NYT on RFID Tags 479
indros13 writes "The NY Times is running a story on the radio tagging of merchandise. Companies like Gillette want to make sure their razors are in stock and stores like Wal-Mart want to make sure you can find your paisley panties, size 10. But what happens to privacy when everything you buy can be tracked from store floor to door?"
doh! (Score:5, Funny)
What I want to know is (Score:2)
who cares? (Score:3, Interesting)
Now if they tracked their goods past their doors... then I'd be signing whatever petition is required to get that tracking system out of there.
But think about it though... especially in walmarts of the world... 1/2 the fun of going there is switching where things are hung. So isn't it only fair that the people who work there can actually have the ability to find something for someone who can't find where another customer put it?
I just want... (Score:5, Funny)
Basketball: Hello Kitty!
Kitty: Hello Basketball!
Re:I just want... (Score:5, Funny)
Basketball: Hello Kitty!
Kitty: Hello Basketball!
or
Basketball: Hello Kitty!
Kitty: Holy crap, a talking basketball!
is this really a privacy concern? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:2)
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:5, Funny)
Weight Watchers talking sign: 'Sir, we notice you've been buying bigger blue jeans lately. How about stepping in to your local Weight Watchers center?'
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:5, Interesting)
That way you could physicaly remove the tag once you're home.
There is absolutely *no* reason what so ever to put the rfid in the product itself!
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:5, Insightful)
No reason for *us*. Plenty of reasons for them.
No. (Score:5, Interesting)
No, they are strips of "foil" just a few microns thick. They are very easily concealed. So far they are usually held on under a bit of tape but, they can be embedded into the materials that make up the product. Some manufacturers are discussing doing this. In the case of Gillette, the strip could be easily embedded in the plastic shell of the individual razor blade. RFID tags can also be easily laminated into the paper of books etc.
Take a US currency note, greater than one dollar, and hold it up to the light. You will(should) notice a milar strip embedded into the bill that denotes the face value of the bill. An RFID tag could be as simple as this milar strip. In fact, the tag could be even smaller that the milar strip in the bill.
Re:No. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No. (Score:3, Interesting)
Firstly, the strips don't all line up, they vary in position depending on the denomination. Secondly, the mylar strips don't show up on x-rays. Thirdly, the current method customs uses to detect large quantities of unauthorized cash is the cash-sniffing dog.
Fortunately for people who are travelling abroad and forgot to declare the $50k in their carry-on, cash-sniffing dogs are few and bar between
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wouldn't be a pain in the ass at all -- unless you're worried about your privacy.
Imagine something vaguely along the lines of what's done for ethernet -- .
How about a 64bit message from each tag. The first 32 bits would identify the manufacturer and the last 32 bits would give you the model number and serial number.
At that point you have a mall full of walking marketing information. When you walked into a store they could figure out what you'd bought, where you bought it, whether you only buy stuff on sale -- and possibly even guess who your girl/boy-friend was (by who bought your underwear).
Imagine being blackmailed because an intrepid data miner figured out that your socks were a birthday present from your wife Cheryl, but your underwear was a birthday present from your secretary Vivienne.
That's not really the problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact that they continue to work for a very long time and the fact that they are, or can be, completely unique means that a store can identify YOU by your panties. National chains such as Walmart could track YOU and your panties all across the country. Suddenly they don't sound very nice, do they.
Now, let's take the paranoia to a slightly higher level. Let's suppose that stores share their RFID and customer databases with trustworthy groups like, NSA CIA, FBI, SpamKing marketing. Suddenly You and your panties are trackable in every store you go to, or security checkpoint you pass through or toll booth you drive through. Now you can't go anywhere without the beadie little eye of some agency watching you at all times.
Did you ever get the feeling that you were being watched?
Re:That's not really the problem. (Score:5, Funny)
Taking this suggestion [slashdot.org] from the automobile tire RFID thread, why not just swap panties with strangers?
Take THAT Big Brother!
Re:That's not really the problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you ever get the feeling that you were being watched?
Usually in these arguments, I'm on the same side you are, but according to the article, the RFID is on the package, not the actual merchandise. This is different from embedding them in tires.
This is a good thing on many fronts. First of all, it creates the possibility that I can buy something without having a cashier see what it is and a computer monitor display the description in bright screaming colors (or, worse yet, text to speech). Moreover, this has the chance to obviate the checkout procedure altogether. Who wouldn't consider that a giant step forward?
