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RFID Production to Increase 25 fold by 2010
Luke PiWalker writes "The number of RFID tags produced worldwide is expected to increase more than 25 fold between 2005 and 2010, reaching 33 billion, according to market research company In-Stat. Total production of RFID tags in 2005 reached more than 1.3 billion, according to a recent report. RFID production will vary widely by industry segment for several years -- for example, RFID has been used in automotive keys since 1991, with 150 million units now in use, a quantity that greatly exceeded other segments until recently, according to In-Stat. "By far the biggest RFID segment in coming years will be supply chain management," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst, in a statement. "This segment will account for the largest number of tags/labels from 2005 through 2010." RFID has obvious privacy flaws, why is the world pointed in the direction of RFID?"
that I got in early and made my duct-tape / tinfoil wallet already.
I can't help thinking that the average person is still pretty clueless about RFID tags and will still be even when there are 25x as many! Will understanding of RFID tags be similar to that of browser cookies? Will the security implications be blown out of proportion in a similar way? Don't get me wrong, I'm all about computer security, but cookies hardly scare me, and so far, RFID tags don't scare me too much. The counter solution should be pretty simple - get an RFID scanner so you know if there are any 'hidden' ones about.
Whoever Has the Most Toys Wins!
The first half of this quote concerns pallets in a warehouse, something with no conceivable privacy implications of any kind. The second half of this quite asks how anyone could approve of this given its "obvious privacy flaws".
Uhhhhhhh... right.
So let's say I buy a pair of shoes with an RFID tag in them and I don't like this. Never mind I haven't heard of a single shoe manufacturer proposing to do this, let's just say it happens. All I should have to do is run the shoes through the microwave and the RFID tag should fry, right?
"RFID has obvious privacy flaws, why is the world pointed in the direction of RFID?"
Yeah, because that crate of 300 rubber chickens from Shanghai really needs "privacy" as it makes its way from Dock 42 in Seattle to some anonymous Wal-Mart stockroom in Piedmont, Arizona.
The annoying thing is that when they come for me, there will be plenty of people left to speak up for me, but nobody will be listening. Quit crying "wolf" over every meme that exits the blogosphere, fer Pete's sake.
... the world sucks?
RFID my Shiny Metal Ass!!!
Warrantless wiretapping, anti-anonymity laws, calls for heavier regulation of pre-pay cell phone purchases, video cameras on street corners, "free speech zones" where they ask you to show ID.
RFID is going in the same direction as the rest of the world, which is away from individual privacy vis-a-vis the state and vis-a-vis the large, "trustworthy" corporation
It will be interesting to see if this drives down the cost of RFID keys for cars (as mentioned in the article). Right now, Chrysler wants a couple hundred bucks for a copy of the key to each of my cars. I cant just head to Walmart and get myself a fifty cent copy.
No bull shit check out these guys putting rfid in cows. Looks like they check the cows health and if she is in heat!
And that's just because most beople can't afford A real EMP shock generator
-- javaDragon is an instance of JavaDragon.
Perhaps once it becomes standard that pretty much everything is tagged with RFID, maybe I'll be able to use Google House to find that sock I lost a year ago! I know it's here somewhere...
I wonder if there will be specialty companies that guarantee their products are RFID free. Their shipping containers may use them, since they are the next step for inventory control. But what of smaller companies that would make or sell clothing with no imbedded RFIDs, which are of course all of our concerns?
Just like there is 'hemp' clothing that seems to be bought as a stand against "The Man", does anyone see 'RDID-free' as a growing market? And if so, how long until they are bought out by the large corporations, and tags start going in?
I have to stop wasting so much time reading Slashdot. It's interfering with my crystal meth addiction.
To bring a newbie up to speed, the front page post states that "RFID has obvious privacy flaws, why is the world pointed in the direction of RFID?"
From what I understand, the only real privacy protection from RFID's is that the corporations self-police themselves.. which is unlikely. I'm curious if other alternative solutions out there to RFID that can provide a similar service?
Oh dear; what an alarmist post.
Yes, granted, RFID does have some privacy implications when applied in P.O.S. applications, hospitals and such like.
