RFID Tags For The Rich

Greedo writes "While reading this piece about designing 'experiences' in the Globe and Mail, I came across this interesting tidbit: If you're a frequent Prada shopper (and who on /. isn't?), the loyalty card in your wallet or purse contains a RFID tag that announces your arrival in the store. When you encounter a saleswoman, her handheld computer brings up your tastes, buying history, vital statistics and personalized suggestions from in-stock and coming inventory; the handhelds also place orders and book change rooms. Every item for sale bears an RFID tag. The RFID tags are courtesy of IDEO, and their website has a nice write-up of all the RFID-powered stuff at Prada, including the changeroom! I'm guessing this isn't coming to Wal*Mart's changerooms when they implement RFID. (Another write-up can be found here.)"

Messing with thier system

So what would it take to create a small device to send out random RDIF signals (a 'white noise' generator)?

Re:Messing with thier system

Or...just have a reader...'capture' the person's personal RFID number...and then, transmit that number for yourself or someone else....

Would be fun to see tons of snooty sales people running up to a guy dressed like a bum...

Re:Messing with thier system

I've worked with several RFID implementations, and all of the (silicon-based) solutions have decent encryption to prevent "capture" of IDs or other data. Usually a shared-key system -- not unbreakable, of course, but pretty difficult to intercept on the sly.

S

Re:Messing with thier system

You do not need to decrypt a signal that you can repeat. i.e. I can say "Bonjour" without knowing a lick of French, or even the literal meaning of that phrase.

Now, if there was some kind of challenge-response going on, it would be much harder to deal with, although not impossible, given enough "captures".

Re:Messing with thier system

I've worked with several RFID implementations, and all of the (silicon-based) solutions have decent encryption to prevent "capture" of IDs or other data.

Bullshit.

Proximity cards based on ISO14443 have encryption, but very limited reading range due to the larger power consumption of the chip. Popular types of vicinity (up to about 1 m reading range) cards such as I*Code, Tag-it, ISO 15693 use no encryption at all. I designed low-level firmware for a reader to read these, so I should know...

Re:Messing with thier system

That you may do. But imagine what the world would be like when this becomes more commonplace.

Imagine going to a designer store to buy a nice handbag or whatnot for your better half when you are tagged head to toe with WalMart and JC Penny tags.

Imagine trying to get help in such a store. It's hard enough getting help from the clerks if you don't appear to fit the "profile", but rich people sometimes dress like slobs too. Determining which is which is a simple matter of "loyalty cards", credit accounts, and sharing of customer info between stores.

RFID will confirm to the staff you are not their type of "customer". They only attention you will attract is store security.

Better yet, there are many jewelry shops with automatic doors that are locked and released by the staff after they look over the customer. Imagine this spreading to other kinds of shops now that RFID tags can be used. Wouldn't it be grand to be denied entrance based on what you wear and what cards you carry (and possibly the cash) in your wallet rather than just appearance?

Hmm....

Yet another attempt to add the personal touch to the cold world of business.

I'm not trying to flamebait, just make an observation. The days of going to your friendly local are over, and now the store assistants don't even need to think or recognise, they simply wrap digital information in comforting words and give you a nice smile.

Re:Hmm....

Actually, if Prada is letting people know about this when they accept the cards, I'd say this is a good technology. Lets them better serve YOU, the customer.

And if you don't like the idea of carrying around RFID tags, you're welcome to not carry the ENTIRELY OPTIONAL card. And the clothes? Well, Club Monaco (a Canadian clothing chain) already puts RFID tags in all of their higher-end merchandise. Clearly labelled "Please remove after purchase," I might add, which is good advice to anyone.

Re:Hmm....

> Yet another attempt to add the personal touch to the cold world of business.

Given the target demographic -- people who shop for status, rather than function -- this is a pretty clever idea. People who shop Prada probably do it for the ego-stroking they get from the sales staff as much as they do from the ego-stroking they get from their peers when they show off their new toy.

I'll bet you that 90% of that target demographic actually thinks their salesdrone actually remembers them. Your typical vapid trophy wife is one thing, but think of all the trophy wives' grandmothers who also have to shop for status.

