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RFID: The Next Internet?
An anonymous reader writes "RFID Journal has an artricle about how an open source foundation is creating a new Internet based on RFID tags. 'The founders [RadioActive Foundation] liken the EPCglobal Network as a whole to the Internet, with RFID tags acting as URLs, and the tags' associated data being the Web site for that tag . The software the foundation develops, Michael Mealling adds, will act similarly to an Internet search engine. With Discovery Service software, for example, companies will be able to search for an RFID tag without requiring connected links between each point of the tag's travels.' Pretty neat concept, probably decades away."
Hasn't this sort of thing been tried before and failed miserably?
... who thought of this?
RFID can't "displace" or become "the next internet" anymore than barcodes can. RFID tags have no computation ability, no networking capabilities...
;^)
RFID tags, at the lowest level emit a pre-programmed number when activated by RF energy (the resonate, if you will).
There is a Dummies Guide on RFID - I expect it to be a big seller among the tin foil hat crowd
Ken
Unless you have a scanner in your home and connect it to their network, I don't see why it would.
Basically, this is a new level of inventory and shipment tracking. The company is overhyping it with their analogy to the internet, and it seems to be impressing people in the opposite direction from the intended.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
From what I read we are talking about tracking them during the supply chain. However it appears to me that is the design goal. There doesn't seem to be a problem with putting a 'reader device' elseware. And with the technology based on Internet standards, as long as there is a CAT5 jack nearby you could store the info.
Here are some excerpts from the security section of the white paper:
" When EPC tags pass through EPC readers throughout the supply chain, the only information collected is the EPC identification and the time, date, and location of the read. (If advanced functionality like a temperature sensor is also on the tag, this information can also be collected.)"
" Thus, the EPC tag, in and of itself, does not communicate meaningful information. All information associated with EPC number is found in the EPCglobal Network and is only accessible to authorized users behind firewalls, encoding and other security measures. (Security regarding access to network information is discussed below.)"
" The majority of consumers today and for the foreseeable future will only come in direct contact with EPC tags if they are buying cases of goods at a retailer who is pilot testing the EPCglobal Network. It will take some time before item level tagging is implemented on a large scale and thus consumer contact with EPC tags will remain limited until that point. This provides the necessary time to properly analyze any perceived privacy risks associated with EPC tagged objects in the consumer's possession and develop the appropriate strategies for addressing those concerns. With interest in RFID and EPC technology growing across industry, this timeframe could change rapidly."
For those trying to understand the EPCglobal Network from those media reports here's the easy primer:
The EPCglobal Network is just a set of usage conventions for existing Internet standards and infrastructure for accessing data about the Electronic Product Code (EPC). RFID tags that adhere to the EPCglobal standards for tag encoding contain EPCs. The standard bar code that's been in use for decades is a degenerative case of an EPC.
The usage conventions include a way of turning that EPC into a domain-name (in much the same way that the ENUM standard provides a way of turning a telephone number into a domain-name). From that point on its really just TCP/IP, HTTP, XML, Web Services, and standard security mechanisms we all know and work with every day.
Yes, there is a large amount of incorrect terminology in that article. Anyone that has talked to a reporter about technical stuff knows that there's no telling what you're going to get on the other end. Suffice it to say, this isn't QueCat, it isn't a "new Internet", and it isn't about reading RFID tags from a distance. The stuff the Foundation is building is useful even if RFID tags were never deployed since it also works with bar codes.