However, AFAIK, by far and above the largest use is in automotive security, logistics and workflow handling. Boxes dont care if people know whats in them, but it sure as shit makes the warehouse easier to manage if your robot/forklift knows what is in those boxes and automagically tracks stock in and out. Even walmart would still use RFID even if they weren't allowed to use it on stock in shop, because the would still use it for shipment and bulk stock management.
Most of the increased use of RFID will still remain back office, in factories, warehouses and other transit points. Put your tinfoil hats away.
*IF* the article discussed governments planning to RFID tag humans behind the left ear, then, perhaps, we would have a major issue.
However, the small number of privacy impacting cases aside, RFID is an incredibly flexible technology. In factory workflow planning, it allows us to remove human error from data logging. The workstation AUTOMATICALLY presents you with the correct fittings for component G because it knows you are assembling component G and not component W. Barcodes dont even come close.
The inventory management system knows what stock levels you have in the Finished Goods Inventory (FGI) because it has scanned the RFID bearing kanban's as the goods were loaded into the FGI racks.
Even if EVERY SINGLE application which impacted privacy was disallowed and canned; RFID use would still exponentially increase as people replace laser based barcode systems with RFID because it is more reliable (in a maintenance sense), easier and ultimately cheaper. Furthermore, it allows for far more efficient automated handling systems to be designed because you no longer have the limitation that every box needs to be in a direct line of sight for the scanner.
So, perhaps, just perhaps, the increased use of RFID *MIGHT* be in aid of improving the efficiency of the manufacturing and logistics industry and *NOT* to track where you take your pr0n. Considering how much whining about offshoring goes on here, you would think productivity technologies might get a better hearing.
Ah well. Just my Engineers $0.02 AUD
err!
jak.
A Walmart was struck with an EMP weapon by terrorist. All RFID tags were wiped out causing chaos. No longer able to track customers purchases the marketing department has applied for disaster relief funds. The White House responded and FEMA was on the scene within the hour to help in the replacement of the lost tags. The President stated that allowing the customers to go untracked was a major victory for the terrorist and the situation must be resolved as quickly as possible. Haliburton is expected to deliver the new tags before the store opens tomorrow. The 50 billion dollar RFID tag replacement program was considered a bargin given the potential loss to the Walmart marketing department.
No sig, sorry.
I'm a regular poster here, who - ironically enough - is going AC for this post to preserve my privacy.
"...why is the world pointed in the direction of RFID?"
Because it is a labor-saving device.
I own a bookstore. It is the largest independant bookstore in a 3+ million city in the US. Shelving books and keeping track of them is one of my biggest expenses in terms of labor. And it is boring labor. The employees gnerally find it the most unpleasant part of the job aside from cleaning the toilets.
I can't wait to be able to do inventory by just walking along the isle with a scanner. It will save me many thousands of dollars every year. And the employees will be happier.
I don't want to intrude on your privacy. I'd be quite happy if RFIDs work only in my store and not in your home. But I'm going to use them because they make my life easier and they will save my money.
Right.. Sure... and where are they gonna find the http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/ 18/1623244copper for all these RFID tag antennas?!
25 fold and 25 times are not the same thing! how could this not be noticed? has slashdot gone that downhill? for the moronic: fold comes from the idea of folding, for example, a piece of paper, you fold it once you have 2, twice you have 4, 3 times you have 8 sections...fold is exponential...duh
Do you decline to use your badge to open the building door at work?
Is it only a violation of privacy when it's used in supply chain management?
Flash memory is to SanDisk as RFID technology is to ______?
I dont know if you guys have heard of this, but they've invented a device that allows a person to see through walls. Pretty soon everyone's going to have one, and it will be the end of privacy. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when anyone can look in your house whenever they want? It let's you see through walls...They're calling it a "window"
NJ Local Music Scene
Only N^GSouth Korean Generals need to RFID-tag their troops.
They didn't have this problem in Soviet Russia. In Soviet Russia, troops tagged you.
Because they handily solve so many pressing problems? Don't blame the technology for its misuse, that's the fault of people. Stores can deactivate RFID tags just as they remove the current crop of anti-theft devices. If they don't, don't shop there!
