RFID Explained 305
SecurityFocus has a nice column summarizing the last year's worth of stories about RFID. Of course, you, diligent Slashdot reader, have read about many of these already. But for your slacker friends that need an RFID education in one easy-to-digest article, here you go.
There's a war going on, (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting technology (Score:4, Insightful)
Isn't Wal-Mart adopting it?
Re:Interesting technology (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm betting that manual inventories would still be required periodically. It might only happen once a year instead of every quarter, but there would still have to be some proof for the accountants. This would be especially true in the first few years of the system, when the bugs are still being worked out.
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2, Insightful)
Umm...not unless you buy with cash
Once you buy your RFID-tagged jeans at The Gap with RFID-tagged money, walk out of the store wearing RFID-tagged shoes, and get into your car with its RFID-tagged tires, you could be tracked anywhere you travel. Bar codes are usually scanned at the store, but not after purchase. But RFID transponders are, in many cases, forever part of the product, and
Re:Interesting technology (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2)
This is exactly why the store would remove them in the first place. Would you really want to use a security device on your wares if that very device could be used by your competition against you?
Re:Interesting technology (Score:3, Informative)
Granted, RFID tagged items would be a boon to inventory systems. But it does create an potentially undesirable electronic trail (manufacturer->vendor->credit/debit c
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2)
If a tag costs 5 cents and is 1/3 millimeter across, removing it from the product and inserting it into another product is going to cost a lot more than 5 cents (if a $6/hour worker requires 30 seconds to remove the tag and put it in another product, that's a nickel right there).
Re:Interesting technology (Score:3, Informative)
If you read the article you'd see be aware that Michelin, for example, plans to embed tags in every tire, and to associate the tags with your VIN. As the article says: "Do you really want your car's tires broadcasting your every move?" Ag
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2)
So pay cash, and there's no name associated with the purchase, and thus the RFIDs.
Re:Interesting technology (Score:3, Informative)
Europe is already considering this.
Oh, and to the guy suggesting that stores will remove the tags, umm, no, they will be in the closthing and products, not on it.
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2, Insightful)
Have you ever gone to BestBuy and purchased a new piece of software, opened it at home and realized that you just bought a box with a manual and nothing else? Good luck explaining to the manager that someone must have opened the box and taken the jewel case before you purchased it. With RFID you would be protected from this situation by checking the contents of the box automatically at the re
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2, Interesting)
Or that somebody could come upto your home, maybe scan your burglar alarm to find out what type it is and check up on the 'ne
Re:Interesting technology (Score:4, Interesting)
Additionally, it has been said many times that the range of the RFID transmitter unit is not more than 3-5 feet. It's not like the drug-addict burglars are going to be picky and choosy over what model and brand name DVD player I have. "Oh wow, my RFID scan-o-matic says this guys got a brand new Mac G5, we better stop here and pick this thing up before we head to the next place!" Why can't my home security system be programmed with the contents of my living room and automatically set off an alarm if any of those tags leave the premises? We might see a shift in the way we look at home security. Instead of just trying to keep people out, there can be ways of keep our valuables in.
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2, Interesting)
(1) Visiting places of dissent: There is no need for the cooperation of the organizers of the meeting. The FBI simply does a secret break-in (as allowed under the PATRIOT act) and installs a reader and equipment to record the RFID numbers seen. They retrieve it later, and then track (from the tag manufacturer down) those numbers to the individuals that appeared (not certain,
Re:Interesting technology (Score:2)
How? It's a short-range technology.
Re:Interesting technology (Score:5, Funny)
More POWER:
"Attention Wal-Mart Employees and Customers, we are now going to perform the hourly RF inventory. You have 30 seconds to put on your aluminum foil hats..."
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It's about time! (Score:2, Insightful)
I can feel the prices dropping now. I also can't wait until Walmart starts putting MY employers out of business, in addition tothe thousands of other small-scale employers that they've already nuked.
diligent readers (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, you mean the slacker friend who didn't spend his Friday afternoons reading frivilous websites, who managed to get that promotion instead of me. I'll forward him the link.
Slacker friends' education (Score:2, Funny)
Most of my slacker friends need an education period.
Shielding RFID against security (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:5, Informative)
Most theft is internal so identifying patterns of behaviour could be an effective way of decreasing theft.
The RF elements are the hardest part of this as the power levels are so low, in the US its 4 watts max for the READER, and in Europe its
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:2)
Based on the research of the RFID org that is fighting this (and I can't find the link now but I got if from a recent RFID posting on /.) The range of RFID tags can be up to 40 feet.
Technology always get's better and more efficient, not the otherway around, so I am going to safely assume that presentl
Active v Passive... (Score:3, Informative)
Active tags have a long range, Passive tags have a short range. Its Legislation that limits readers to 4watts in the US and 0.5 in Europe, not to mention other elements that make UHF RF-ID not feasible in Europe (channel hoping can't be done).