"No, Antoine wouldn't be just reciting lines from a script being displayed to him from the cash register based on the RFID data from the loyalty card in my pocket, and stop talking in acronyms, you silly geek! He knew it was me, he even remembered my name and what I bought two years ago! My God, I must be so attractive to have made an impression on him like that!"

Re:Hmm....

Secondly, I ask you this: Which is more retarded, $500 shoes or a $500 computer case with neon lights and Plexiglass windows?

You're asking US? I shop at Walmart for clothes so I can afford to buy a $3000 PowerMac in the summer.

Re:Hmm....

It's just another way for these already high profit margin businesses to further increase their profits.

The whole point of a very wealthy person going to these very expensive boutiques (other than paying $500 for a $20 item with a fancy name on it) is the personal touch. These places tend to have salesmen who know you by sight and can instantly tell what your interests are, how many kids you have, whatever. Often, they will be able to remember the conversation you were having last time you were in 6 months ago, and continue that conversation as if it was just yesterday.

That sort of thing takes talent, and a great memory. People that can do this are highly sought after in the retail world. If their skills are replaced by a simple chip that tells the associate everything about you, then the stores can get by with hiring minimum wage McDonalds rejects instead, thereby decreasing their total labor costs. It will also cheapen the whole experience.

Re:Hmm....

If their skills are replaced by a simple chip that tells the associate everything about you, then the stores can get by with hiring minimum wage McDonalds rejects instead, thereby decreasing their total labor costs. It will also cheapen the whole experience.

On the contrary, to even be able to function in a retail environment such as this, you have to have a certain gentility. Even if you had a client's life history in front of you to refer to, the sort of people that shop at places like Prada expect the salespeople to have a degree of breeding, taste, and poise. If you look at the makeup of the staffs of such places, or of very fine resturants, they tend to be the children of privileged families that, for one reason or another, are obliged to work for a living or are simply bored and want something to do. I spent many years as I went through college working in this area as a sommelier, and I can assure you that unless you can speak clear English, are well educated, and capable of speaking the peculiar high-context language of the upper class, the clients that frequent this sort of place and the people that run this sort of establishment would want nothing to do with you. Your average McDonalds worker would be hopeless in this case, regardless of the technological assistance give them.

It would indeed cheapen the whole experience: It would put them out of business.

Friendly local vs friendly global

The days of going to your friendly local are over

The frequent Prada shopper does not just shop in one city. They will expect the same level of 'courteous' service in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and perhaps Milan; these RFID tags will give it to them.

It's not all that bad of an idea. I suspect that these shoppers will not be plagued with advertisements or other spam; they are rich, after all, and not the average dime-a-dozen consumer. The advertisers will be desperate not to offend them.

==============

I'm reminded...

...of the scene in Minority Report where he walks into The Gap and based on his retina scan is offered another set of pants similar to the ones he's bought there before...
It creeped me out then and it creeps me out now.

Re:I'm reminded...

I'm reminded of the scene in Simple Life where prada shopper Paris Hilton proclaims, "Walmart? Do they sell walls there?"

Re:I'm reminded...

Should it though?

If you lived in a small, isolated, town, the shopkeepers there would know far more about you than these corporations will ever be able to milk from audit trails.

You don't hear people complaining when their waitress remembers what they like to drink...

I'm mostly playing devil's advocate here, I value my privacy as much as anyone.

Re:I'm reminded...

> You don't hear people complaining when their waitress remembers what they like to drink...

I would if she wrote it down and faxed it to every other store that paid her a buck for the info.

Re:I'm reminded...

"I would if she wrote it down and faxed it to every other store that paid her a buck for the info."

There's this Starbucks I regularly visit. I'm quite peculiar with how I like my favourite drink prepared, and I've asked for it so many times, that at some point they started making it as soon as they saw my face.

But the thing is, I don't always order the same drink everyday, so after preparing a few for nothing, they've learned to wait til I ordered before starting to prepare it.

Humans are fickle. Put that in your paper trail, and smoke it.

Nope, she told it to them for free.

Ye know not the power of small-town gossip.

I think that's the big issue --

It's not what you know they're doing with it -- it's what you don't know about that they're doing with it.