33 billion RFID tags huh? TFA indicates the vast majority of these will be used in warehouse tracking and similar tasks in a few technologically aware industries. 33 billion ~= 6 tags for every man woman and child on this planet, 80% of whom will never come within 10^6 times scanning distance of one in their entire life. This is Global News? In a week when James Lovelock is warning us that Gaia is ready to cough up those industries that make and use RFID tags, along with the 4 billion innocent non-users...
Laugh now, but if everything you buy has an RFID in it, why wouldn't you want a Google House type search?
:)
Load Google House into your house's HAL9000, plug your floor plan into it, put sensors in appropriate spots, and bingo!
Where are my keys? Ah, I see they are on the wall hook, not on the table. Where's the remote? X marks the spot. Did junior take my playboy and hide it under his bed *again*? Atta boy - guess I'll just buy another copy.
Because Walmart (the other evil empire) is demanding it, and what Walmart wants Walmart gets...
RFIDs are not barcodes. They contain enough data to uniquely identify not only every item on the shelf, but every instance of that item. This is the difference between a 12-digit UPC and a 512-byte passive RFID.
If a sale is made, and you pay with an identifying method, such as a credit or debit card, or even a supermarket affinity card, that particular item is now linked to your identity. This is why the increased data capacity of RFIDs is meaningful.
And, of course, this means that if a major metropolitan area decides to put RFID readers in its lamp posts, it can track the movements of its citizens--not all, but enough of them--by the RFIDs in their pants as they walk by.
But you think this is no more dangerous than a barcode?
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
There are advantages to RFID microchips. It can make it easier for stores to scan items at checkout and do inventory. It could help you find lost items easier (using a reader and walking around with it). However, there needs to be legislation to prevent privacy abuse. Maybe make it illegal for stores to retain the data once the item is scanned out of their store.
From http://www.spychips.com/ - just one of many examples:
. html for details.
Q: Is it true there are plans to put RFID chips in Euro banknotes?
A: Hitachi has been working with the European Central Bank on the idea of putting RFID chips into Euro banknotes. This would eliminate the anonymity of cash by making it trackable. In essence, it would "register" your cash to you when you get it from the teller or take it out of the ATM. Euro banknotes could be RFID tagged as early as 2005. See: "Euro Notes May be Radio Tagged" at http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t295-s2135074,00
Taken from http://www.spychips.com/blog/index.html :
There are two glass encapsulated RFID tags pictured above. One is intended for human flesh, the other for the scruff of your pet's neck. Which is which?
Answer: The chip pictured at the top is VeriChip's VeriMed chip that former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson would like to see implanted in all Americans. Directly below the human chip is the animal chip marketed by Schering-Plough under the "Home Again" brand name.
There's no visible difference between the chips. They look the same, and they're both manufactured by subsidiaries of VeriChip's parent company Applied Digital Solutions. The whitish substance on the end of the chips is an anti-migration coating called "biobond" that encourages tissue growth so the chip doesn't move around inside of the animial--human, feline, or canine.
There is a technical difference between the chips that you wouldn't see with the naked eye. The pet chip contains a 9-digit number while the human chip contains a 16-digit number. I asked VeriChip spokesman John Procter why the human version contained 16-digits. His reply: "flexibility." He said the company wanted to ensure there would be enough unique numbers available for all the people it envisions chipping. Yikes!
Note: The VeriChip corporation tries to ease consumer fears by referring to the chip as being "about the size of a grain of rice." The rice in the photo above is long-grain rice--the longest grain I could find in my pantry. As you can see, the VeriChip is much larger.
Awesome post ..Thank you! Wish I had mod points for you.
:)
I do think your tin foil hat loses some luster though given your informed and rational stance on RFID technology/privacy. You're making WAY too much sense to be in the foil 'hood anymore.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
"RFID: a pathway to your soul?
Retail consultant Kevin Coupe of MorningNewsBeat tells us the average American household spends $1,500 a week on necessities -- along with a whole lot of useless junk. (My paraphrase.) When you combine all those households, American Demographics reports that Americans spend more each week than the entire annual gross domestic product of Finland. That's a lot of spending.
