Labelling RFID Products 325
John3 writes "Following Wal-Mart's recent announcement that they plan to push RFID in their stores, CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) has posted proposed legislation that would require a product to be labeled if it contained an RFID tag. Beyond the label requirement, the proposed legislation also sets up some strict restrictions on the use of RFID data. Even though RFID is not in widespread use, it's probably best to start working on these types of protections before the products are on the shelves."
My god... (Score:5, Interesting)
Not just for tagging consumers' clothes (Score:1, Interesting)
Slavery is alive and well in this country, and I'm not referring merely to rhetorical or political slavery, but actual slavery. Women from foreign countries, particularly southeast-Asian countries are flown to America and promised low-paying but normal jobs performing menial labor or housecleaning services, but when they arrive, they discover to their horror that the real purpose is to prostitute themselves for the financial benefit of their masters. These women (and even children) are trapped, since they don't speak English, don't have the money to fly home, and don't have the physical or mental stamina to escape their tormentors after so much abuse.
How is this relevant to RF tags? Think of how much easier it would be to kidnap people from airports if all you needed to do was wander around with a small device, picking up the signals from the tags embedded in clothing given to the erstwhile immigrants back in their home countries. No longer would there have to be complicated networks of international communication -- they'd just have to agree on a certain range of serial numbers (of which there are trillions, as the article points out), hand out "free" clothes to people boarding the plane at departure, and sit back while agents at the US airports haul in the "goods".
This never would've been possible if we'd stuck to normal barcodes -- it's simply impossible to read barcodes surreptitiously. And since criminals are always the first to adopt new technologies for these devious purposes, it's only a matter of time before it comes to an airport near you, Thirteenth Amendment be damned.
Was it Ellison? or Joy? Whomever it was they said (Score:2, Interesting)
Privacy? You don't have any privacy. Get over it!
Re:My god... (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine if an RFID kiosk at the entrance identified that you were wearing stain blocker Dockers and announced "I see you are wearing stain blocker pants...we stock a complete selection in your size, and today they are on sale".
Best post-purchase RFID kill method (Score:5, Interesting)
But earlier and later in the FAQ, they mention tags placed into the soles of shoes. Since this is done during the manufacturing process and would require slicing open the sole to find/destroy the tag (if you even knew where specifically it was), it doesn't seem there is an effective tag killer in this instance (and any other where the tags are deeply embedded).
So, anybody else know of an effective tag killer that doesn't involve destroying the item and/or setting it on fire?
RFID isn't exactly perfect in itself... (Score:5, Interesting)
so, what happens when someone is checking out, and the computer fails to record all of the RFID tags because of interference, but the person has legitimately purchased something? When they go to return it, the computer could possibly say that it wasn't purchased, and then the individual is left with more headaches.
I think that the FCC should require that business-use devices like this be licensed, and each one individually identified in a publicly searchable database. I also believe that reissues of identification should be prohibited. This would work quite strongly to curtail use of RFID for tracking mechanisms.
Re:Best post-purchase RFID kill method (Score:3, Interesting)
RFID hackers (Score:4, Interesting)
Now that's what I'm interested in. I want to be able to grab the numbers, and then change them. I want to be able to walk into a store and instead of "How did you like those pants?" I want it to say "How did you like those extra-large elephant sized condoms you bought last week?" :)
There are just so many possibilities to hack these things and have tons of fun with retail stores if they use them for anything useful. Maybe I should start my own organization: The Anti-Datamine (TAD). And we'll go around trying to screw with all the data mining techniques out there.
you can take this seriously (Score:3, Interesting)
However, business from WalMart on down will unite to fight any restriction or product labeling requirements.
Remember, there are people who want a Minority Report style future. There are others who simply see it as a way to make money... there are people who see "You wear adult diapers? We have Depends on sale" as simply an opportunity to make money.
It is the job of your Congressperson to make sure that his consituents are served. His constituents are the people who send him checks and only those people.
And if your RFID tag gets missed at checkout, it'll be your word against the store's that it's their fault. Enjoy your stay in jail.
build an RFID killer (Score:4, Interesting)
Those are tiny little radios - find out the frequency they use, rig up $10 worth of Radio Shack parts, hook it up to a 9v battery, and go for a walk in the offending store.