For instance, I heard that Giant [the grocery store chain] made more last year selling data about their customers than in profits from items sold in their store. In some ways, this is good to the customers, as it allows them to find an alternate revenue stream, and keep their prices down.

But it's not spun like that. Hell, in this case, it's not even mentioned, so in my opinion, it's worse than them placing ads on shopping carts. And I've personally been creeped out when they scanned my card before ringing up any merchandice, and of the four coupons their system spat out -- three of them were items I had on the conveyor belt, that had yet to be rung up.

Of course, I didn't like their spin on the cards, either. Probably because they were behind the curve, when I had who knows how many cards for every other business. [book store frequent buyers card, air lines, a couple other grocery stores]. At least with Safeway, the card was an alternative to needing to clip coupons from the book they'd send you each month. And with Kroger, they gave you a little keychain thing, and they guaranteed postage if it was dropped in a mailbox, so they could return your keys to you.

But I'm still not convinced that your health insurance won't go up if you start buying medical supplies and scan your card in. [or cigarettes]

doesn't have to be isolated or small...

If you lived in a small, isolated, town, the shopkeepers there would know far more about you than these corporations will ever be able to milk from audit trails.

Small, isolated? Try 1 block from downtown financial center. Not a high-end clothes shop, either. No sir- a deli.

I started stopping there for a egg/bacon/cheese bagel, and on the second day- the woman looked at me and said "egg bacon cheese bagel, and an OJ, right?" Third day, i got a warm greeting and I knew she still remembered. This isn't a small place- it's directly across from South Station, and opposite One Financial Center. A lot of construction-guy types from the Big Dig and area renovation go there, as do limo drivers and local/state cops. The place is almost always bustling, and I've seen other customers get the same recognition.

All of this just goes to show that if you want to be successful, it's all about establishing a relationship with the customer, and that's the job of the sales person. It can't be automated, because if the customer sniffs that- they suddenly realize they're just a sheep of hundreds and they're not impressed in the slightest beyond the gee-gaw gadgetry of it all.

Who do you think will establish more long-term relationships at a high-end clothier- the salesperson with this palm thingy who does the in-person version of "let me pull up your records", or the salesperson who turns around, recognizes an important customer, and says, "Ah, Mr. Jones! Good to see you again. How did the alterations work on your dinner jacket?"

Re:doesn't have to be isolated or small...

Who do you think will establish more long-term relationships at a high-end clothier- the salesperson with this palm thingy who does the in-person version of "let me pull up your records", or the salesperson who turns around, recognizes an important customer, and says, "Ah, Mr. Jones! Good to see you again. How did the alterations work on your dinner jacket?"

But with the gadget behind the false front of his desk, the clerk can read

Customer entering: B. F. Jones
Last purchase: Alterations to dinner jacket 1/29/04 $84.59+tax
Total purchases: $9,259
Status: Platinum/All Courtesy to be Afforded

and take it from there, even if it's his first day on the job.

and then ....

and take it from there, even if it's his first day on the job.

Clerk reads screen, looks up to see two people walking in the door, a man and a woman. Clerk walks over to man and says "Good to see you again Mr. Jones!"

Girl says "Mr. Jones is my Dad and he gave me his card, this is just the guy I'm banging to piss him off. Now bring me your most expensive purse!"

It's still better for the clerk to know the customer personally, but yeah, this system is probably a good thing.

Re:doesn't have to be isolated or small...

All of this just goes to show that if you want to be successful, it's all about establishing a relationship with the customer, and that's the job of the sales person

Exactly true. Summers in college I worked on the floor at a high-end men's specialty clothing store in NYC taking customers' clothes and credit cards from the salesmen to the cash registers hidden in the back (customers' eyes were not to be sullied by the sight of a plebian cash register, I guess!) and bringing them back out packaged and ready. Even though as temps we were just one step up from the minimum wage employees that did a similar job, we were expected to dress in a suit and tie and had to go through a "training session" which basically consisted of "the customer is always right" and emphasized that they stressed customer service. The kind of people who drop $5,000 on a suit of clothes without a second thought expect that kind of service and usually get it. It means lots of repeat business.

