Walmart Begins Rollout of RFID and EPC Tags 462
paroneayea writes "There's a lot about RFID tags in the news today. Wal-Mart is officially beginning to use RFID tags on its merchandise. We've heard about Wal-Mart's plans to introduce RFID tags in the past, but this is the first time that this is actually being put into use. To quote the article: 'Wal-Mart is billing this as a trial, but Simon Langford, Wal-Mart's manager of RFID strategies, told RFID Journal that this is the beginning of the company's planned roll-out of EPC (Electronic Product Code) technology.' Meanwhile, California does something right for a change and introduces a bill that will limit the use of RFID tags in stores and libraries to protect the privacy of customers. IBM, which plans to be a major manufacturer of RFID tags, bashes critics of RFID tags as 'anti-retail.'"
Re:Isn't anyone concerned about this quote? (Score:5, Informative)
The tags don't give your name away, but your credit card does. Personally, I use cash whenver it's not too incovnenient, but the mjoriy of purchases, especially those over $40, are made with credit cards. The store then has the ability to see what RFID tags you bought (along with the products) and see where you take them.
I'd just like to point out... (Score:5, Informative)
Result? Wal-Mart gets improvement in their shipping systems, not the Point-of-sale systems. Interestingly, it provides no improvement in loss control, something some wal-marts have serious problem with.
Re:Nothing to worry about (Score:3, Informative)
Tags are not on merchandise. (Score:1, Informative)
No they're not. Read the story. The tags are on pallets and cases that let them track shipments from vendors. The tags are _not_ on the merchandise itself.
Re:Isn't anyone concerned about this quote? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:RFID tags (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I'd just like to point out... (Score:1, Informative)
What the article really says (Score:5, Informative)
It differs from primary RFID in some fundamentally practical ways too. Everyone in the supply chain has a vested interested in making secondary coding work. If (and this is a far from certain "if" at this point) RFID can reliable track a carton out of a manufacturer, into a truck, into a Wal-Mart distribution center, into another truck, and finally into a local Wal-Mart, it will simplify life. (Before anyone jumps on the fact that the RFID tag makes it into the local Wal-Mart - the tag is attached to the corrugated shipping carton which is discarded and recycled when all the product is removed and placed on the shelves).
In contrast, there are a number of people who have a vested interest in not having primary RFID work. Aside from people concerned about privacy, there is an incentive to kill tags if they are used in an automatic checkout system. I foresee jammers, zappers, all kinds of shady, quasi-legal devices.
Re:Another reason... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:RFID info (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Follow Existing Practice! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Microwave Pulse Generator (Score:1, Informative)
Re:You know they're scared when... (Score:5, Informative)
If someone could associate your purchase of a jacket to you, maybe because you used a credit card to make the purchase, then that person or organization could track your movements across the world. The technology used to read the tags is relatively passive. You walk through a doorway with a tag on, and it could be scanned.
This is the fear. It is unclear to me how unique the ID's are, and if they could be used this way.
And as all RMS followers know, as soon as the information is collected, whether it is illegal or not, it will find a way to get into someones hands that you don't want to know it.
Understand RFID first, then you'll understand why. (Score:5, Informative)
There are two types of RFID tags: Active and passive. Active tags have a battery and transmit a signal. They cost a few bucks apiece; they're cheap enough for a lot of good uses, such as locating expensive mobile equipment in hospitals ("Oh, the machine that goes, 'Ping!" is on the third floor women's bathroom!"), but far too expensive to track consumer items -- say, a can of soup. They're also pretty large, since they need an antenna and a battery.
Passive tags are powered by the radio waves themselves. These are the ones that will eventually be cheap enough that they can be put on individual cans of soup, maybe in two to three years.
In order for a passive tag to get enough power to transmit its unique identification number, a few things need to happen. The tag itself -- although it's a very small chip -- needs a rather large antenna to pick up enough energy to get power. The smallest ones I've seen are about 3" long. The RFID reader needs to have a VERY powerful microwave transmitter and antenna. The devices I worked with required me to be at least nine inches away from them most of the time to keep from getting cooked. Even with this powerful reader and large antenna, I've had to hold tags about a foot away from the antenna for a good second or three to see them show up.
