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A Technical RFID Primer
gManZboy writes "Roy Want, principal engineer at Intel Research, has a pretty meaty technical overview of RFID up at Queue. If you ever wondered how these little things actually work it's worth a read. For instance, I was intrigued to find out how the tags (which are generally battery-free) can absorb enough energy from RFID readers to then power up and transmit their own signal back to the reader."
Are they biodegradable?
vicious, untreated political sewage...niche entertainment for the spiritually unattractive...worshipless pap
Bloody thing's getting slow here:
Just how do those little things work anyway?
Radio Frequency Identification
Many modern technologies give the impression they work by magic, particularly when they operate automatically and their mechanisms are invisible. A technology called RFID (radio frequency identification), which is relatively new to the mass market, has exactly this characteristic and for many people seems a lot like magic. RFID is an electronic tagging technology (see figure 1) that allows an object, place, or person to be automatically identified at a distance without a direct line-of-sight, using an electromagnetic challenge/response exchange. Typical applications include labeling products for rapid checkout at a point-of-sale terminal, inventory tracking, animal tagging, timing marathon runners, secure automobile keys, and access control for secure facilities.
Click for Figure
In fact, various forms of crude RFID have been used since World War II. In the 1960s the technology became more practical, but the applications since then have resulted in relatively small tag deployments in narrow high-value areas without much public visibility. Also, given a tag's small size and ability to be hidden or molded into the casing of a product, some people may have encountered RFID without realizing it was present.
In the last couple of years many RFID stories have appeared in the popular press. Why is RFID making a splash now, given that the idea is at least 40 years old? Most technologies have a window of opportunity for deployment, which is related to the scope of the problem it solves, the maturity of the technology, and the cost of deployment. On all three of these points the world has changed over the past 40 years. Inventory tracking is now necessary on an unprecedented scale to support growing consumer markets at low operating costs and to remain price competitive despite the relatively high labor cost in the developed countries. Furthermore, the components used to build the tags and tag readers have become more sophisticated. Today, they provide greater functionality, reading range, and speed of data transfer. As a result, they support the ability to accurately read a large number of co-located tags at the same time. Standards also play a role--an important new standard created by the former Auto-ID Center (whose work is now being carried forward by the not-for-profit EPCglobal) has recently brought together a number of influential organizations such as Wal-Mart, Tesco (UK), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), all of which recognize the opportunity RFID brings to improve operational efficiencies.
Lastly, the ultimate incentive for deployment of a technology is cost. When the benefits and cost savings brought about by the technology are greater than the deployment cost, the time is right. Since tags would most often be attached to large inventories of relatively inexpensive products, the tags need to be inexpensive. Some analysts say a tag must cost less than 5 cents (others below 1 cent) for the technology to be truly competitive. By comparison, existing tagging technologies such as bar-code systems involve little more than the very low cost of printing lines on packaging. At present, RFID tags are in the 50-cent range for small quantities, a number that could be reduced to the target price if their use were to grow as expected.
Initially, commercial deployment is likely to focus on pallet- or crate-level tracking in a warehouse, and depending on its success, may lead to item-level tracking in the future. RFID could improve the efficiency of warehouse management considerably. RFID tags would allow crate identities to be checked at a distance when entering or leaving the building, whether or not the tag is directly visible. A bar code used in the same application could well be facing the wrong direction, making it impossible to scan automatically. Once RFID has proved beneficial and has been well established, economies of scale such as mass production s
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I am looking into wiring the office with RFID readers and equipping the engineers with RFID tags that will allow them to beep in and out of the office. Without a valid tag, the doors would not unlock. I've seen this done with smart cards previously, but would like to do it with a more lightweight technology.
The most obvious security risk is that someone steals a tag and enters the premises unnoticed. But there are others that I worry about. Stuff like the ease of replicating an RFID tag or even a hacker passively reading a tag in public then recreating it and gaining access.
I understand the problems many people have with RFID, especially stuff like tracking of purchased items and the like, but I'm more interested in using it for security clearances. Unfortunately, the web is not full of information about this (whereas it is full of information about how RFID is a privacy threat). More information about the practical uses of RFID would be greatly desired.
