Slashdot Mirror
Your Garbage Can Could Be Spying On You
macs4all writes "Garbage cans all over England are under surveillance tonight. And not by sleepy, fallible humans. This article in Live Science claims that at least 500,000 'wheelie bins' are now using RFID technology." Though that doesn't sound very dire, the article points out the ease with which your consumer spending habits could be tracked. "Although this is frankly a story that is difficult to take seriously, please note the following. You should remember that many of the articles you buy (and sooner or later throw away) are now also equipped with passive RFID tags that detail the item's brand name and product name. If it's possible to scan the tag on the trash can with an ID, it's possible to use similar equipment to quickly scan your can to uncover your purchasing habits."
This isn't some big brother scare. the councils are seeing if most of their trash is coming from a few households. Some people in the UK recycle, some don't, and to be honest its about time we took the whole issue of throwing so much stuff away seriously. the UK is a small crowded place, that's running out of landfill sites rapidly.
I recycle whatever I can, and I'm quite happy for the local council to look into charging a tax for people who can't be bothered to do so.
Remember folks, microwave your unmentionables before throwing them out in the trash. While you're at it, buy a new microwave and save the old one for this type of purpose. I figure 30 seconds in the microwave will make sure the RFID chip cannot be read.
People will simply fill the bins up to the non-chargeable limit and then throw the rest out at street corners on their way to work. I can see a good market developing for pedal bins that weigh your rubbish and tell you when you reach the limit. Or a new practical joke of putting bricks on your neighbours bin.
While the paranoïac among you see this as a potential invasion of privacy, I see this as an easy way for the city to have me pay taxes only on what I put in the bin.
The process is simple. The trucks come over, put the container on a scale, scan the RFID automagically, empty the bin, voila. If it's empty, I don't pay. /kg
The net result for me is that I get to pay:
32 € per year
+11 € for the container rent per year.
+1.60 € for each time my bin is not empty
+0.16 €
Which is way less than I used to pay before.
Plus, I get to dispose of my glass stuff in containers accessible all around the city for free.
I get to dispose of my plastic and metallic (soda cans, tins, etc.) in special bags for free.
I get to dispose of 3 cubic meters (106 cubic feet) of other stuff (grass, leaves, dirt, sofa, planks, etc.) for free
The RFID on my trashbins are thus an easy way for the city to make those who dispose of more stuff pay more, which is as it should be.
I have yet to see the trash guys peek inside my stuff...
Cool system IMO...
One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence
There are several cities here in the Netherlands that already have such a system in operation. Indeed, the cans are weighed and identified by number, and the total amount used to calculate the waste disposal bill.
It is not a bad thing, in principle. I would not know why a family with 3 babies that fills two cans a week would have to pay the same as an individual who does not even have a full can after 3 weeks. Differentiation of payment makes people more aware about what they do.
However, there are problems due to antisocial behaviour. What is frequently seen in those areas, is that people dump their waste in other people's cans when they have been put outside. Also, people take garbage from their home to their work place, and dump it there, especially when such a system is not yet implemented in the area where they work.
One would expect such problems to disappear over time (especially when the system is widely implemented).
I think it was that dreadful UK tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, which created this "your bin is bugged" hysteria last week. They stirred up lots of fear and doubt by using terms like "bug" to describe something that is just a serial number. I bet if the new bins had a bar code, nobody would care less. Instead the media is making out that this RFID chip can somehow directly spy on what you are throwing away.3 767.0.whats_bugging_you.php have jumped on the Mails fear-mongering bandwagon and are doing that all too common trick... publish over-the-top scare stories one day, then run a 2nd story with feedback from 'horrified readers' the next. A sure sign of media hype.
In my town, local newspapers like the Daily Echo http://www.thisisbournemouth.co.uk/display.var.90
But what baffles me with this situation is the tabloid press in the UK say very little about the real privacy issues of the day.... the ID card scheme, this new national database of childrens details, DRM seeping into our products and purchases. But garbage containers that have a number - oh the horror! Jeez!
Ok just one more thing... I know RFID tags are not liked by slashdot. I'm no fan of them either. Making bins identifiable is a step towards a new form of non-recycled refuge taxation. I don't think thats a bad thing if it causes people to recycle more. But these new taxes tend to be on top of existing taxes. So its not like we'd get a local tax offset first. This angle is generating concern as represented by the public feedback. But the mdeia spin on the capabilities of the technology amaze me. Though it if makes the ID card scheme falter, its a good thing.
Why do "they" have to have access to your credit card?
Maybe "they" are a bunch of thieves driving around with an amped up & tweaked out RFID reader and "they" are looking for tags with a high dollar value attached to them. Actually, a garbage truck would make a good base of operations.
My point really has nothing to do with RFIDed garbage bins, only that pervasive RFID tagging is going to be a problem without judicious use of the kill switch.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
One might, but in the UK, councils began charging businesses for the depositing of commercial waste in land-fill sites, a few years ago.
The result has been an explosion in the cases of fly-tipping: innocent land-owners - those who own a piece of open land - and it can be anything from a building site to grassland to a carpark - have refuse tipped on their land, and then face a huge bill to clear up the rubbish. If the landowner fails to clear it up, the council can, and does, apply a court order forcing them to clear it up, at their own cost - and if they fail to do so, the council will clear it up themselves and send the land-owner the bill!
In some cases, fly-tipping will even occur on land that is supposedly secure - fenced off - and the fly-tippers will even cut through padlocks to open gates to land where they can offload their waste.
The reason for this is that it's very lucrative to the fly-tippers - who undercut the council's charges (and don't generally care about the exact nature of the rubbish - hazardous chemicals, medical waste, etc.) and very good business sense for the businesses who use fly-tippers.
Charging people for the disposal of waste discourages them from using the service and leads people to seek other cheaper or no-cost ways of ridding themselves of their rubbish.
If the scheme outlined in the news-story is implemented, domestic waste will join the massive problem that commercial waste fly-tipping is causing here in the UK. Neighbour's bins will be used, public areas, parks, skips, anything to get out of paying.
The solution? For commercial waste - slap a blanket charge on every business that is likely to use the service that they pay along with their rates/taxes, and can't get out of - it becomes pointless for them to avoid using the official land-fill. For residential waste - stick with the system we have now - a service charge via the grossly unfair and unjust council tax.
-Blue
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
-b.
I have been following this as I live in the area where these bins are being used. This news story is from the same area:
Go to Gaol, do not pass Go, do not tamper with the chips.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006400511,00 .html
I know it's The Sun but it has been in other local papers too.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.