Kevin Coupe thinks it's great, since "this level of spending has helped to keep the U.S. economy relatively healthy" (though he acknowledges that much of the spending is done on credit cards, contributing to our crushing debt load). He also praises the skyrocketing growth of the U.S. population as "another healthy sign." (Hey! Yeah! Let's make more consumers! Then Americans can consume every last thing on the planet!) But the real jaw-dropper is this advice he gives to marketers about the bloated spenders. In addition to capturing their money, Coupe suggests going straight for their souls.
He writes:
These are our customers. Understanding them is the first step in serving them. And that means understanding them in fundamental ways... It means going beyond demographics.... Demographics is the study of what makes people the same. Psychographics is the study of what makes them different, and ultimately, we believe, is a better tool for figuring out a pathway into consumers' souls.
Our souls? We'll charitably assume he didn't really mean that. But RFID coupled with our personal data would be the ultimate marketing tool. Coupe explains:
We've become a culture that is able to generate enormous data on almost every customer we have....It is time for the knowledge-based retailer to serve the knowledge-based society. Some technologies, such as RFID, will make this easier...(Think of the powerful, knowledge-based marketing engine that Wal-Mart will have once its RFID efforts really get traction, and it owns banks and can issue credit cards/smart cards to its customers.)
Yes, indeed. I think of the "powerful, knowledge-based marketing engine" now gaining traction every day. But do we really want Wal-Mart owning banks and tracking people around the store with spychipped credit cards? And more importantly, do we really want them having an RFID pathway into our souls?"
From http://www.spychips.com/blog/index.html
RFID has obvious privacy flaws, why is the world pointed in the direction of RFID?
Since when have companies ever gave a flip about maintianing the average person's privacy? The fact you have to opt-out of policies that share information most consumers would obviously rather keep private is proof enough.
As a person who is forced to carry around an ID with RFID implemented into it, I can say this sucks. I go to an international school in Beijing, and to get any food at all, you need what they call a "smart card" which is basically just an ID card with your picture on it but it has RFID implemented into it. School policy is you can't pay straight-up cash for food which is really annoying seeing that everything you purchase via your smart card is logged. My parents can just go to the web interface and look at what I've been eating or whatever.
Now this isn't RFID's fault, the same thing could be possible with using magnetic stripes, but it's policy and the logging of things that's the privacy invasion. RFID just makes things easier for those wanting to get your log your information and stuff. All I have to say is, get the duct tape RFID blocking wallets now! ^_^
And a model no. + serial no. DOESN'T uniquely identify an instance of an item somehow? Bought a laptop lately? Check the serial no. on the back, it will almost certainly be unique to that laptop.
But that's not the same sort of problem. My laptop's serial number is not encoded in any discernible way in my system's software (I wiped the bundled software when I got it); if I walk down the street, my movements cannot be tracked by it. When the laptop is turned off and sitting in its briefcase, it is nontrivial to read its serial number.
There is no real feasible way to do the orwellian thing with RFID in consumer products without some ridiculously huge database and infrastructure as well as cooperation between millions of seperate stores, govt, competing producers etc etc.
My point is that the ridiculously huge database you hand-wave away already exists. Consider a receipt from my local Wal-Mart. It has a unique number on it, so that they can, if I return something, pull up the record of the transaction. This transaction, if I used a credit or debit card, has my name on it. Currently, serial numbers are not on this transaction record, because it would be difficult to put them on it; they're not on the barcodes. However, moving to RFIDs would make it trivial to do so. Thus, we have a link between the consumer and the purchased item.
If you recall, the TIA program was to fuse government and commercial databases. The idea isn't so far-fetched.
The same FUD was spread when barcode readers and credit cards came into play.
When the government starts trying to implant an RFID chip in my neck and IS installing readers in every lampost I'll be one of the first to freak out and make a big fuss, but untill then I'm gunna go ahead and be content with accepting RFID for what it is; another useful technology making life easier and the world more efficient.
I'd say it'd be a bit late at that point.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
If many items will contain RFIDs it will pose a design challenge: how to isolate 'yours' from the rest? I can already see the problem in London Underground: the Oyster card (stored value travel card) is RFID based, but if you have another RFID card in the same holder (like my ID badge) it fails until you take the two apart.
;-).