Tinfoil ON!. Everyone knows they get there energy from stealing your soul a little at a time, sucking the very life essence from your body. Then when they have all your energy they march you into a retirement home which is just a block away from the new universal nutrient - soylent green! Tinfoil OFF!
How it Works
Operating Principles
Passive tags that operate at frequencies up to 100 MHz are usually powered by magnetic induction, the same principle that drives the operation of household transformers. An alternating current in the reader coil induces a current in the tag's antenna coil, allowing charge to be stored in a capacitor, which then can be used to power the tag electronics. Information in the tag is sent back to the reader by loading the tag's coil in a changing pattern over time, which affects the current being drawn by the reader coil--a process called load modulation. To recover the identity of the tag, the reader simply decodes the change in current as a varying potential developed across a series resistance.
Unlike a transformer, the coils of a reader and a tag are separated in space, and coupling between the coils can occur only where the magnetic field lines of the reader coil intersect with the tag coil, the near field region (see figure 3). Beyond this distance the energy breaks away from the antenna as propagating waves that we call a radio signal; this is known as the far field region. The boundary of the near field and far field is governed by the frequency of the alternating current and is approximately limited to a distance of c/2pf; for example, at 13.56 MHz used by the ISO 15693 and 14443 standards, this distance is 3.6 meters, but at 915 MHz, used by EPCglobal, the range of the reader if based on near field coupling would be limited to six centimeters, reducing its usefulness.
Click for Figure
Note that even at the lower frequency it is not guaranteed a reader/tag pair will be able to exchange data up to the c/2pf distance. Unfortunately, the magnetic field strength also falls off fairly rapidly, proportional to a 1/d3 factor, where d is the distance from the center of the reader coil to the tag. If the field strength is too weak at a given distance, it will not be possible to provide the tag with the energy it needs to switch on. This effect can be mitigated by increasing the size of the reader coil and the tag coil, but for handheld readers and tags attached to small objects, there are obvious limitations. In practice, at 13.56 MHz, most systems operate with a range between 1 and 30 cm, considerably shorter than the near field limit.
To circumvent the range problem at higher frequencies, a different principle is used to build tags operating at frequencies above 100 MHz--namely, electromagnetic capture. The technique involves the use of electromagnetic waves that propagate from the antenna in the far field region to power the tag.
A high-frequency tag operates much as an old-fashioned crystal-set radio, which requires no battery because it is able to capture enough energy from the received signal. Because the tag is operating beyond the near field, however, data cannot be sent back to the reader using load modulation; instead, radio frequency backscatter must be used: the tag electronics changes the impedance of the antenna, reflecting back some of the incident RF energy to the reader (figure 4). The reader, using a sensitive receiver, decodes the ID of the tag from the pattern of reflections, expressed as a varying amplitude in the received signal. For far field communication, the energy delivered to the tag follows an inverse square law, and the return signal another inverse square law. Thus, the transmit power is attenuated by a 1/d4 law even before considering operational inefficiencies, where d is the separation of the tag and reader--a very rapid decline indeed, but the system can be made to work over a distance of three to four meters.
Click for Figure
Modern high-frequency tags, like the microprocessors in PCs, are beneficiaries of Moore's law. The laws of physics dictate the amount of energy that a reader can transmit to an RFID tag. The amount of energy required to power a digital circuit clocking at a particular frequency, however, has been falling annually as a result of advances in silicon technology that have le
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Mind the gap...
Moving Forward
EXTENDING RFID APPLICATIONS: SENSORS, SECURITY, AND MEMORY
RFID provides a data transport mechanism between a tag and a reader, which can be extended to provide greater utility than returning a simple identification number. The three important extensions of electronic tagging are: sensing the environment, security, and electronic memory.
