RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices

An anonymous reader writes "A new study suggests RFID systems can cause 'potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices.' (Here is the JAMA study's abstract.) Among other things, electrical interference changed breathing machines' ventilation rates and caused syringe pumps to stop. Some hospitals have already begun using RFID tags to track a wide variety of medical devices, but the new finding suggests the systems may have unintended consequences."

Comments

Let's just hope...

[katterjohn]

..that people with these devices don't receive any mail via snail.

Re:This is too much

[arotenbe]

Yes, but... think of the all of the jobs it would create for snails!

Re:This is too much

[fragmentate]

You had me...

Right up until you brought up Richard Stallman.

That guy would protest clean underwear, not just RFID tagged underwear.

Next.

Re:Oh, please

[johnny cashed]

Pop your undies in the microwave for ten seconds and they won't be reporting back to the mothership, don't worry.

But it is what's in my undies that concerns me...

on another tangent...

But how do I know that my microwave doesn't have an RFID reader that enables it to know that there is an RFID tag inside and it only goes through the motions of microwaving my undies, thereby rendering any RFID chip(s) in my undies untouched and fully functional? Far fetched? Future microwave dinners and popcorn might have RFID tags embedded which tell various microwave oven how long to cook the product. Can I get thicker tinfoil for my hat?

Re:Oh, please

[spun]

Oh man, you are using actual tinfoil for your hat? You know that's made from aluminum, right? Aluminum amplifies the mind control rays.

Re:Oh, please

[maxume]

Fear not, Ice T and Henry Rollins will have a microwave that is free of government control. You will be able to take your undies to them for sanitization.

Re:Oh, please

[johnny cashed]

No No, it's tinfoil all right. It says so on the label...wait a minute, how do I know if Fisher Scientific isn't in on it as well... Everyone is conspiring against me...

Re:This is too much

[PopeRatzo]

But you can't pretend it's not a useful technology.

If they want to put them on expensive medical equipment, I'm OK with that. But I absolutely don't want them on anything I carry,or wear, or my car, or my bike, not even my rollerblades. Certainly not on my currency or anything I use as currency. And I don't want them on my self (Google "SWIFT" and be appalled).

Besides the fact that I find this surveillance culture creepy as hell, and absolutely do not trust any of the people who are likely to have access to the data, there are the clear religious implications, since as everybody knows THEY ARE THE MARK OF MOTHERFUCKING CAIN AND THEIR USE HERALDS THE COMING OF THE ANTICHRIST (or something).

Other than that, I'm cool with the RFIDs.

Re:Oh, please

[RiotingPacifist]

But how do I know that my microwave doesn't have an RFID reader that enables it to know that there is an RFID tag inside and it only goes through the motions of microwaving my undies, thereby rendering any RFID chip(s) in my undies untouched and fully functional? Far fetched? Future microwave dinners and popcorn might have RFID tags embedded which tell various microwave oven how long to cook the product. Can I get thicker tinfoil for my hat? Simple, but some pizza in cheese and nachos in thier with your undies,
if the cheese melts, the microwave worked your undies are now untaged
if the cheese doesn't melt, the microwave is goverment controlled AND you dont have any cheese nachos, so you pretty fucked tbh.