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You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID

An anonymous reader writes "A story at the Boston Globe covers extensive privacy abuses involving RFID." From the article: "Why is this so scary? Because so many of us pay for our purchases with credit or debit cards, which contain our names, addresses, and other sensitive information. Now imagine a store with RFID chips embedded in every product. At checkout time, the digital code in each item is associated with our credit card data. From now on, that particular pair of shoes or carton of cigarettes is associated with you. Even if you throw them away, the RFID chips will survive. Indeed, Albrecht and McIntyre learned that the phone company BellSouth Corp. had applied for a patent on a system for scanning RFID tags in trash, and using the data to study the shopping patterns of individual consumers." I think they may be going a little overboard with their stance, but it's always interesting to talk about.

35 of 509 comments (clear)

  1. The course of action here is obvious... by raehl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Patent tin-foil garbage bags.

    1. Re:The course of action here is obvious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Stick with aluminum foil, as the paranoid community has much more confidence in the anti-psychotronic properties of aluminum.

  2. Re:Just put them in your microwave by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Except, if you want to buy something with cash, you have to carry that cash around with you, which means risking it being taken violently from you by a displaced New Orleans resident. It's quite a conundrum.

  3. You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID... by laejoh · · Score: 0, Funny

    You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID...

    ...but it helps?

  4. Are you out of your mind????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't you realise this is essential to stop terrorism????? Think of the children for a change instead of these stupid "rights" or whatever they're called.

  5. Physical counteraction by ettlz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Surely this is nothing a drill*/pair of scissors/giving up smoking/strong high-frequency magnetic field couldn't solve. After all, it's your RFID chip. So destroy it!

    *You probably shouldn't try this if the chip is on a condom.

  6. Re:Just put them in your microwave by Joakim+A · · Score: 5, Funny

    > How do oyu microwave your brand new microwave?
    Simple, buy a new micro that fits inside your old one.

    > Will the DVD you just bought be playable or writable?
    I doubt that the micro can do either.

  7. Yeah, rivetting subject... by richy+freeway · · Score: 5, Funny
    but it's always interesting to talk about.

    I think you may be confusing RFID with womens beach volleyball.

  8. Re:Just put them in your microwave by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 5, Funny
    How do you microwave your brand new microwave?

    Or, as the Roman poet Juvenal might have said, Quis microwavet ipsos microwaves?

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  9. Condoms?!? by binaryDigit · · Score: 4, Funny

    *You probably shouldn't try this if the chip is on a condom.

    Duh, just wait until after your done with it ;)

    Actually, now that I think about it, I could see an interesting market for personal rfid scanners. You can sell it to women to take on first (or 2nd or 3rd) dates and it can scan for the product id's for condoms. That way they can catch a bit of a glimpse of what types of intentions (or hopes, or in the case of most /.'ers, dreams) their date has :)

    1. Re:Condoms?!? by ettlz · · Score: 2, Funny
      Duh, just wait until after your done with it ;)

      Easier said than done. Even if I could be bothered, in a post-coital daze, to get out my Black & Decker and mangle the chip, the resulting noise and mess would hose the mood something proper. And as for waiting until morning and rummaging through the bin — no way!

  10. I can see it now... by Joakim+A · · Score: 1, Funny

    Dressed like a bum, walking down fifth avenue transmitting RFID codes of the latest Armani and YSL apparel using the new RFID addon to my PDA.. You are so pwned! or something..

  11. Oh, the irony by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Funny

    Indeed, Albrecht and McIntyre learned that the phone company BellSouth Corp. had applied for a patent on a system for scanning RFID tags in trash, and using the data to study the shopping patterns of individual consumers.

    I seem to remember that, back in the day, a large portion of the information used in phone phreaking was gathered through dumpster diving for internal manuals at Ma Bell. I guess turnabout really is fair play.