Same thing happens now. At work, a small group of us used to go to lunch to the same two restaurants 4-5 times a week. It got to the point where the owner or waitresses would see us come in the door and usher us to our favorite table with the condiments and free appetizers we liked ready and waiting. They liked the repeat business (sometimes we brought in large groups) and did their best to please us; we liked the service so we tipped very well and kept coming back. Works both ways.

Re:doesn't have to be isolated or small...

It doesn't even need to be high-scale - repeat business is good business.

Way back when I was in High School, my group of friends frequented the same dinner-type place quite often. We had 2 rules: Buy something (even just coffee), and leave a minimum $1 tip (even for the $.99 coffee).

In a short period of time, we were given a lot more lee-way when we made a lot of noise talking (as young kids will) than other high schoolers who went to the same place.

Re:I'm reminded...

Well, of course, the major difference, besides the insane pervasiveness that has in the movie (that may only be a matter of time, of course) is that this device is a card, that you optain or carry as you please. In MR, they scan your freakin' eyes, man! When you wake up in the morning, it's not like you're gonna say, "Well, I don't think I want to bring my eyeballs with me today, I'll just leave them here on the nightstand."

Argh. Now I made it more creepy.

Re:I'm reminded...

Which reminds me.. ..maybe we can put an RFID tag on Spielberg and make sure he never goes near another movie camera again?

Finally an RFID implementation that would truly benefit mankind.

meh

Gap already knows I like scantily clad saleswomen .... it's why they won't allow me in the store anymore. :(

The Prada Defense

Winona Ryder's Lawyer: Your honor, my client wasn't stealing, she just thought stores worked that way.

NO WAY

My login name for Amazon.com does the same thing when I walk through the door of their e-Store. GOD HELP US ALL THEY ARE AFTER US!!!11!

Tag the rich

1. Tag the rich
2. Track their locations
3. Take incriminating paparazzi pictures
4. ????
5. Profit!

John.

Re:Tag the rich

Tag the rich

Why not? We already monitor their breeding habits (Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson, etc.) It's purely for scientific purposes, I assure you.

Technical information on RFID?

What's involved in reading an RFID? Is there a standard on what is on an RFID, with vendor ID's set aside as in Ethernet MAC addresses, or is it just a generic number format like with barcodes?

It would be interesting to get a nice, sensitive, portable RFID antenna hooked up to a laptop and go, uhm, war-walking...

I was going to post a rant

If I only had the money, I would complaint about privacy violation at my local friendly Prada boutique.

Re:What about changes in shopping preferences?

The odds of finding anything gothic, punk, or gansta at Prada is slim to not. If you are in the store, that's where you are shopping. Thus information about what you got there last time is relevent.

I for one like being target based on what I buy. I get a lot of import DVDs from Suncoast. Thus they send me a catalog of movies that are like the ones they know I buy. I fail to understand why thats a bad thing.

That's nothing

Dolce and Gabbana bring favored clients complementary champagne as they enter the store. In the changing room, the drugs in the champagne take effect. While unconscious, the clients have RFID tags implanted at the back of the skull under the hairline.

And at Barney's, they just knock you over, slip a collar around your neck, pick you up and let you continue shopping. No "Excuse me, it's store policy" or anything.

And in the meantime....

When I buy pants from Target I get to simply tap on a small device outside the changing rooms which, upon generating a small noise, identifies me to the salespeople as needing access. They then use one of their access control devices to allow me to gain access to the room.

Don't even get me started on the 'pants restraining device' that wraps around my waist.

All the items are RFID tagged to, leading to....

changing room: I'm sorry m'am, but we have you at a size 10, but you have 5 items that are a size 5, you are either trying to steal these items are you are about to ruin these items by trying them on.

customer: open the changing room doors please

changing room: I'm sorry, I can't do that

... Exposure

From the article, the changing rooms are made of clear glass that goes opaque when you and your RFID tag enter. "Once inside, the customer can switch the doors back to transparent at the touch of a switch, exposing themselves to onlookers waiting outside the room."

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Re:... Exposure

From the article, the changing rooms are made of clear glass that goes opaque when you and your RFID tag enter. "Once inside, the customer can switch the doors back to transparent at the touch of a switch, exposing themselves to onlookers waiting outside the room."

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I think so Brain, but why would gerbils need RFID tags?