Sensors
The addition of a physical sensor to a tag has been an important development, providing the capability for a storeowner to learn something about the conditions a product has experienced in the past, at the time its tag is interrogated. Consider a frozen chicken that is being transported to a store. If the refrigeration of the transporter truck fails on the road, the chicken may well begin to defrost and potentially be contaminated by bacterial growth. By incorporating a temperature-sensitive material into the tag, and electronics that can detect a change in its state (e.g., its electrical resistance might permanently increase), it is possible to determine which of the chickens could be contaminated. Not only is the customer protected in this situation, but some of the product might also be saved if the sensors show critical temperatures were not exceeded, perhaps in a more insulated part of the truck. In this case, it is also a win for the meat company and the retail stores. KSW-Microtec in Germany produces an RFID tag called TempSens that is based on these principles and is being trialed by a European pharmaceutical company.
Security
Packaging of modern products is frequently associated with tamper-protecting mechanisms to alert a customer if a product has been opened between the factory and time of purchase. In this way, consumers can be warned that something may have been removed from the package, or more seriously, that the product may have been deliberately contaminated. By combining RFID with a switch--perhaps a simple wire attached to the tag and the packaging that is broken when the product is opened--a tag can indicate the suspicious conditions when read at the time of purchase. If the same tagged product has been interrogated earlier by other readers, the read times can be used to determine roughly when the product was tampered with, perhaps leading to the apprehension of the perpetrator. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recommended that RFID be considered for the protection of pharmaceutical products.
Memory
Stable storage, in the form of a read/write memory based on EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), is a relatively straightforward addition to an electronic tag, without any need to modify its encapsulation. Sensor tags, by contrast, require additional components that are not easily integrated, and the encapsulation needs to be carefully redesigned to accommodate them. Adding user-programmable memory to a tag opens up many new possibilities for its use. It can be used to store information that remains associated with a tagged product without the need for factories, shipping companies, retail stores, and customers to share a common database to find information about its history. For example, if a car's VIN (vehicle identification number) were stored in an RFID tag, the name of each owner of the car could be stored alongside it, providing an ownership record over the lifetime of the car; it remains with the car and cannot easily be lost. Service information could be stored in a similar way, and independent garages would be able to find out about any prior service history to help guide their work. Read/write RFID tags are available from many companies including Philips, Texas Instruments TIRIS, and Gemplus; however, there are no standards in place that advise a customer how this memory should be used.
ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED WITH RFID
Given everything you have read so far, you may have been led to believe that apart from cost, the remaining technical issues for RFID are all solved. A number of issues, however, still present a challenge: tag orientation, r
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Issues
Reader Coordination and Signal Processing
Most RFID readers are not designed to operate in the presence of another reader that is also scanning for tags. To date, this has not been a significant problem, as RFID has been in limited deployment without much opportunity for readers to interfere with each other. As electronic tags become more common, however, readers will be deployed on a larger scale, effectively garbling the data for systems in proximity to each other. This problem will become particularly serious if many mobile hand-readers are in use within close range of each other. Standards will be needed to define a protocol to allow these systems to share the available bandwidth, perhaps based on a wireless CSMA (carrier sense multiple access) protocol. ISO is addressing these issues, but details are beyond the scope of this article.
Further, improvements can be made when interpreting the tag signals received at the reader, intelligently filtering out noise. Application of advanced data-coding techniques in the tag electronics may also improve noise immunity and allow some multitag signal collisions to be separated and interpreted correctly. This may require more costly signal processing in the reader, but the benefits of greater accuracy will eventually lead to acceptance by a larger market and will drive the cost back down again.
Product Packaging Independence
In contrast to RFID, bar codes can be printed on a label and still be readable independent of the contents of the product or packaging. RFID, on the other hand, can be disrupted by materials in the product itself. Because tags use tuned RF circuits to receive interrogation signals, it is possible to detune or attenuate the signals if placed next to certain types of packaging. Ferrous metals are some of the worst offenders--RFID and canned foods are not a good combination. This problem is a challenging one, as the most obvious solution is to change the packaging material, but clearly some products do not have economic alternatives to metal, or metallized packaging, particularly where robustness and airtight storage is required. It will be interesting to see if the popular use of RFID eventually has an effect on the materials used for industrial packaging, or if material science can provide a material to isolate the effect of a product on a tag.