Now what are we afraid of regarding RFID? Well, we're afraid that beyond the point of sale, someone will put a reader on us and know all about us or be able to track our movements, because we'll be covered in these RFID tags with unique identifiers.
Now we've seen technology advance, but Physics is Physics. A tag with an antenna no smaller than 3" in size has to be held within a foot of a reader powerful enough to warm your skin for a second to transmint 30-odd bits of data. This is not going to change unless the laws of Physics change first -- there is no technology to change this.
You're going to be able to find RFID tags in your stuff, because the large antenna will give itself away. And you're not going to patiently stand and pose next to a high-powered reader while it tries to sort out all of the tags you're wearing ("Excuse me, can you kneel down so I can get the one on your eyeglasses? Now lift your feet, I can't see your shoes..."), unless you're cold and want to warm up really fast.
What I've laid out here is not common knowledge. That's a big part of the reason I'm writing this now: I know that Slashdot readers are concerned about the issue and are capable of understanding the science behind the issue. Once you understand the issue, you realize that the government isn't going to be using this to track your movements -- from a foot away. People are not going to be able to surreptitiously scan you to learn all about you -- while asking you to stop and pose for the antenna. You're not going to be covered in three-inch-long RFID tag antennas without your knowledge.
I believe that you should be taking neither my word for it nor CASPIAN's. You should do your own research and learn. Don't co-opt someone else's point of view or trust that they've done their due diligence just because you share the same political point of view as he or she does. You may be pro-EFF, just like me -- that doesn't mean you should trust what I've said. You may have beliefs similar to Albrecht's -- but you shouldn't trust that she's done her homework, either!
In practice, you, me, and everyone else does trust the leaders of organizations we agree with to have done their due diligence and to know more than we do about issues. And we do co-opt their points of view. That is why IBM is speaking out: Because it's clear that although Albrecht doesn't understand RFID technology, people are listening to her.
I'm concerned enough about the preservation of civil liberties to donate regularly to the EFF. After working with RFID technology for the past several months and seeing its inherent limitations, I feel that we have little, if anything, to fear from this technology. But don't take my word for it because I claim this is true; do your own research.
Re:Understand RFID first, then you'll understand w (Score:3, Informative)
The main benefit of the RFID tag over the UPC label is that you don't have to have the tag aligned a certain way and visible to activate it.
In the supply chain leading to the store, lots of products are buried in a pallet, and organizations need to know what's in there (and how many) to track their shipments efficiently. With RFID tags, the pallet need not be opened to know exactly what's in it. In the warehouse, workers can remain a safe distance away from readers on conveyers, forklifts and the like.
Wal-Mart and the US military have immense supply-chain networks. If they save a fraction of a penny per item in their supply chains through better tracking, they can save hundreds of millions of dollars per year. That's why Wal-Mart and the US military are the first two organizations to sponsor supply-chain RFID pilots.
The other uses you mention are still possible, but require some good engineering work. For example, at the checkout counter, much lower-powered readers can be used, because the checker can put the tag on the reader's antenna at point-blank range, and it's not a problem to wait a second for the tag to slowly charge up and send its data.
Theft prevention would require the cooperation of security cameras. The idea is that store shelves would have readers and antennas, so that when someone would remove an item, there's a record of it leaving a shelf. Then, you would be able to go to the videotape and view the thief taking the item as it happens. So you don't see the item leave the store, but you can see it leave the shelf. Shelf-mounted readers can also help floor managers know when certain items are low on stock, and that sort of thing. Again, since the items sit on the shelf for long periods of time, and since we're talking about a short distance, this sort of thing can happen -- but it's going to take some good engineering work to get solid coverage of large shelves without nuking customers.
I believe the benefits of RFID inside the store have been oversold. I think that's the main reason why people are worried about their privacy now; RFID sounds a lot more powerful than it really is. The real applications will be in warehouses; Wal-Mart isn't going to get a lot of benefit from RFID in their stores, but they're going to save billions in the long run by making their supply chain to the stores more efficient.