  12. No way! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That would infringe on my patent for tin-foil panchos!

  13. Re:Mistaken Identity! by patio11 · · Score: 5, Funny
    >>It will take days if not weeks to prove they got the wrong person !!!>>

    Crimety, you're right! If only people would carry their name and photo on a little piece of plastic inside their wallet, with a copy of the same information backed up on a network law enforcement had access to, then we wouldn't have to wait a week to prove our identities! We could just show the card!

  14. Ehh... by mkirsten · · Score: 2, Funny
    So here's another business idea:

    The RFID-shredder®, "Increasing the entropy since 2006"

  15. Re:but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Don't worry, you are. We monitor your paranoia level 24/7 and will inform you through our "special circuit" when we detect that your paranoia level is dropping. Plus, although its not part of our "investigation", all of us here feel you aren't wiping your bum properly.

  16. Re:DMCA voilation?? by Hammer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can't be DMCA violation. You are making it HARDER to decrypt :-)

  17. Re:You don't have to be paranoid - but it helps by FidelCatsro · · Score: 4, Funny

    On the plus side , RFID does not involve Tom Cruise

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  18. Re:Just put them in your microwave by advocate_one · · Score: 2, Funny
    If you are really paranoid, you can test each coin for conductivity in several places using a simple home-built device {a store-bought AVO may have been rigged}

    wow... and I thought I was being paranoid...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  19. Re:Question for those engenieers in the room... by LordFnord · · Score: 1, Funny
    > How can one be shure that there isn't a NSA designed ship in that shoe you just bought?

    I have just cut my shoes into little pieces with a pair of scissors and a Stanley knife. I can categorically state there is no chip in there, NSA-designed or otherwise.

    BTW, does anyone know a good shoe shop? I need to buy a new pair.

  20. Dating fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Female: Is that an RFID chip in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?
    Female removes an RFID scanner from her bag and scans man's pants.
    Female: Oh. I see.

  21. Re:Just put them in your microwave by gutnor · · Score: 2, Funny

    In my city (EU) we need to sort the different waste in different bags for recycling. ( You can be fined if you don't do it properly - crap is a serious matter here )

    The future will be exiting,
    1. Paper is the blue bag
    2. Glass Bottle must be brought back to the shop.
    3. cans and plastic in the Blue Bag
    4. Black bag for other waste ...
    and now, after sorting all this, think about EMP the bag.

    Total time 1 Man-day a week to manage the dirt ... if you are lucky enough to be single.
    If not and you have 2 children and a cat, you may be thinking hiring a project manager.

  22. The best way to fight high-tech is with low-tech by pushf+popf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nobody has ever developed an RFID chip that's mallet-resistant,

    And if you have way too much time on your hands, you can swap them with your friends and neighbors for hours of fun and enjoyment.

  23. No EULA = stolen jacket by smose · · Score: 2, Funny
    If only people would carry their name and photo on a little piece of plastic inside their wallet...

    ...then you'd get busted for wearing a stolen jacket. Until you re-register the jacket in your own name, and pay the applicable licensing fee, you aren't allowed to wear it.

    Waiter! A tin foil hat for my friend, here. No, no, I insist. My treat.

  24. Re:Mistaken Identity! by mateomiguel · · Score: 2, Funny
    If only people would carry their name and photo on a little piece of plastic inside their wallet, with a copy of the same information backed up on a network law enforcement had access to, then we wouldn't have to wait a week to prove our identities! We could just show the card!
    What a GREAT idea! Don't tell any criminals though. Those bad people might try to make fake versions of these cards, and then the police might stop trusting them! Good thing no criminals read slashdot or they might profit from my extensive imagination.
  25. Re:Just put them in your microwave by Ryosen · · Score: 4, Funny

    $20 in dollar coins creates a lump in your pocket and weighs you down, swinging and bumping against your leg.

    That's just great. One more lump in my pocket to feel inadequate about.