Multiple Standards
As noted earlier, several frequencies and standards have been used for RFID tagging solutions--for example, the popular ISO 14443 standard that operates at 13.56 MHz, the EPCglobal (96-bit) 915-MHz standard, and several others. In an ideal world, industry would adopt one standard; however, there are cost trade-offs, national frequency use restrictions, and politics that keep several of these active in their own commercial domain. For example, while Wal-Mart is considering adoption of the EPCglobal standard, Nokia (the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world) is about to release a cellphone that incorporates an RFID reader based on the ISO 14443 standard. The combination allows callers to scan posters and stickers that contain an embedded tag and buy the depicted products with the charge appearing automatically on their next phone bill. A solution to this standardization problem is to build readers that can operate using multiple standards, perhaps automatically searching for tags across a number of frequency bands using a suite of protocols, and be programmable, allowing them to adjust to national frequency restrictions.
Data Formats
Although the data format returned by read-only tags is defined by standards, the writable tags provide flash memory that customers can use in a proprietary way. There are potential benefits to standardizing the way data is represented here, perhaps allowing information to be shared or passed among independent organizations as it moves through a supply chain. For example, a product might move from the factory by road, air, and then road again to a warehouse in a foreign country, and finally
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printf("Goodbye cruel world!\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b");
OK, so bug zappers and phone towers interfer with this little beasties.... what about the humble microwave ? If I "nuke" a couple of these tags - will they stick work ? or will they get supped-up and transmit the data even further ? :\
Can just see the "hand held rfid tag" destroyers being sold....mmmm...for personal privacy use only - yeah right.
From the article,
In fact, various forms of crude RFID have been used since World War II.
What I think he is refering to but failing to mention by name is the aircraft friend or foe reflector. A tuned cavity was placed on an air craft that would reflect a radar signal many times inside the cavity then emit it back. This delay produced a second reflection to a radar scan. If the shadow image of the plane was on the display, it was a Friend. If it was absent, it was a Foe. It was known as a FOF transponder. (Friend Or Foe)
It has been upgraded to return the plane identification.
The truth shall set you free!
Speaking of which, does anyone know where to find that vid of whomever making a joke about BillyG making ctrl+alt+del famous?
And I thought they worked by Magic !!
Redundancy check completed !
I can't figure out who actually submitted this story, but it seems the summary was "written" by gManZboy and the Article was written by Edward Grossman or gMan. Is this a shameless self promotion of a website? I can't find this guy as a user on slashdot either. Clicking on his name just takes me to the site. Did Hemos just find this on the net and think it was interesting? Anyone know?
I tried for 5 years to come up with a clever sig...only to realize that I am not clever.
You and the tinfoil-hat crowd will all get these jammers, and when you get to the checkout, you will likely disrupt all the item scanners within a 10 ft. radius. Meanwhile, it takes all the register-jokeys 15 minutes to sort out th problem, and I have to spend 15 minutes longer at the jumbo-mart than I had to.
If you're paranoid that the FBI is tracking you and your chiuaua, then start microwaving all your jeans at home, or go live in a cabin for all I care. But please *do not* inconvience me while I am already stressed out at the till, or you may end up with an ass whooping.
I hopethey outlaw these things in public places. It is a trivial matter to wipe any RFIDs on things you buy once you get home (most would likely get nuked during the wash anyways - do you have any idea how much static electricity your dryer makes?), so "tracking you" is hardly a goal of this crap.
Ooo! A store can track my purchases up to 10 feet beyond their door! Wow! I better call Secret Squirrel for some countermeasure tips!
And of course it had the old idea of an ubergovernment plan of having sensors in every toilet seat and lamp post so that they can track how often I change my underwear.
Honestly, people... The X-Files is over, and our government can't keep Chechnyan rebels from crossing in from Mexico. They can't even prevent the vast waste and fraud perpetrated by the uneducated masses against the various money giveaway programs.
So they're suddenly get their act together and implement a shiny, sparkly supersensor array in order to track which communist manifesto you bought this week down at the Chairman Meow Bookshop/Animal Companion Emporium?