There is also the problem of privacy motivated shoplifting, which is the reason why preparation H is the most shoplifted piece of merchandise in the country.
Re:That's not really the problem. (Score:3, Funny)
Everyone take of all of your clothes right now, and find the nearest microwave!
Re:That's not really the problem. (Score:3, Funny)
I think the term, "going commando", will take on a whole new meaning.
There are solutions (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is, there are situations where you will want it to keep working after you leave. Like you return the item, but you don't have your receipt, like it said in the article (yeah, I RTFA! :>) It would be great if the RFID from the item was stored with the purchase price in the database. And that necessitates the thing staying alive.
So stores WILL be able to determine your buying history if you use a CC to pay(Grocery stores do now - with that little card they extorted you into giving them each time). And I bet the RFID manufacturer ends up selling these things in consecutive runs of ID #'s - making it EASY for the feds to determine where the panties were bought and to correlate them with a CC#, then a mailing address, etc.
So what do we do? I think consumers will need to educate themselves a bit - especially with regard to where they buy clothing. We will need a privacy policy law like with the net. Try to pay for clothing with cash. And the greatest hope, I swear to God, will be sensationalist journalism. Even regular people will be creeped out by the idea of being tracked by their underwear. And you know Dateline or one of those crappy shows will do a thing on it if the NYTimes is on it now.
Also, I plan on using a big fscking magnet on my clothes from now on. 5 Tesla should work ;)
Re:is this really a privacy concern? (Score:2)
1) more timely info on what's on the shelves, and
2) where you go in the store with their merchandise before you take it to the register.
Are they not already tracking you? (Score:5, Insightful)
Better would be severe restrictions on what the merchants can gather about you, and, your name should not be part of that data gathering.
Re:Are they not already tracking you? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why obviously? There are plenty of people in this world who don't have credit cards. Some by choice, and many because they've got a credit blacklisting of some kind.
These people pay cash for everything. Obviously it can be done.
Re:Are they not already tracking you? (Score:2, Funny)
</obparanoidrant> =)
Size 10? (Score:4, Funny)
hmm radio tags... (Score:4, Funny)
Privacy? (Score:5, Insightful)
I dont know where you guys shop, but the 17 year old moron or the "hire the handicapped" person at the checkout at stuff-mart looks at every single thing I buy.
You have _no_ right to "privacy" if you are patronizing someones store. Deal with it.
(This isnt meant to be a flame.. it is meant to point out that they track everything you buy anyway, and almost guaranteed, if you use credit or debit cards, there is a file SOMEWHERE that lists everything you bought, if you dont, like me, get that list on your statement every month.)
Now.. if the RFID tags follow you home.. thats another issue. But the show I saw on it. (Tech Tv? Might have been?) Did not seem to think that was possible.. they are a direct scan sort of thing, rather than a "scan from black helicopter" sort of thing.
Maeryk
Re:Privacy? (Score:2)
How to do it privately. (Score:5, Informative)
You scan all the items yourself and you can even pay by cash if you want, the machine has a bill acceptor. The checkout stands even have the sensormatic deal, so you can cancel an items tendancy to set off the "I'm Stealing" beep at the door.
Here's a pic of one, with an article I havent read [monroemonitor.com]
Re:Privacy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well one issue I have with it is the cost (a cost which each and every one of us will bear. While people will say "Yeah, but it'll be made up in reduced shoplifting", realize that shoplifting generally is dramatically less of a economic hit for retailers than you've been led to believe. They lose far more to employees taking stock home or skimming the tills): Currently the RFID tags, for those who didn't read the NYT article (i.e. most of you), cost $0.30US a piece, with the price expected to drop to $0.05US. Add in the cost of the detection equipment (they're talking about every rack having a detector so it can monitor stock and "alert security" if several items are taken at once...hope you shop every week and don't dare buy multiple items at once), the IT infrastructure: These sorts of things end up cost tens or hundreds of billions of dollars.
This isnt meant to be a flame.. it is meant to point out that they track everything you buy anyway, and almost guaranteed, if you use credit or debit cards, there is a file SOMEWHERE that lists everything you bought, if you dont, like me, get that list on your statement every month
Your credit card or debit card company knows what you bought? Funny, but mine don't. They see that I spent $107 at Fortinos and $89 at Walmart, but they DON'T see that I bought Lays BBQ chips and a big tub of jellybeans, and Walmart doesn't see what I bought at Fortinos and vice versa.