RFIDs don't kill... people kill

Some people seem to think anything RFID has to be bad. This proves that doesn't have to be the case. These folks are open about the use of the RFIDs and they use it to provide real value to the customer. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

Compare/contrast to Wal-Mart which isn't open about the use of RFIDs and doesn't give the customer anything of value when they're installed. Since the customer knows nothing about the RFIDs, they don't have real choice in whether they want "to participate" in potentially privacy invading information gathering. Prada, by being open about the tags, alows the customer to simply shop somewhere else if they don't like them.

TW

Re:RFIDs don't kill... people kill

Bravo on point 1. You're a little off on point 2.

Wal-Mart is implementing RFIDs on incoming shipments, not individual products. The pallets being delievered will each have an RFID tag on them, so they can be automatically inventoried as they are delivered from the manufacturers/distributors, as they're moved around the warehouses, shipped to stores, etc. The individual products (what the customer buys) will not have RFID tags in them. So the only effect on the customer at all is the possibility of Wal-Mart dropping prices even more as their inventory process becomes more streamlined.

-Todd

And the thing about Prada that is most positive...

...are our changing rooms. These wonderful rooms do not have doors which automatically lock behind you, and the temperature inside does not increase whatsoever.

Just listen to this other real human being who have successfully shopped for an article of clothing at Prada:

"I enjoyed my experience at Prada, and especially the changing rooms. When I had completed my trying on of an article of clothing, I was free to leave, uncooked and totally alive. It is a good store."

So take it from me, Zalgon-23-Prada: our changing rooms are the best! In fact, you should go in them even if you have no intention of trying on any articles of human clothing. I should know, as I am a human being just like yourself.

Clippy in the dressing room...

"I see you're trying to put your trousers on two legs at a time."

Re:Clippy in the dressing room...

That's not a leg, you insensitive clod!

Good afternoon

and welcome to WalMart. My name is Cletis and I will be your personal saleman. Your most recent purchases include one Remington Bolt Action 700 CDL, two First Response Pregnancy Tests, and a case of motor oil. [Click, click, click] Can I interest you in a 1 Gallon Jar of Pickles?

Video-Mirrors

>>The dressing rooms also contain a video-based "Magic Mirror" which allows a customer to see an image of their back. The video-feed is also forwarded to Prada's central data bank, where it is stored for future sale to various tabloids.

haute couture/uberdesigner clothes consumers

They don't care how they look in that Prada or D&G or whatever it is they're wearing as long as it's the latest designs. In fact, I doubt most of them would want to see a picture of their behinds because they'll suddenly start feeling fat or something. What they want is for the salesgirl to say "Oh, yes, you look fabulous in that! And so slim! And that color really brings out your eyes! Yes, it's really you!"

I've got to say...

...part of me says, who cares?

Yes yes, I see the privacy concerns. But on the other hand, people in stores currently aren't exactly trying to remember who you are and what you like. If they have a palm whatever to give them a better understanding of your tastes, they can be far more helpful in less time.

Getting past the personal buying history, however, those dressing rooms are certainly okay in my book. I like the idea of tags in the clothing displaying information on a screen, and come on... that "magic mirror" would make trying on clothing so much more enjoyable an experience. (At least, for those of us who actually care enough to put some effort in the way we dress.)

Popularizing controversial tech

Interestingly, in a recent Wired magazing article [wired.com], Bruce Sterling argues that the best way to popularize genetically modified foods would be to promote them as luxury items:

"if Fortune 500 CEOs sought it out to feed their children, the world would follow"

Would be fun to hack those RFIDs

Ought to get some cute replies from anyone behind the counter then... "Oh hey mister Baggins... Just wondering though, you might be interested in a nuclear warhead, Thunderbird 1 and screwing my sist- ..."

Who to roll

1. learn prada's RFID tags
2. scan random people for them
3. mug the people who have them

Nice simple way to know who's got $$ and who hasn't. Random credit card numbers might be nice if you only want a few hundred from each of them, but oh what a platinum visa might be worth.

Time to start...

...wrapping all my credit cards in aluminum foil.

How do they do it?

How can Prada afford all this technology and still only charge $1000.00 for a handbag?

Nouveau rich vs. real rich

I think the very wealthy send personal shoppers to stores and accept/reject the new clothing in their own homes.