In this case it's easy to separate the two, but what if you don't even know you've been 'wired' with RFIDs in other articles? On the bright side, it at least means that you can use a London Underground scanner to check (it will tell you if it scans a code by stating that that code 'is not registered'
Now expand that to world + dog having RFIDs all over - you will be required to scann all the tags you find, and then match that whole collection against your 'own' list. Enter next problem: the volume of tags you need to match, and what you should do with a mismatch. Say you use it for access control: does the wrong tag mean someone's trying to break the system?
At leats privacy isn't that much of an issue as long as they truly randomise the numbering.
Given what I've seen of late of privacy violations (usually in the name of "fighting terrorism") I don't hold out much hope there either, so overall it really looks like the next Bad Idea heading your way. Combine that with DRM and you'll see we have a nice time coming for technology risk management. It might be worth retraining as a lawyer - they'll be laughing all the way to the bank on this (and, IMHO, rightly so, it's not like most technical people haven't been flagging these problems for years).
But when you ask someone else for change, it screws up the whole system. Probably stores won't keep track of what bills they hand you either.
..........FULL STOP.
RFID tags maybe the privacy issue but whats really going to matter are readers. Do we have any idea where and how readers will be installed? How fast is RFID reader technology developing? In the coming years readers are going to become much cheaper and have longer ranges and processing power. Worse (or better) these things will start to be networked, I can imagine by 2010 most mobile phones will have built RFID support, security cameras will probably have them fitted too, many building entrances and exits, computers, laptops, and some of these things will have pretty decent ranges or will be able to interact with other readers to get better signals.
This technology is too useful for people to ignore, for example you could have an RFID fire safety system that monitors which tags (just random things such as clothes) enter a building and which tags leave, if there's a fire there will be an instant count of who's in the building and even where, privacy issues will just be put aside because this is about saving lives.
In London this week the police used the travel log of a murdered lawyer to trace his stolen RFID ticket on the tube, this will be completely normal in 5 years, again privacy issues will be put aside because this is about solving murders and rapes.
You're not going to have a choice in RFID, everyone else will ignore the privacy issues forcing you to comply, any job you get will want you to carry an RFID card, if you want to travel you'll need an RFID ticket, if you use money it will have RFID in it, unless you pry it out of everything you buy you're pretty much certain to have at least one RFID tag on your person at all times within the next 5 years.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
It wouldn't work. By then, Orwell would be spinning around so fast that the EM field from his gravesite would jam all radio frequency bands.
May the Maths Be with you!
Oh no, short-ranged RFID recievers could be used to follow people around! like ... you know ... cameras, and car license plates, and the friggin' human eyeball.
There are plenty of very real "civil rights" issues to take up, so why do the civil liberties groups waste so much of their time and effort crowing about some imagined concept of "privacy"?
James P. Barrett
Haha, just caught during the preview that I misunderstood your entire statement because of an its/it's error (cf. the CmdrTaco PMS debaucle yesterday). (PMS here being used colloquially, and without subconscious desire to keep women from posts in government and of importance.)
Here's what I wrote in reply to my understanding of your grammatically incorrect post:
**
To call it misuse is moronic. It's a word that's been with us for thousands of years, and that at a time wouldn't have had a written definition, but would have been an intuitive and implicit sort of thing.
The Swedes, to celebrate someone, may shout "Ett fyrfaldigt leve" ("A four-fold cheer*"). They then shout "Hurra!" ("Hooray") four times. "Fyrfaldigt" could be replaced with "Trefaldigt", and they would shout three times. (Not sixteen and eight, respectively.) -faldigt here means fold.
This in itself constitutes no unrefutable proof against your strong belief that this is a wrong usage of the word. I would just like to point out that languages change over time, and that frozen expressions are just frozen forms of ordinary language. Even today, who's to say that the fold in fourfold should mean the number of flat sections in what's folded? Good question to ask oneself in these matters of linguistic precision: "Do I define it this way so I can be right and others wrong?"
*) "cheer" is not the correct translation, as "leve" in this context would be a contraction of "må han leva" ("may he live"), må/may being a formulaic subjunctive expressing a desire for the rest of the sentence to happen.
