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Ten Best, Worst, and Craziest Uses of RFID

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the track-this dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This top 10 rounds up what it calls 'the best, worst and craziest' uses of RFID out there — including chipped kids at Legoland, smart pub tables that let you order drinks, smartcards for sports fans, and chipped airline passengers. The craziest use of the tech surely has to be RFID chips for Marks & Spencer suits — you couldn't pay most people to wear one of them."

10 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. "tagging beta" by dwandy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I get the first tag on this article, but what's "beta" got to do with RFID?

    --
    If you think imaginary property and real property are the same, when does your house become public domain?
  2. chipped kids? Ok by rucs_hack · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a parent I have to say that having my child chipped at an amusement park is just fine.

    I get scared every time I take my child to a fair or any other public gathering. I constantly watch him to ensure he's no more then ten feet away from me. I know that there are people who prowl such places on the lookout for unnattended children. paranoid? Perhaps, but I'd far rather be paranoid then the father of a dead child. No amount of paranoia is too much in such situations, so far as I'm concerned.

    If a chip meant his location could be tracked constantly I'd feel a lot happier. It's not likely that I'd lose sight of him, but I can say with absolute certainty that if I did *any* means of locating him would be acceptable.

    1. Re:chipped kids? Ok by travail_jgd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are two things to keep in mind:

      1. If the security system can detect the chip, so can the bad guys.

      2. RFID tags can be duplicated

      I don't have a problem with the way you're parenting -- it's your job to keep an eye on your child! The problem I have is with the parents who assume the magical tracker will work just like in the movies, and ignore their kids. (But when something bad happens, it's never their fault.)

    2. Re:chipped kids? Ok by DrSkwid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How a 10m proximity device would track his location constantly is a mystery to me.

      If he's being kidnapped, the napper would be aware that there is a very small window of opportunity to remove the child from the park before he's noticed missing, this window is made wider by your "it's ok he's been tagged, he'll turn up" mentality.

      And that window doesn't need to be very wide at all

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s16726 04.htm

      --
      There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
    3. Re:chipped kids? Ok by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Funny

      As a parent I have to say that having my child chipped at an amusement park is just fine.

      As a non-parent who does not like kids and avoids them when I can, I'm just fine with your kid being chipped, too. The only addition I'd make is the ability to deliver a small electrical shock when they are being annoying, or "precious" as their parents descirbe it.

      Cold hearted? Yes.

    4. Re:chipped kids? Ok by iamdrscience · · Score: 5, Funny
      paedophiles don't need rfid to locate a lone child, just reasonable observation skills.
      You are, of course, ignoring the boost this technology will give to blind pedophiles.
  3. RFID as a social-changing technology by Lord+Satri · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's often a confusion between passive and active tags, which have different types of uses and different capabilities, read about it on wikipedia. Additionally, Slashgeo (yup, plug) has a section on RFID tags.

    From TA: "RFID has also made an appearance in the army to try and reduce casualties from 'friendly fire' incidents." ... let's not forget the actual range limitation of most RFID tags.

    Yes, RFID is one of the geospatial technology which will have a significant impact on our lives. The "100% organic matter RFID chip developed in Korea, costing only 0.5 cents" kind of headlines will only be seen more often in the near future.

    --
    Animoog.org
  4. footraces? EZ Pass toll gadgets? by JoeBackward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you enter a footrace you'll get a passive RFID tag to tangle in your shoelaces. This thing lets the race judging system give you a time. After you finish the race you throw the RFID tag in a bucket, and they reuse it on the next race. A great use of technology! Nice writeup here.

    http://www.marathonguide.com/features/Articles/Rac eTimingWithChip.cfm

    Toll transponders are another very convenient use of technology. Sure, there are some privacy issues, but they're convenient.

  5. Well consider this by The+Creator · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As long as he does't have a chip on him you watch him irl when at LEGO-land. But now that he has the chip you can safely go to the parent longe and watch where he is on the KidLocator(tm) - and there he is, safely in plain site of everyone, where noone can hurt him, perhaps standing in line for a ride. You feel absolutely safe! Then 30min later you start to wonder why he is still in line, he should be on the ride by now. So you start to get a little worried, soon you decide to go check on him. So you go to the line and look for him, but all you find is his rfid-bracelet behind the trashcan...

    --

    FRA: STFU GTFO
  6. Re:A good use by dapsychous · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Before we could implement a system like this, the laws would need to be revised. Right now, if an 18 year old has sex with his 17 year old girlfriend, and her parents don't approve, he goes to jail and has to be branded a sex offender for the rest of his life. If a guy pulls over on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to use the bathroom in the woods because he can't make it to town and a cop sees, it's indecent exposure, and he's branded a sex offender for the rest of his life.

    Granted, children need to be protected, but this country has gone WWWWWAAAAAYYYY overboard with paranoia. I'm not saying that these things don't happen, but when you talk about taking people's rights away and branding them with a moniker like 'Sex Offender', you'd better be DAMN sure.