you leave the parking lot but the six pack with the RFID doesn't
:)
Must have been pretty drunk to drink the RFID tag too.
The Anti-Blog
The men that came for me were in a van.
I feel so jipped.
The ______ Agenda
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Then you could track RFIDs via gps.
People need to stop suggesting things are infeasable without actually considering them.
Aren't generalities fun?
Psst. The men in the black helicopters don't need warrants.
:)
I wasn't actually shooting for a +insightful either. More like +tinfoil-hat.