Re:Privacy? (Score:4, Interesting)
Sears and JC Penney specifically, give me an itemized list on my statement of what was purchased. (This can be QUITE handy for things like warranty issues, and also when the card gets used fraudulently).
Maeryk
Re:Privacy? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, that's what they want you to think. ;-) It says here [informationweek.com] that some RFID tags can be read up to 300 feet away. (Alien Technology says its RFID tags can be read up to 15 feet away, but it would not be difficult to build a beefier transmitter and a more sensitive receiver that would make the range far greater.) <PARANOIA MODE=ON>The tags can supposedly be easily destroyed via a reader, but it's pretty easy to design an RC-timer circuit [electronics123.com] that would just deactivate it for a period of time.</PARANOIA>
Re:Privacy? (Score:5, Informative)
I do have a right to privacy when patronizing their store. They can't strip search me, they can't search through my property, they can't search my bags from other stores even if they put up signs saying they can. Such signs are unenforceable and serve no purpose other than to dupe the ignorant into thinking the store has a right to treat them like cattle. Rights, you see, are largely things which someone in the past has had the backbone to stand up for and insist upon.
Re:Privacy? (Score:3, Interesting)
In fairness, I'm not out to be a "privacy zealot". I'm out to make sure the poorly trained people they put at the front of the store, who are not poorly trained through any fault of their own, understand what THEIR rights are and are not. I don't mind the fact that MOST people consent to the search and as a result, my prices stay lower. I'll even admit *gasp* that I not too long ago, probably within the last 3 times I've been asked (somehow it doesn't happen very often) when the stupid alarm went off when I was going IN to a store, that I just handed my stuff to the person, told 'em to check it out and bring it to me when they were done while I went browsing through the store. They found the errant tag, a piece of merchandise from another store which had been mistakenly double-tagged, fixed it, and brought it to me. I couldn't tell you why, on that particular day, I didn't mind at all, but I didn't. The important point, as far as I'm concerned, is that it was my choice to make, and I made it. On a different day I might have said no, they might have asked me to leave, and I would have smiled, knowing that for the time being there's still enough competition in retail for me to avoid patronizing stores that I don't enjoy shopping in for whatever reason.
I do think it's critically important that enough people remember that they are not obligated to consent to J. Random MinimumWageGuy pawing through their stuff that it not become a defacto obligation. As it is now, if you don't play jellyfish, they at least act like they understand this. I'm not willing to get to a point where random employees actually believe they can stop me and search me without my consent.
We might get to the point where "privacy zealot" does need to become a protected class, though. What choice will there be if (if not when) every store decides to search your stuff on the way out? You have a theoretical right to refuse, but if that meeans in practice you can't walk in, buy stuff, and carry your property out the door, it's meaningless. A balance between the security rights of the store and privacy rights of the individual is necessary.
Re:Privacy? (Score:2)
Or through the window.
I mean c'mon - doesn't everyone do that already? Otherwise you'd have to keep replacing that hair that you taped to the doorframe.
Nothing happens to your privacy... (Score:2, Insightful)
There are things in this world to be legitimately paranoid about, but this isn't one of them.
Move along.
Re:Nothing happens to your privacy... (Score:2)
Re:Nothing happens to your privacy... (Score:4, Funny)
Tags are item-specific, if you want them to be (Score:3, Informative)
bits 00-07 = header
bits 08-35 = manufacturer (EPC Manager)
bits 36-59 = Object Class
bits 60-95 = Serial Number
There's another EPC, the Compact EPC, that's only 64 bits long, because the longer bit length translates into higher-cost tags.
So saying that RFID tags are -not- instance specific is incorrect. They can be (and the EPC is designed to be) instance specific, but it's up to the manufacturer.
http://www.autoidcenter.org/research/MIT-AUTOID
http://www.autoidcenter.org/research/MI
You people are waay to paranoid (Score:3, Funny)
What privacy? (Score:2)
You guys have got the paranoia setting just a little bit too high these days..
Thinking the same thing... (Score:2)
Tracking (Score:2)
Ummm, they'll know when people are stealing their merchandise?? I'm not sure what you were going for with that one, but you really need to loosen up that tin foil hat.