Regardless of how much a retailer's internal facility might disrupt their ability to monitor me, I still plan on getting one of RSA's RFID jammers when they're out.
Huh. Interesting. Do any descendants of P. T. Barnum work at RSA? I think you'd be better served by an orgone energy accumulator.
--- Ban humanity.
Intel must be desperate to sell their RFID equipment. No mention of the real disadvantages and threats of RFID in the article. You might want to check this out: http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/ and http://www.spychips.com
Don't forget to check the roll of tinfoil before building your hat, just in case they put an RFID tag in the sheet!!!
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
It's truly fascinating to hear about your scatological fixation on an IT website. FYI, a floating turd is generally an indication of too much fat in your diet.
I'd love to have them embedded in my books, DVDs, and so forth so I could get an inventory and stop buying the same books over and over again because I can't remember which ones i own.. :(
http://www.hawknest.com/
ive never been out of the country
That much is obvious. I'm pretty sure you never went further than the state line...
RFID has so many uses, but we all know it's ultimate purpose is to be used as the Mark of the Beast as soon as the Antichrist appears.
You first heard it from me.
Real programmers can write assembly code in any language. -- Larry Wall
For those interested in the design at a more in-depth level, you might want to take a look at the RFID HANDBOOK by Klaus Finkenzeller, published by Wiley, 1999 and reprinted in 2001. Also, ATMEL and Microchip(? I'm not in the lab.) have evaluation kits for a few hundred dollars.
For instance, I was intrigued to find out how the tags (which are generally battery-free) can absorb enough energy from RFID readers to then power up and transmit their own signal back to the reader."
I don't mean to be argumentative, but are you serious? This was the first time you had heard about this? I thought this was the fundamental feature for RFID--the idea that the tag doesn't require any kind of battery or other external power supply.
It scares me that on a technical site like slashdot the submitter is much more likely to know every privacy concern about RFID, yet know very little about the underlying technology. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? When did "Your rights online" trump technical information on slashdot?
Nuking a tag in the microwave will break it. Running it through your electric dryer will likely break it due to static buildup. So none of your clothes have working tags, you buy a wallet maybe once every 2-3 years - so what are they "tracking you" with?!?! The TV that sits in your house 24/7 and emits so much RF that it can attract air search+rescue?
This is why all these privacy nuts are just uninformed wackos.
For a complete developers guide you can check EM Microelectronic-Marin SA Application Note
However for and introduction, check Wikipedia, or if you just want to start play with it, take a look at some RFID readers.
Look here. Here's the infamous cream pie episode as well.
Isn't that the idea? If the technology can be disrupted to the extent that it undermines its value to the implementor, they might be inclined to scale it back or not use it at all.
Meanwhile, take a couple of xanax and shop someplace else besides Wal Mart.
The passive devices that power up and send back data have nothing on the crystal radios that were used during the 1930's and 1940's. With nothing but an antenna a few feet or yards long,a semiconductor(crystal) and earphones, it was possible to receive enough power to hear radio stations. The so called "Fox Hole Radio" of World War II used a pin made of tin and to contact a "Blue Blade" razor to make the crystal. This simple setup received enough power from the antenna to give audible power to the earphones. I duplicated this years later but used a 1N34 germanium crystal. (And no, you don't need a tuning circuit if you have one strong signal and the others are weak.) The blue blade razors were out of production before I knew that they could be used.
Don't forget to check the roll of tinfoil before building your hat, just in case they put an RFID tag in the sheet!!!
That's no joke. Check out "the world's smallest RFID"
I was intrigued to find out how the tags (which are generally battery-free) can absorb enough energy from RFID readers to then power up and transmit their own signal back to the reader."
The high frequency tags don't actually transmit. They change the impedance of their antenna to modulate the reflection back to the transmitter.
Another problem the article didn't mention is that bags lined with aluminum or copper foil will thwart these systems.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
Enough said.
"But please *do not* inconvience me while I am already stressed out at the till,"
What the f*ck do I care about your stress level. Just die and stop being so...so... annoying.
"or you may end up with an ass whooping."
Its so cute when geeks threaten.