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/wiki/RFID-Zappe r(EN)
We will lose privacy anyway. Its also information and it will get out when there is enough technology. The good thing is that the tracking technology will also get cheaper which will make the authorities without privacy. We will have the most open government not when the government will open themselves to you, but when they cannot hide from you. You may think that the government is more powerful than the people, but the people have more eyes and given enough eyes and enough interest no secret will be a secret as technology improves. You don't need the tinfoil hat the government will need it.
Anyone know of a generic RFID-detector device? Perhaps this might be a good idea to
sell, so that one could sweep belongings and RFID-Zap the ones that don't need RFID after purchase.
RFID has obvious privacy flaws, why is the world pointed in the direction of RFID?" Destiny.
This has been another valuable and informative opinion from:
Catahoula!
The report from In-state (table of contents) costs $3k. And they don't accept Paypal.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Without RFID, your situation would just completely sack.
Sorry!
'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
Amen Brother! How about these leeches get off their lazy backsides and do something useful for the U.S. of A., like corrupting politicians! Seems to be a few openings for those positions coming up. Now get to work you lazy bums!!!
In the scope of modern technologies, I fail to grap how RFID is going to impact our privacy any more than other things we currently use almost daily (credit cards, air miles, debit... ). RFID tags generally store a number, that's it. An RFID reader reading that number has absolutely not idea what that number signifies without access to some kind of back end database.
The idea that RFID id will allow some kind of brand new breakthrough in how stores track you is absurd for a few reasons. First off, they can already track what you buy by doing something like linking a hash of your credit card number with every purchase you've ever made. The second idea brought up is they would be able to track how you use that product (which is equally absurd). RFID readers for passive tags have a high read rate up to about 10 feet. So then is an open-ish concept store going to blanket it's 10000 sq. ft. floor space with $3000 RFID readers? The ROI for that kind of a system is pathetically low. Not to mention that to get these decent reads the passive tag has to be about the size of a credit card.
People bring up that there are passive RFID tags that are so small that they could be embedded in just about anything. This is true, but I counter with the fact that the read range on these passive tags is a few millimetres-centimetres. So if you a product with these hidden RFID tags, businesses won't be able to get even the unique ID unless they're basically rubbing it with an antenna. Doubt me? Think about physics for a second. A common frequency for RFID is ~900MHz; antennas tend to read the best at either 1/4 wavelength, or 5/8 wavelength. We'll go with 1/4 since it will allow the smallest antenna. 1/4 wavelength for 900MHz is 8 metres. Passive tag antennas are much shorter than this, so they don't do the best job of radiating power back. A millimetre tag will do a much much much worse job at it, infact it will mostly just be seen as interference by the signal.
Secondly, in response to privacy concerns the EPC has put into its RFID Gen 2 spec that tags can be self destructing. What's the big concern since the tag will be able to destroy itself as soon as you leave the store?
Oh, a lesson in history from Mr. I'm my own grandpa.
for the same reason manufacturing is moving to China: WAL-MART
ASFAIK- Wal-Mart is the primary push behind RFID and they making suppliers foot the bill.
It starts out with an RFID tag on each Pallet, once that works out
Then it moves to an RFID tag on each Box, once that works out
Then it moves to an RFID tag on each ITEM
As others have pointed out, the goal is to make inventory more efficient, but as a multi-millionaire business owner friend of mine pointed out to me, the PRIMARY goal for Wal-Mart is to Eliminate Jobs.
Anyone who has read Fast Food Nation knows this is also the goal behind places like McDonalds.
If they could just be giant vending machines, they would.
I like microcars
There are about 6 billion people on earth.
The forecast is for 33 B RFID tags made per year in 2010.
Everyone's concern is that these tags are intended to be stuck on people - hence all the privacy concerns. Privacy this, privacy that. If these were being made for people that would be about 5 per person each year. After a few years, you would have one for each ear, two piercing your nose and several taped to your side.
The actual use will be driven by retailers and logistics companies (ok really just Walmart). They will help track the flow of products through their supply chains and hence further reduce costs. Nothing to be afraid of and not a privacy issue.