What happens: RadioShack (Score:2)
Re:What happens: RadioShack (Score:2)
Havent shopped at Ratshack lately have you? They no longer demand that info. (What I really love is they asked me taht crap every single time, and never ONCE did I get their catalog.. even when I asked for them to send them to me.)
Apparently, bitching and moaning from concerned masses like us have stopped them from asking for personal info when buying in cash.
Maeryk
Re:What happens: RadioShack (Score:2)
Re:What happens: RadioShack (Score:2)
What they REALLY want... (Score:2, Insightful)
The marketing issues involved they can track via their sales registers, they have no need for radio tracking to gain this stuff. Why do you think they ask for your zip code or phone number at many shops when you are at checkout, and why grocery stores have those little "savings" cards...
Where can I get my..... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Where can I get my..... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, that is an old shoplifter's trick.
Take 2 large paper shopping bags, like the one's from a department store. Cover one with aluminum foil, place it inside the other one (arrange foil so that it can not be seen).
TA DA! Faraday bag, blocks RF tags dead.
Re:Where can I get my..... (Score:2)
1% (Score:3, Insightful)
How in the world can that be true? Sometimes I go into a Gap store just to use the bathroom. Other times I walk through it just to get to the other side of the mall. What if I'm with a group of friends, and only one of us makes a purchase? What about my poor boyfriends of yesteryear who were just there to hold my bags ;-)?
1%? I don't believe it. Just like 100% of voters voted for Saddam.
--sex [slashdot.org]
Re:1% (Score:3, Informative)
I suspect "shoppers" specifically means people in the gap for the purpose of purchasing something. Walkthroughs and chain-gang shopping are probably not counted. It is meant, I suspect, to highlight the fact that they can FIND what you want. Even if your 36-34 pants are mixed into the womens jeans on the other side of the store, a single RFID query going "where the hell are you" would locate the one they _know_ they have in stock, but some jerk put on the wrong shelf.
Maeryk
Re:1% (Score:2)
Checkpoint is the Leader (Score:3, Informative)
Many of their early success stories [checkpointsystems.com] have been libraries. Having been a customer of a library that uses this it's very cool
Sounds like Tinfoil Hat Time (Score:2)
Pay cash is the first countermeasure.
Second, get the merchandise into a metal lined container, like maybe the trunk of your car?
Third, move the shielded items a far distance from where they were last "tracked", like your home (just a suggestion).
Fourth, remove the tags (this step can be moved higher in the list). Enhanse this step by dropping them in trash containers of your enemies/tormentors.
Yes, all of this is worthless if you are convinced that the, easily removed, mylar strips in your US money is tagged too.
Re:Sounds like Tinfoil Hat Time (Score:2)
I dont know about the Mylar strip. (Though I did watch someone ruin a 100 dollar bill proving it could be "Removed" once.) But I suspect the "new money" that will be arriving relatively soon, (no.. not big face bills.. an entire retooling) will serve two purposes: 1 Enhanced Tracking 2) Get all those mattresses empty and get the money back into circulation.
Keep an eye on this one.. especially if you have old bills floating around. Rumor has it that there will be a cash-in period and after that, all "old" money (paper) will be devalued entirely.
(Not paranoid. this has been in the works for years)
maeryk
Re:Sounds like Tinfoil Hat Time (Score:2)
Umm, I did it with $20s frequently. Pull up the end of the strip, then pul straight out, i.e., not ripping up across the bill, out as in the direction the strip is already "pointing".
Anyway, it is not a tracking device and you are never getting an effective tracking device installed into a bill anyway.
I don't see how this maters in privacy (Score:3, Insightful)
thwarting big bruvver (Score:5, Funny)
If you're really worried about them tracking your RF tags, try mailling them to Siberia or something. If they really are watching you, that ought to get their attention.
*bzzt* rf-control to watcher-one. he is currently travelling on a fed-ex jet to moscow with his latest consignment of razor blades. over" *bzzt*
*bzzt* "roger rf-control. will continue tracking and advise, over" *bzzt*
Hey, look on the bright side... (Score:5, Funny)
There actually could be some benefits to this. With this type of technology you could find many upsides such as:
The possiblities are endless! Embrace the benifits of new technology, it's all for your own good.
Ok, I'm done - sarcasm off. I still think the office thing would be fun though.