The only ass whooping that will happen around you is when you go to Federal "Pound You In The Ass" Prison.
Now stop bothering people and go away.
One thing conspicuously absent from the promotional websites is the cost of these things (the readers, not the tags). Anyone have a link or firsthand experience with how much an RFID setup would actually cost? I work in a large law office, and being able to keep track of where files are would save us a lot of time.
OTOH, can anyone point out the potential downside to using such a system?
The most interesting thing that I learned was that most all RFID tags have a 128 byte "user data" buffer than can be read or written by ANY RFID gate. (Ie: you can put an RFID interface on your laptop and query the tags and change the "user data" portion on them.)
Obviously, this means that any application that is sensitive to tampering should only use the hard-coded serial numbers, not the "user data" area... but history has told us how well people stick to "common sense" security practices in their implementations.
His paper and the Linux tool that allows you to query and change the data are located here: http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-media-archives/bh- archives-2004.html (scroll down to Lukas Grunwald under "Layer 0".
Wouldn't it be fairly easy to jam all the tags within a couple hundred meters with a transmitter at the (in)appropriate freq and power?
what about anti-theft devices? You know, the plastic tag things on clothing, or stickers with spiral circuits in bookstores/libraries, that set off the alarms on exiting?
Those have been around for quite a while, and you might consider them RF tags too, right?
Speaking of those, how do those stickers work? Do they generate some kind of signature back-EMF in the detection coils? I've always wondered this -- and how is it they can be activated, deactivated, repeatedly? (like for a library)
did you notice that recent slashdot articles are going to great lengthes to get us to RTFA?
:P
i refuse!
I own a pump action golf ball cannon. I made it myself.
It's magic.
-Arthur C. Clarke
Before this we had swipe cards. Now all we have to do is walk up to the door and the door reader will go beep and open the lock.
I have been trying to open it up to take a look but it's complete sealed. I have been told it's water proof, heat proof and so on. It's labelled by a company called Sonitrol. Their website is at http://www.sonitrol.com/ but it doesn't show any actual products.
The article states, that metal containers (say, a can of coke) and RFID tags don't match well. Is this really true? What if the RFID tag's antenna connects to the metal? Wouldn't the metal become a bigger antenna, thus increasing the range?
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Don't think commies (although they can be blamed for anything:). Think marketing and muggers. As you walk around town you'll get a marketing profile from all the RFID tags delivered to everyplace you go. Problem is, you won't be able to stop this kind of targeted marketing because your clothing will be tagless - and you don't want to cut a hole in your brand new pants. Heck I'm wearing a tagless tshirt like that right now.
I don't know about you, but I'm pretty anti-marketing myself. The idea of "minority report" style marketing makes me want to puke. The idea that someone not only knows the manufacturer and model of my shirt, but whether or not I'm wearing boxers or briefs gives me the ebee-jeebies. It would also give muggers a priceless resource for picking victims. It wont take very long for public databases of RFID tags to manufactureres to start appearing. A few RFID scanners for the public are also already available.
10 feet is plenty of space on most streets, restaraunts or bars to find out if someone is worth mugging. Even more if people start making out of spec scanners that put out more power to get a stronger (longer range) return signal. Now, all that being said, I'm not oppposed to RFID at all, I think it has excellent potential. The problem is that RFID tags are being expressly designed directly into future products to prevent you from removing a tag without damaging or destroying the product.
The more things change, the more they stay the same http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_bug
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
Hate do be a bug, but please mod the parent down. Site is performing fine, so no need to post here.
... used by Exxon (and called Speedpass), I can tell you that they are pretty cool in technology... and yet lame at the same time.
Yes, it is true, there is a blast of energy (usually at a really low wave length - around 100Khz to 180Khz - they aren't very well tuned despite the lit).
For the paranoid, chewing gum wrappers do a good job of blocking them. Actually, a lot of tinted windshields do a good job as well (they tend to contain metal, typically iron from what I am told).
Interference is a big factor with these guys. A noisy engine (spark plugs badly gapped?) can cause problems. But the end result was that the company bought it.