And that's for ready-to-wear. For tailored stuff (and who isn't rich and wearing custom tailored suits?), the tailor or his sizing rep comes to your house and measures you, shows fabric samples, and then comes back with finished clothes for final fitting.

Actually going to a store and having to disrobe in a changing room, interact with other people and have strangers around you isn't what people with real money do. There may be some stores that are far from home or impractical for personal shoppers, so in that case, you pack up your entourage, rent a few suites at the Plaza and have stuff brought to your room.

Re:Nouveau rich vs. real rich

I think the very wealthy send personal shoppers to stores and accept/reject the new clothing in their own homes.

This is certainly true... but the're a class of rich people who wear crap like you and me.

Bill Gates and Warren Bruffet wear horable clothing. I've seen nicer suits at the local Goodwill than those two wear.

My version of personal shopper what lets me get clothing while still in my home: Logging into Sears.com and picking out some no-press shirts and slacks, the off to JCPenny.com for socks, and underware. Then REI.com for outdoor clothing and then to BrooksBrothers.com for a suit.

All delivered to me in a week.

Forget the rfid - what's with the mirror?

The dressing rooms also contain a video-based "Magic Mirror" which allows a customer to see an image of their back. As the customer begins to turn in front of the mirror the image becomes delayed, allowing the customer to view themselves in slow motion from all angles."

I'm tempted to go to Prada just to see the "mirror." For it to be a convincing substitute, you'd want a full length screen of some sort. Hard to believe thay've managed that so what exactly are you looking at when you look at the "mirror?"

Speaking of mirrors, an old girlfriend loved the mirror in my apartment because for some reason it flattered her coloring - she just looked better in the mirror than she actually did. I can see the "magic mirror" playing games of that sort as well - hiding blemishes, slimming the wearer etc.

Customizing the cash register

I've often thought that when you go into a fast food place (for example), the cash register should customize itself to your preferred menu items. You should be able to say, "I'd like my #6, please" and not have to say, "Big Breakfast, no hash browns, add a side of bacon, medium Diet Coke", and then later have to explain what they did wrong.

It would clearly save money for the retailer, as the ordering process would be quicker and more accurate. It would improve the customer "experience" too.

Instead of having the merchant suggest these items based on your past buying habits (intrusive), you could go to their website to set up your custom choices (say up to 6) and change them as often as you want. The clerks don't need to deal with the fact that everyone's choices are different, as the keys themselves change meaning when your RFID walks up to the register.

It's not the RFID that unnerves me about this.

We've got a few good shops in town where the employees are friendly and the owners have a shift behind the counter with everybody else. They don't need loyalty cards, because they know most of their customers by name and the working environment and pay are good enough that they aren't rotating workers every couple of weeks.

The connection there is real. Now people aim to replace that with a wire in a piece of plastic, just as they're replacing living wage jobs with permatemp spots or part time people working close to full time schedules. If you think the negative part of this story is RFID, which is just brand new fuel for the paranoid that'll in actual practice do more to save money than invade privacy, think again; it's about subjugating another fulfilling business practice to a cookie-cutter scheme that anybody who can fog a mirror can perform.

Re:Might not be bad...

They book change rooms? What are people doing in there? Having high tea? Holding a seance? Reading SCO legal documants?

I had my birthday party in a Prada changing room, you insensitive clod!

Tagging the rich

Why can't we just tag rich people the old fashioned way, by knocking them out with tranquilizer darts and stapling plastic bracelets around their ankles while they're asleep? It works pretty well with grizzlies...

the formula

1. Steal RFID database, buy scanner.
2. Park van in front of exclusive boutique.
3. Wait for mark with lots of money, then snatch them.
4. ??????? (demand ransom, or make Paris Hilton video)
5. Profit!

Exposing themselves to onlookers

I liked the part about how the "customer can switch the doors back to transparent at the touch of a switch, exposing themselves to onlookers waiting outside the room."

This is the last thing we need....

RFID tags are cool and all, and I think they're destined to have a lot of great apps, but this is NOT one of them.

Never mind the privacy concerns, lots of people will take up that charge. Stores will end up doing custom pricing with this. Wouldn't be hard to say, "Hey, this guy bought a big screen TV last time... when he checks this price, it'll be full retail". Of course, they might offer a discount at times, but I seriously doubt it.