Re:Hey, look on the bright side... (Score:3, Informative)
Yesterdays "tech of tomorrow" (I think) had an interesting segment on how they are using "smart chips" in horses these days. Specifically, thoroughbred racing horses that can be easily confused for one another at sales. (they had two who were sold under the wrong names, and then proceeded to run under crossed names for at least five races before anyone figured it out).
This is kind of a neat technology, because if it is applied here as it is being applied in the UK, it makes it DAMN hard to steal horses. As of now, you have to wave the "reader" right over the chip to get the unique identifier from the horse, but I could see where this could be amplified to find, say, stolen horses.
Maeryk
Everyone is watching... (Score:2, Insightful)
I recently got a letter from my credit card company, which broke down by percentage, etc, what I bought and what it was for. Travel, entertainment, food, pr0n, etc. I find that truly terrifying.
If you're paranoid and want to leave the grid, pay cash for everything.
Two questions... (Score:2)
On a worse thought though, there have already been stories about making a massive "Total Information Awareness" database to monitor everyone and everyone's interaction with everyone else, what they do, what they buy, and so on, and with recent events from eBay showing that when it comes down to making money and looking patriotic, what will it take for *my* shopping habbits to be turned over to some government megaubercomputer somewhere so they can run a program and determine if the number of cases of Pepsi I buy every couple of weeks, and clothing every couple times a year, puts me in one of those "suspicious" categories or not.
I don't believe I should be investigated or tracked if I haven't done anything wrong.
get over yourself (Score:2)
You left the privacy of your own home to go to their store. They could just install 100 cameras on the ceiling and hire a staff of thousands to watch everyone's every move. Or they can RFID things. One of those options would make a gallon of milk cost $10, the other leaves the cost at $3. Neither are especially infringing upon anyone's privacy.
Safe until you pay, so use cash (Score:3, Insightful)
Otherwise, you could wear a similar frequency device near the tags to stymie them...
Cordless phones, two-way radios, local wireless networks and other communications devices...can interfere with the signals...waves have a hard time penetrating metals and liquids
In the end though, paying cash is probably your best bet at not being ID'ed... until the hidden RFID in your boxers tells them who you are, that is.
...or make money recycling the tags (Score:4, Funny)
Stoor floor to door? (Score:5, Interesting)
The store already knows what I've bought. Big deal.
These sound like a much more effective shoplifting deterrent than the current tags that can be defeated with a tinfoil-lined purse (or fanny sack as geeks call them).
It would be nice to see a system of these tags taking the current 'self check-out' aisles even further: the products in the cart announce themselves to a kiosk which automatically tallies up the bill. For practical purposes, that's much more anonymous than the cashier.
I'm more worried about the cashier-whos-a-friend-of-a-cousin-of-a-dentist-of
Anyways, more fluff.
EZ Pass and Door Locks (Score:5, Interesting)
I know many who have EZ-Pass (mine was ordered and never came) and it has so many false positives for non-payment it's insane. Along with your fine you get a nice little picture in the mail of your car going through the toll even though they have that car in their EZ-Pass database!
My apartment building uses the electronic key lock with a motion sensor on the inside. I'd say it's broken about 5% of the time, which is a lot if that's where you are every day.
Can these be hacked? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm going to brush paranoia aside for now because I wonder what sort of cool things I can do with these little wonders. Millions upon millions of them all availiable whenever I purchase a product.
Could I read these RDIF tags myself? Could I drive past my neighbors and find out what brand lubricant they use by scanning their trashcans? Oh what fun! I can see it now, you heard it from me first, "War RDIF anarchy dildo driving!" As soon as these things are introduced, I'm going to drive around the bay area every garbage night and scan for people who have empty anarchy dildo packages in their trash, and mark it with some chalk (And on a map I will post on the net)
Man, this takes shaming peoples insecurities to a whole new level.
What happens? (Score:5, Funny)
Winona Ryder goes to prison.
Well, (Score:3, Interesting)
Probably about as much happens when your shopping cart contents are itemized at the cash register.
Come on. I mean, come on. This is getting stupid. "Oh, no, my rights are being violated, because the store is TRACKING THEIR OWN MERCHANDISE until such time as I actually pay it. Oh, woe is me. Woe woe woe."
Protect your property (Score:5, Insightful)
This is no different than putting a tracking device in your laptop or in your car. Or having a "Lost phone" beeper in your cordless.
