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Mini Introduces RFID-Activated Billboards

Posted by kdawson on from the L.A.-Story-meets-Minority-Report dept.

frinkster writes "MINI USA has placed interactive billboards in 4 US cities (Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco) and invited a few hundred MINI owners in those cities to join their targeted 'advertisement' pilot program. The owners sign up on MINI's website and receive an RFID keyfob in the mail. When that MINI owner drives by the billboard, a targeted message appears. Each owner tells MINI what to show when they drive by, such as 'Jim, you are one sexy beast.' If the pilot program is successful, MINI plans to put up more billboards in more cities and allow every owner to participate. MINI swears that no personal information in contained in the keyfobs and that all communication between the MINI and the owner is subject to their privacy policy and thus the program is completely safe. But how well will they keep their billboard logs away from the prying eyes of law enforcement or private detectives? And what are they doing to prevent 'hackers' from changing the personal messages to insults, such as 'Jim, nice to see you finally emerge from your mother's basement'?" MINI calls the interactive billboards "Motherboards."

5 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What range? by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Putting the RFID reader in a mile marker nearer the road (or in the road itself) and then relaying the information to the billboard via another, longer-distance technology, gets around the billboard-range problem.

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  2. You get a RFID tag IN THE MAIL? by Dekortage · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This means that the billboards will display their messages whenever the MAIL DELIVERY TRUCK drives by. Nice. And I'm betting a number of tags will mysteriously get lost in the mail and end up on eBay. Other issues:

    • If it's a keyfob, then it will also trigger the signs when someone is driving their OTHER non-Mini vehicle. Many families have two cars, and people drive other cars.
    • The article says "When the boards detect that you are about the drive by, they deliver a personal message based on the information you originally gave." In other words, when you're driving 70mph down the road, make sure you look up for your important message from your car manufacturer -- and then miss your turn.
    • Opposite extreme: you're stuck in traffic for 50 minutes underneath the sign.

    And there are too many ideas for mischievous messages... "Mini announces recall of your vehicle's braking system" for example.

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  3. Re:Fun! by linefeed0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fun? If you think jail is fun, and you would like to share this man's fate, I suggest you do so.

  4. Fighting back with RFID readers by parvenu74 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is there something about RFID -- or "active" RFID -- that allows only a certain set of RFID readers to be able to read the chip? What I want to know is: how do I get an RFID reader? I want mount an RFID reader in front of my house and log all of the cars that come by, when they come by, if they are staying within "view" of the RFID reader for a certain amount of time (like, say, arriving an hour after I leave for work and leaving an hour before I return), etc. Pretty much every car is going to have RFID tagging in the near future, if only by way of the RFID chips being placed in new tired these days, so the only "hard" part will be correlating the RFID to a person's identity, but if the RFID can trigger a video recorder then this challenge is narrowed down. Also, I want RFID stickers I can surreptitiously plan on the neighborhood brat's skateboard and bike so I can confront his parents and/or press charge with evidence in hand.

    And above all else: I want an RFID jammer! Why? BECAUSE I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!

  5. NON-customizable message... by sloth+jr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    According to the linked article, the message isn't customizable by you at all - you simply have to give Mini USA typical marketing demographic info, sign up for their spam, and then THEY get to choose the message.

    Bleah.