Do I fear the use of it? Not really. But at the same time I don't like them used without my permission. As any device that is used to "track", it needs to have my consent.
That said, they are kinda' cool.
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
Yah, but the transmitters are not clean (how the eff do they get them through FCC?). They splatter around their set frequency. Really a freakin mess.
-The energy sent BACK is very weak. So you really don't need much to block it. White noise around 125 Khz should be enough. Or, as I mentioned before, chewing gum wrapper. Take your pick.
-Random codes won't do it. Sorry, but there IS a check (pretty pitiful, but there is one) and if the checksum don't match, nothing goes through. Nothing gets stuffed. Most readers use 8051 or something lightweight. If it doesn't pass first base, it doesn't go no where.
-Pliers work real good at breaking them. Easier than EMP (which might be noticed). They also break pretty easily on their own.
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
I wasn't. That was a joke. I thought "Chairman Meow" sort of tagged it as such. That was the name of a cat P. J. O'Rourke once owned, BTW.
10 feet is plenty of space on most streets, restaraunts or bars to find out if someone is worth mugging.
I just don't think anyone is going to bother. Common criminals have lots to go high tech with now, and the most sophisticated thing they tend to use is a cell phone. Lead pipes and boomsticks are still the tools of choice. There are plenty of tried and true ways to evaluate a target.
Purse snatchers roaming the streets with high tech scanner bling just sounds like so much cyberpunk feverdreaming. The bright but misguided street punk only exists in moovies and William Gibson novels. I used to do some work in college that brought me into contact with lots of these people. They are not the hacking type, unless you mean the hacking coughs from years of biochemical self abuse.
The truly sophisticated criminals have bigger fish to fry than what they can get from a mugging or from seeing if I'm wearing fancy, high-end BVDs.
The idea that someone not only knows the manufacturer and model of my shirt, but whether or not I'm wearing boxers or briefs gives me the ebee-jeebies.
See I just don't get that. Who cares? I think it's bizarrely egotistical that you expect someone to care.
Unless you are wearing undies not intended for your gender?
Oh, my, I think we have struck upon the problem. ;-)
--- Ban humanity.
I hope this isn't to far off topic.
I wonder what the long term effects for RFID under the skin would be, anyone seen anything on this?
With that kind of focus of energy consistently in one area...well hmmm.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Also, a longstanding dream of mine is the wireless light switch. It could signal back its state to to an EM transponder in each room. Light switches would then be affixed to walls with blu-tack or whatever. This sounds kind of geeky, but perhaps it would be cheaper than re-wiring a wall? Would this work?
http://shit.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/26/1 348251
Here I am, thinking with all this doom and gloom RFID fear tinfoil-hat nonsense on slashdot any time the subject comes up, that everyone is already WELL educated on the subject. So much so that posting this article would be redundant...
A lesson for you people: it's not the end of the world.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
There is nothing wrong with the technology. RFID is going to do nothing except streamline the ordering/warehousing/shipping/purchasing process for companies, reducing their costs, and reducing your costs at the checkout counter.
No one wants to track shit all with it once it leaves the store. Do you really think Wal-mart is going to share its RFID database with Target so that Target will know what you bought there when you walk in? No - so how the hell is anyone going to track anyone with it?
Answer - they arent. The databases will not be shared, even if they were, once the stuff runs through the dryer it is fried anyways. RFID is useless for tracking anything. Privacy nuts be damned.
Just because it's from a company named Matrics (e.g. the Matrix), which was founded by two NSA scientists, bought by the Carlyle Group (8/01), and recently sold to Symbol Technology, doesn't mean it's evil...nor does the fact it looks like a swatiska. It's all coincidence. Besides, the RFID chip is the newest VIP trend!
f ullres/RO_DD_General_Plastic_Tag.jpg
http://www.matrics.com/images/lvl2/products/tags/
Fact 1 - Tags in your Passport or drivers license have absolutely *NOTHING* to do with tags at retailers.
Fact 2 - If you are SO WORRIED about a tag in your passport, nuke it for 30 seconds. Same with everything else you just described. If it is against the law to do so, I woudl suggest writing your congressperson/governor rather than ranting like a lunatic on slashdot, it will do much more good.