As a store owner though I certainly wouldn't want a supplier being able to track my inventory without my permission, or perhaps even knowing about it. It isn't any of *their* business, per se. I can see where the large chains would find this useful though.
But in MY store, I put the tags on, if I bloody well feel like it.
As a customer the tags had better come off as soon as I buy the merchandise. From that moment on it's mine, not theirs. Note that that would be *before* I get to the exit.
KFG
Re:Protect your property (Score:3, Interesting)
In other words, the inventory isn't phoning home to the mothership - you'd have to work with the supplier to setup this sort of deal.
Of course, they would know what has left their truck into your store, but as you said, up til you sign for it, it's theirs anyway.
Personally, I'd like to start weaving the tags from items I bought into my clothes. Walk out the door in shorts and a tank top and the system thinks I am carrying a 25" tv, etc...
Wow (Score:2)
Privacy in a store? (Score:3, Interesting)
Its not like Wal-Mart doesn't have security cameras every 10 feet that zoom in on you, the contents of your cart, what you are carrying, etc.
Also, its not like Wal-Mart doesn't keep records of everything you buy and when you bought them, which can be linked up to the timestamps on aforementioned security cameras.
Trust me, RFID tags on merchandise isn't going to harm your privacy in a store one tiny bit.
Privacy violation? (Score:5, Interesting)
If it ends up having *any* impact on privacy, it would be too *improve* privacy. No matter what, the cash register system has the *potential* to track your purchases that you pay for. Currently, when you buy stuff, every individual item must be handled by the cashier to be scanned, so the cashier is intimately familiar with your purchase. If used properly, this thing could scan an entire cart without digging through every item. Items you want to hide can be hidden. They still are paid for, but the cashier only sees the total sum, not each purchase. Combine this with anonymous currency (only paper money right now) and individuals are in no way associated with their purchases, neither by humans nor by computer.
Afraid of those items being tracked after leaving the store? Rip out those tags when you are out of there.
A couple of shortcomings - (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if these would even work in an electronics retailer - say like Best Buy. You've got a wall of TV's, cell phones, radio, etc all over the store. Unless you had a large number of distributed receivers, how would you counteract the interference.
Nearly all store shelving is metal. In particular, Wal-Marts have those big 8 foot high shelves in certain sections of the store. Grocery stores are completely filled with metal shelving and refrigeration units.
no registration neccesary. (Score:2, Informative)
or http://tinyurl.com/6ffr> [tinyurl.com]
Track littering habits (Score:2)
I see a market... (Score:2)
into commonly bought consumer good to fry the RFID
tag.
RFID countermeasures (Score:2)
Given how low-power these things are, and that they seem to be standardizing on the way they transmit, is there a way to create RFID countermeasures?
The best would be a passive device like the RFID tags that can be powered by the same mechanism as the RFID tags themselves, since that would mean it would always activate when you were in range. However, I would assume an active countermeasure could be powered for a very long time from a small battery.
Both Sides (Score:2)
I fail to see why Gilette wanting to track their razors, is taking away my rights.
Or do the tags stay with the razor for the life of the product?
Someone(from both angles) help me out, there seems to be confusion.
So people can track what I buy? Wow. (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh wait, my local supermarket [tesco.com] does this already, and uses this info when I log into their online shopping section to populate my favourites list, so I don't have to bother searching for things I purchase regularly. So does Amazon [amazon.co.uk]. This is an infringement of my civil liberties because wasting my time is an inalienable human right... or something.
Seriously, what can someone actually do with my purchase history? Maybe target me with adverts for things I might want to buy? (no, I am not a good person to try to sell feminine hygein products to. And no I don't want to consolidate my debt, thank you. HINT TO ADVERTISERS: The only banner ad I have ever clicked on deliberately was for food.) Maybe they could use this information for blackmail, after all I wouldn't want it getting around that I make my own pizzas, or the men from Domino's [dominos.co.uk] will be after me.
Honestly, it's not like I buy things over the counter for spreading sedition. I use my other identity for that...
Am I terrorist? (Score:2)
So, if I decide to buy several packs of blades at once, so I stock up for the fall of society, I'll be stopped and treated like a terrorist?
RFID, meet EMP (Score:3, Insightful)
But I digress.