If you feed them an order of magnitude more energy than they're designed to take in exactly the band they're using
Yes, you can know the operating frequency without a fancy spectrum analyzer - the data sheets on those things are pretty much public knowledge
Re:My god... (Score:3, Interesting)
I also recall that one of the pros for this technology was that your fridge or garbage bin could read the tags and know if you ran out of an item - dosn't sound like they'll be disabled on leaving the store to me!)
How about an electronic wardrobe that reads your clothing tags and tells you what goes with what (and cross-references it to the weather)? Patent anyone?
Why this will never succeed (Score:3, Interesting)
First, there is perhaps .01% of the population who even know what these RFID devices are, never mind the alleged societal dangers that lurk within them. Very few politicians are going to fight very hard to pass a piece of legislation that has so little public spotlight. Most politicians, especially the powerful ones who can sway votes, are media whores. No one is going to get on a network Sunday morning political program talking about RFID tags.
Second, the political winds are blowing gale force in the anti-regulation direction. Any piece of legislation that isn't privatizing workers or loosening government oversight is pretty much dead in the water without some kind of immediate crisis (like the recent corporate scandals). The best that could be hoped for is that congressional folks would say, "let's see what the free market does with these devices first and then regulate them if need be."
Third, Wal-Mart & Co., if there was a miraculous surge in support for this legislation, would easily lobby to defeat the bill or get it placed into committee for further study which would effectively kill the bill. A grassroots campaign would be too disorganized, too broke, and too unsophisticated to ever hope to win such a battle.
I'm not recommending whoever is sponsoring this bill to give up. I'm a firm believer that even losing battles are important to fight because they do raise awareness and keep alive the chance for change sometime in the future.
What's the problem? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Better stop them before they arrive... (Score:2, Interesting)
ID stands for identification. In this case, a UNIQUE ID.
So, you're carrying a radio transmitter around, that sends this ID to whatever happens to be listening. If you don't understand where this can be a bad idea, watch "Minority Report", and mentally replace all of the eyeball scanners with radio recievers.
Re:What's the problem? (Score:2, Interesting)
What does make sense is to tag items using existing numbering schemes (i.e. UCC, ISBN, SCC-14, etc.), allowing RFID sensors at each step in the supply/demand chain to recognize material quickly and accurately without the need for someone to walk up and scan a barcode.
Bottom line is that we're still a few years from seeing these things in use. Currently, tags cost anywhere from 30 to 50 cents apiece, and to make commercial sense, they need to get the price down to the 5 cent level.
why assume the worst? (Score:2, Interesting)
How do these things with a passive range of a few feet compare to say a mobile phone's tracking ability. ah well.
Re:So how does she know? (Score:3, Interesting)
A microwave oven creates an electrical field within the oven cavity. Metal in the field creates a low resistance "preferred path", which channels the current to a point. When the electron potential is high enough, it can break permitivity of air, and arc to another metal contact point. Moving electrons is current, with losses as heat, which can melt the metal & other objects in the microwave.
So yes, the RFID will spark, but not for the reason you thought it would.
As for using RFIDs to begin with, I think Albrecht is a little too luddite for my taste, and doesn't have the foresight to see the benefits. I would rather see regulations on what kind of personal information can be tracked, rather than outright banning. But then again, a collection transparency policy should apply to all companies and governments, not just those that opt to use RFIDs...
Re:My god... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What's the problem? (Score:3, Interesting)
Really? I work weekends at The Home Depot for some extra cash and a chance to play with "toys" I like. HD is working with its vendors to get the sensormatic tags (the white alarm tags) manufactured inside the merchandise, not on the packaging.
Why? So when you take the paper packaging off of a measuring tape and put it on your beltloop, the alarm still goes off when you try to leave the store with your stolen good. Shoplifters try these tactics all of the time. It's far harder to take a product apart in a store and pull out its inventory device than to simply pull off the packaging and pretend you walked into the store with the item.
My point: your statement I highlighted is bunk. You're talking out of your arse. I seriously doubt you have any working connection with retail whatsoever... you're likely just pulling a standard slashdot make shit up maneuver.
I am not a spokesman for Home Depot. I don't like RFID tags. I do like thieves.