"I just don't think anyone is going to bother. Common criminals have lots to go high tech with now, and the most sophisticated thing they tend to use is a cell phone. Lead pipes and boomsticks are still the tools of choice. There are plenty of tried and true ways to evaluate a target."
They use more than that. Read the November issue of Popular Science. Page 88.
An AC (not me) made the observation that the Mark of the Beast was in reference to time, not an actual physical mark. Remember numbers play an important role in the biblical texts.
Here is a news released on Oct-13
"A computer chip that is implanted under the skin won U.S. approval on Wednesday for use in helping doctors quickly access a patient's medical history.
The VeriChip, sold by Applied Digital Solutions Inc., is placed in the upper arm in a painless procedure that takes minutes, the company said."
Wow, are you really that clueless? You sound like the perfect target for marketers: you'll believe what they say without question.
Who says only stores can detect your RFID's? Anybody will be able to buy a reader. That means anywhere you go, you can be identified remotely, and all your posessions you are carrying/wearing can be identified without your knowledge.
Maybe you don't care if people know you're carrying a $3000 laptop and wearing a $600 Rolex and $1000 shoes. Maybe you don't even care that they can identify _who you are_ by what you are carrying. Sure as hell lots of other people DO care.
It's such a short leap to other illegitimate uses for RFID's that I can't believe you are so blind as to not see them. Think about it, and do some more reading.
Thats strange. Most dieticians will say a fluffy floatie indicates a good level of fibre in your diet. ie, its a good thing. OTOH fat does float...
A clean chord is a happy chord...
Once again....
a) Any clothing item's RFIDs would be zapped in the dryer, or when you rub your feet on the carpet and make a spark, or a billion other potential ways.
b) Any criminals/paranoids can zap any potentiall still-working tags using a common microwave, so their value as a re-entry tracer is ***USELESS***.
c) The tags are not going to be sewn into the clothes for christ sake. You think that see-through blouse your GF owns can have a tag with metal in it without it itching her? Or even the shirt you are wearing? The tags will likely be affixed to the clothing tag with some kind of permanant fastener that will be removed at checkout, just like existing anti-shoplifting devices. Only difference is that these devices help in inventory and warehousing in addition to shoplifting.
c)
[bunch of tired old stale strawman arguments snipped]
It's such a short leap to other illegitimate uses for RFID's that I can't believe you are so blind as to not see them.
OK, dumbass from the fifth level of Hell, let's get this straight. I said I didn't think street criminal would BOTHER with this stuff. That was my whole point: they CAN, but WILL they?
And your examples prove my point. They don't need an RFID reader to tell if I have a $3000 laptop, $600 Rolex or $1000 shoes. They can use that old school, old tech appraoch of using their friggin' eyes! Street hoods are not dscriminating "shoppers" looking to optimize their "purchases".
Think about it, and do some more reading.
No, tiny brained loser with a very small penis, actually, I think it's you who needs to read more, if only to brush up on your comprehension. Of course that would require you to peel the tinfoil back from your eyes.
OK, I done with you. You may go back to cowering in your lead lined basement listening to your shortwave radio for signs of the End Times.
--- Ban humanity.
Well here is my little conspiracy theory... First its RFID tags on food because it makes sense. Then pets because we don't want to lose them, because we love them. Then criminals because we want to be safe. All of this total common sense. Then we should tag hospital patients because it makes sense, helps make sure they get the right treatment. Then perhaps we should tag any known terrorist with some form of device... then tag everyone, have a one world economy, cashless society where we all pay electronically by just swiping our hand - because we all know credit cards are too easily stolen or lost. It makes sense. Well while we are at it, we should probably have one world government as well.. with social security numbers linked to our Microsoft Sender Id.. perhaps Bill Gates could be our president. It all makes sense... Except maybe the bit about Bill Gates :D
http://hoboe.net/in.php?in=hools
iSnack 2.0 - Download it now to your iToast 9.0
Learn to have a sensible argument and you may just cease being such a big loser.