Another thing, the last thing I want to do is to have to chase down a salesperson to find an item just because they're glad-handing a previous customer. Worse, I don't want salespeople slithering up and acting like a best friend just because they happen to have your info.

mental slavery

Being rich and being tracked is something of a resonant cycle. Frequent flyer miles, credit card bonuses, all manner of marketing perks and tie-ins, cobranded water, corporate discounts. Of course, the truly rich have personal shopper proxies, and themselves are not truly tracked - they can afford their privacy. But the "pretty rich", like the 90-98%ile Americans, are on the marketers' radar every minute, induced to report with a steady flow of "freebies" to gain their brand affinity and detect their tastemaking activities. The result is often a global disneyworld, where the only "choices" are designed by the marketers, and the "real world" never peeks through.

Back in the day...

Store clerks remembered who you were and got to know you on a personal basis, and could do everything this RFID stuff enables total strangers to do for you now. But times have changed and people don't stay in the same job for 40 years and people don't shop at the same place or even live in the same city their whole lives. When that changed, people bemoaned how alienating modernity was.

Maybe this will start to change now that we have high tech eyes watching our every move.

But... it's just off-putting that someone you don't know well has all this information about you. I don't care really if my tailor of some decades of acquaintance knows some personal details about me, like my left leg is shorter than my right leg. I worry, though, when that information get collected into a big system and combined with all sorts of other information from who knows where.

RFID tags for fun and profit

I wonder if it would be possible to set up a home inventory using RFID tags. Put one on everything you own, then use trianglation to map out the position of everything in your home. Loose your keys? No problem. Just fire up the handheld, connect to the server, run an RF ping and run a search on "keys". I don't fear the misuse of RFID (well, too much) but I don't think many of the people using them really have an idea of how much fun they could be!

prada - useless web site

Although I love good shoes (I'm a recent leather sole convert) I find Prada to be too contemporary for my tastes, but their web site [prada.com] is a joke. I scanned about with my mouse for the magic pixel to let me in, but I don't see it. Maybe it just isn't friendly to safari on the Mac.

They're already here!

First of all you don't entirely need them. I already know for a fact that you read stories on slashdot about RFID tags! I can also surmise that a few of the posters are buying more tinfoil than they would normally need.

RFIDS? What do you think cookies are? The concept of RFIDs has efectively been on the net for years. And for you tinfoil hat ppl: They have been monitoring us liek rats for years... people have been taken, things have been done to them, now there walking gap advertisements...

Things to think about

In response to many of the posts above, this anonymous coward who has worked extensively with supply chain rfid solutions would like to submit the following:

_ WalMart was testing RFID retail solutions on individual products BEFORE they pulled back from the gillette tag project. See http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/654 /1/2/ for more info and a link to a major newspaper story

_ Data collected by RFID in the retail environment is pretty inocuous compared to what is already collected. Wheter you use a 'club card' or not, if you've ever payed for a purchase with a credit card there is a name & address associated to your detailed purchases.

_ RFID tags can't be read by potential theives or evil conmen. The technology as-is is pretty crappy right now, and the range required to read tags small enough to fit on an individual product is within a couple inches. Portals/readers have to be specifically tuned to certin tag formats as well. Suffice to say, unless the 'evil doers' have the ability to hold the actual item -- and the right hardware to read the specific tag, they dont have a shot in hell at reading it. If that doesn't address your concerns, then how about this: newer tags implement self-destructing features, that allow a 'die now' command to be sent when scanning to render them useless -- just to be safe.

_ RFID tags function poorly around metals and machinery from interference. They're pretty bad around water and paper/wood too.

_ Everyone touts the Prada store's accomplishments for the past two years. Its old news -- and no one ever mentions that the stuff never works. Go by the store, ask for a demonstration. Watch the employees cross their fingers or laugh. Go on... The Prada store is only functional as a PR piece.

All of the outcry and reservations about RFID is just plain stupid -- the technology only makes current supply chain tasks easier. The only negative effect on consumer privacy they exert, is detracting attention from the invasive climate THAT ALREADY EXISTS.