What would bother me is the tracking products by RFID once I was out of the store. If stores are going to use RFID tags, I want them to expire, permanently, the moment I walk out of the place of purchase. And somehow I'm doubting that I can really trust the stores, the government, or the RFID manufacturers to take care of this little detail for me.
So if there's any EE's out there who can tell us, what does it take to reliably kill an RFID tag? (A microwave oven?) If there's no easy way, would it be feasable to make a device that would reliably burn them out?
Easier Checkout?? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not very worried about potiential tracking since that is already done everytime I use a credit card. However, I would think this could bring about the easier checkouts that we have been hearing about for the last decade where we just take our items through an automated checkout lane and simply pay up without having to scan our items.
Right now, at certain KMarts, you can check yourself out, but you have to scan each individual item. I tried this once but after waiting 10 minutes as the technically inept attempt to accomplish this otherwise simple feat, I realized that the process was flawed. Putting these tags on all items will make it as simple as walking through a lane, sliding your debit card through a reader (or even simplier if you have an account with the store itself) and walking out the door.
Now if they can only figure out how to automatically bag everything.
Minority Report coming true (Score:2)
well, in Washington State... (Score:2)
RFID Concerns (Score:4, Interesting)
Destroying RFIDs (Score:3, Funny)
You have no idea... (Score:5, Informative)
EVERY purchase you have ever made with a credit card is tracked right down to you. All your preferences are known, right down to your favorite deodorant.
Wal-Mart, however you might think of it, is a brilliant company. Did you know that most of the products on the Wal-Mart shelf have NOT been bought by Wal-Mart? No, the manufacturer sends the products to Wal-Mart and waits until the item is actually run through the checkout scanner before it receives a check. The manufacturer is responsible for sending more products for Wal-Mart to stock. In return, they get access to that titanic-sized wealth of marketing data.
This is where the radio tags come in. If you know exactly where any product is in your store, you can see what products sell better in what location -- in real time, across the country. And yes, shoplifting will become far more difficult for the petty theives -- I doubt the pros will be stopped by this technology.
RFID tags aren't about big brother -- they're about big bucks.
Privacy issue explained (Score:4, Insightful)
1). the tags cannot be deactivated, are not deactivated when you purchase the item.
2.) each tag has a unique ID - buy 3 identical pants, 3 tags have 3 different ID numbers.
3.) pay with a traceable currency, like a credit card, and into the database goes your credit card info AND the IDs of the things you bought.
4.) From now on, anyone with a scanner and access to the database where you bought stuff can know who you are, where you are. Walk into a Walmart on the other side of the world, and your RFID tag can identify you (or at least the purchaser of the goods). Have not only your buying habits, but your shopping habits tracked, stored, and datamined. Buy a shirt at a garage sale and get arrested for being someone else! Have more of your info make it into the Total Information Awareeness uberdatabase.
It's a wonderful world.
Re:Privacy issue explained (Score:5, Insightful)
Your every action can be, or nearly can be, tracked by other means, so what difference does it make if they put an RF inventory tag on your pants? Does some law mandate you can't remove these tags? Granted, it's highly inconvenient to remove them, but possible none-the-less.
These tags are incredibly low power and can only be usefully read at distances typical to inventory: a couple of clear football fields at best. With all of your clothes in your closet, someone would have to be within a city block to even trigger the things and reading them would be even harder.
As for an uber-database... remembering each RFID tag and what it was associated with is trivial, as is associating it with you when you purchase it. But then what? They already gather that information anyway. Even if you pay with cash, there's always a camera and don't think for one second they can't reassociate that register's receipts with the images on tape.
I just don't see the privacy threat here... what's K-Mart going to do, drive around the neighborhood pinging houses to see if you've got some of their pants?
The government could conceivably slap some database together for all this stuff, but the amount of storage required would be massive for a minimal amount of gain. They can already figure out what you bought and where now anyway.
Re:Privacy issue explained (Score:3, Informative)
this is good. (Score:3, Insightful)
Walmart already tracks everything.... (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate to be the one to break this too you, but Walmart already tracks EVERYTHING they sell. Every purchase goes into these giant NCR Terradata setups back at their home office. They mine it for trends and such already and have been doing so for years. So this really don't change that. The real question is how to you make sure the RFID tag is really deactivated?
I don't remember seeing this argument posted... (Score:4, Interesting)
youch!
If you want privacy... (Score:4, Funny)