    --

    Ryosen
    One man's "Troll, +1" is another man's "Insightful, +1".
  26. Re:Just put them in your microwave by CreatureComfort · · Score: 2, Funny

    you have 2 children and a cat,
    I thought the reason you had kids was for them to this kinda stuff. I envision a future where, as in the past large families were a benefit for getting the farm work done, large families will be a benefit to getting all the technological/recycling/etc. work done.

    --
    "Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
    Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
  27. Re:Ubiquity by the+bluebrain · · Score: 2, Funny

    Damn. Every time I aim for "maximum cynicism / paranoia", someone comes along and trumps me :)

    --
    yes, we have no bananas
  28. Re:The best way to fight high-tech is with low-tec by HungWeiLo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine swapping RFID chips from various underwear vendors with your next-door neighbors.

    Hilarity ensues from these outlyers of the marketing data.

    --
    There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
  29. Re:Just put them in your microwave by dajak · · Score: 2, Funny

    1. Paper is the blue bag
    2. Glass Bottle must be brought back to the shop.
    3. cans and plastic in the Blue Bag
    4. Black bag for other waste ...
    and now, after sorting all this, think about EMP the bag.


    That's not the way! I will give an example. Proper procedure of disposing of a tea bag with embedded RFID tag:

    1. the bag and the label go in the paper container (blue in your case);
    2. the tea goes into the green container;
    3. the rope goes into the textiles container at the supermarket;
    4. the metal staple goes with scrap metal, to be taken to the municipal garbage sorting center;
    5. the rfid tag goes into the small chemical garbage container at the supermarket.

    This is assuming that separating scrap metal (?) from an RFID chip would be as difficult as separating the plastic, paper, and metal in tetrapak (which goes into the general purpose grey container, and btw happens to be a great water proof, light weight, and heat isolating building material).

    There is an even better alternative.

    Technically speaking the shops in the EU are required to take old electronics back when you buy a replacement, so you can also save up the tea bags and give them to the cashier when you buy a new box of tea bags. You can get rid of all of your garbage with RFID chips in this convenient way, and inconvenience the manufacturers at the same time without any extra effort!

    If not and you have 2 children and a cat, you may be thinking hiring a project manager.

    I do think you need to hire someone who knows what he is doing, if you don't mind me saying it.

  30. Re:Generally, who cares? by Jardine · · Score: 3, Funny

    I know you don't sit in your yard guarding your trash all day.

    Maybe you don't.

  31. Re:Just put them in your microwave by thesqlizer · · Score: 2, Funny
    There's also shredding. :-\

    Though as another poster points out, what about things that are particularly large? Finding the RFID tag in a new pair of boots may be tough--to say nothing of that new bookshelf.

    The new slogan of the RFID age:
    "Some things are priceless. For everything else, there's cash."
  32. Re:Some things you might want to keep private. by DaveJay · · Score: 2, Funny

    There's no way to know WHEN you used a condom....

    Unless each one were individually tagged. Next morning out goes the garbage with a couple of condoms in it. But never mind that. Purchasing records show Tom Jones picking up a 10-pack of Trojans on the way home from work on Monday. Friday night he purchases another. That alone tells us a hell of a lot about Tom's sex life, even if we don't know exactly when each condom did duty.


    Even better, Tom is married, and never buys condoms -- except when he travels for business once a month. That tells us a LOT, eh? And you can already find that out if he buys with a credit card. Presumably Tom is smarter than that, but you never know. I personally always buy my extramarital-affair condoms in cash, and discard the receipt immedia-- what, honey? Oh, no, just typing on the computer, nothing speciNO DON'T LOOK WAI~=$#

  33. BION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    >> Will the DVD you just bought be playable or writable?
    >I doubt that the micro can do either.

    Believe it or not - with manufacturing costs so high these days most electrical devices are made from the same standard circuit board.

    For instance Panasonic's NN-T995SF microwave oven can be converted into their TH-42PWD7UY plasma television with just 3 resistors, some Saran Wrap, and a 60 watt light bulb.

    I can not think of a microwave that will easily play dvds, but it would have to come with a rotisserie attachment.