For privacy you can worry more about:
a- cell phones
b- cookies
c- sniffers
d- surveillance cameras
e- wire tapping
f- e-cash
g- all of your credit cards
The easiest solution is to buy some Antarctic property and wait for global warming to kick in.
Hunger is the best sauce.
Does anyone care to propose a solution? How about this:
Limit RFID technology implanted in commercially available goods to a read distance of, say, 12 inches, and a mandatory lifespan of tags to 6 months, *or* require that tags be removed or disabled when the transaction is complete. The industry still gets useful technology, and we get our privacy.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Much of the RFID hype is based on the demands of Walmart and to a lesser extent Target and Albertsons. When the mandates first hit the industry there were vendors springing up everywhere "educating" manufacturers about this revolutionary technology. In the last 12-20 months that has changed alot. The initial RFID trials were quite disasterous with virtually all suppliers spending a minimal investment on a compliance-only solution. Suppliers did not buy into the "promise" of RFID. The manufacturers realize that RFID has no pay back other than staying in business with the big retailers. So they setup a conveyor with a RFID encode/apply machine on it and they break pallets down, RFID tag the cases, then repalletize just as the pallets go in the outbound trucks. Its termed "slap-and-ship" now. RFID cannot read internal cases on most pallet loads. It doesn't stand a chance if the product contains water or metal. 2-20% of all RFID tags are DOA. Even the big retailers have scaled back and slowed down their roll-outs. RFID will only be sucessful if big retailers force suppliers into compliance in a situation where there is no payback for the supplier. It just like the retailers telling suppliers to drop a quater in every case of goods that they purchase and by the way, we are not going to pay you any more for it.
Aside from manufacturers, who is going to making money with RFID, and how?
I see very little demand for RFID consulting, will that change?
CompTIA has a new RFID+ certification. I can't see that be useful for anything more than a $15/hour installer.
Whether this is a major issue is for you to decide, but don't kid yourself--as this becomes more ubiquitous, you'll be lit up like a Christmas tree, 24x7x365...
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Let's suppose you own a small company, you have 10 employees. A new technology comes that will cost you $2000 a year, and will eliminate the need for two of your employees; and save you $80K a year. Do you use that technology?
IMO: you would be a fool not to. If you don't use that technology, you can better believe your competitors will. And those competitors will operate more efficiently, and thereby put you right out of business - thereby eliminating the jobs for all of your employees - and you too.
I remember reading an article here a while back that Wal-Mart was testing use of RFID tags in some stores? Is this a nationwide thing now?
Let's suppose you own a small company, you have 10 employees.
Wal-Mart is a major source of your income and they demand you start using a new technology (like RFID...), but you have to pay all the R&D costs for implementing this technology AND you can't pass the costs on to your customers in the form of slightly higher prices.
(Wal-Mart makes you LOWER prices each year, you can't raise them or you don't do business with them...)
Your competitors that can afford to absorb the cost will do so, those that cannot may have to close up shop.
Or, instead of closing shop you may end up eliminating 2 employees simply to stay open.
Net gain for the small business: -2 employees, no extra income
Implementing RFID is saving WAL-MART money and allowing WAL-MART to eliminate jobs.
They call the shots now, not the suppliers.
I don't disagree with your comments about using technology to make money while eliminating jobs, its just that the market has changed now. The tail wags the dog.
I like microcars
Are you even paying attention? My MAC address is not inherently connected to my name or identity by a massive process such as the Wal-Mart receipt and credit/debit card database. My MAC address is not readably by the nearest lamppost as I walk down the street. My MAC address isn't even readable by anyone who's not on my local network segment.
How is this in any fashion comparable?
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Cash is already trackable: http://www.wheresgeorge.com.
All U.S. bills have serial numbers; I imagine Euro notes do as well. On U.S. bills, they're printed prominently in bright green type with nothing* behind them. Looks pretty OCR-friendly to me. You wouldn't even need any extra time -- a scanner-equipped ATM could scan each bill's serial number as it dispensed it.
RFID in cash should not be a primary target in the battle for privacy.
(* Well, actually, the newer-style U.S. $10 and up do have an image behind the serial number, and so do euro notes, but since the image is relatively faint, and is the same on each bill, it should be a minor hurdle. More troublesome would be old, worn-out bills.)