The tags that Walmart will use will be passive as they cost alot less.
Re:Active v Passive... (Score:3, Insightful)
No matter what evidence is shown at this point in time to prove how limited these things are, does _not_ prove anything for RFID tags on the market for next year. Physics or not, someone will find a new material for the antanae, make cheap batteries, make a more accurate reciever, dramatically cut the price of production, etc... and then all the arguments for June 27th, 2003 are completely irrelevant.
A good ex
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:3, Informative)
This strongly depends on the tag type. Even passive tags can have a range of 75 or so yards depending on the design of the tag (RF backscatter tags have an incredible range for a passive device...), frequency used, and the sensitivity and noise rejection characteristics of the reader's RF subsystems. Most of the tollway
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:2)
Tim
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:2)
I agree, it's a big waste
Am I expected to place my .. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Am I expected to place my .. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Am I expected to place my .. (Score:2)
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:2)
Another issue with RFIDs on the privacy department is range- SURE, my tired may be broadcasting their Id's, but if I'm in the countryside, what good does that do me? A satellite can't pick me up, so if I break down, neither can AAA (or insert Euro equivalent).
So then what IS the point? (Score:5, Interesting)
(your faith in cellphones is disturbing! Or maybe you get better service than I do.
So Johnny law is hot to get their hands on me, but RFIDs don't do them any good.
What they CAN do is build up over a long perioud of time a limited account of where I go- if my car passes through a Toll Booth, that is. However if I travel the backroads, the would have to trace my credit card purchases. But what if I use cash? They have RFIDs in the bills. But HOW fine grain can they trace that cash? Some random guy cashes his friday paycheck, then gives a waitress a $5 tip (Cheap bastid!), which she then uses to get into a punk rock show, which is then used to pay back a local heavy for a loan, which is then given to the Church collection plate, which is then used to pay me back for the supplies I got for the church picnic (assuming they'd even want to be associated with me)... So I've got this bill that can't really be traced to me, per se.
From the RFID "trace" that's left, there was some money cashed on a friday, spent next week three states away, and the guy who cashed it never left.
SO my conjecture is that Credit Cards and ATM withdrawls are a far more effective means of tracking someone's habits. I understand my example doesn't mean using RFIDs won't be effective, but I think the privacy concerns are a little out of proportion. I welcome any better examples.
Re:Shielding RFID against security (Score:2, Funny)
uh oh... (Score:2, Funny)
On the other hand, this will prevent people from theft, and quite possibly lower costs, or raise stock value, either way, someone benifets
Foolish man... (Score:3, Funny)
Read? No. Commented about? Yes!
Concerns (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Concerns (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Concerns - answered in follow up to article (Score:5, Informative)
Mod Parent Up. (Score:2)
Re:Concerns - answered in follow up to article (Score:2, Interesting)
But each of your points apply to today's technology.
Moore's law tells us range will increase, size and cost will decrease, storage will increase, etc. etc.
So the sky isn't falling today - but tomorrow - that's another story.
Death of barcodes (Score:5, Funny)
When DigitalConvergence [digitalconvergence.com] 's CEO and entrepreneur extraordinaire J. Jovan Philyaw [digitalconvergence.com] hears about this, he'll start making free RFID scanners (CueDogs?) before you know it.
Re:Death of barcodes (Score:2)
"The CueCat is a cheapo bar-code scanner that looks like a marital aid."
--Leander Kahney, Wired
Mark of the beast? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds an awful lot like this. [biblegateway.com]
Re:Mark of the beast? (Score:3, Informative)
15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
16 He also forced
Not just for tagging consumers' chlotes. (Score:2, 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 h
Quit modding this idiot up. (Score:2)
Re:Not just for tagging consumers' chlotes. (Score:2)
Might just be easier to make the clothes distinctive, ya think? Besides, most of them believed the pitch, I'm guessing they walk quite willingly into the hands of their captors.
How about the slave labor of the prison system?
Simple Answer (Score:3, Insightful)
Products that have RFID tags only in the packaging could be exempt, since those tags don't stick with the product.
Big Brother? not necessarily. (Score:5, Funny)
Ever lose your cell phone and have someone call it so you could find it? Imagin being able to do that with any random item? superglue a RFID onto it, and walk around with a semi-portable RFID scanner. OK, not as great due to the limited range of the things, but you could pretty easily determine if the keys were under the couch or not.
Now, the sucky thing will be if (when) manufacturers build RFIDs into places that you can't get to without destroying the item or voiding the warranty.
So, we need an opt-out method for RFIDs, which may be as simple as a way to find the lil' bastards and plier them flat, but beyond the scare, there's promise:
telnet homenetwork : fridgeport
Brr! it's cold in here [45F]! Can I have your username?
> JoeBachelor
And your password?
> gotb33r?
Welcome to your Refridgerator/Freezer system!
>cd fridge
>ls
Directory of
Beer/
Beer/Shiner Bock (1)
Beer/MGD (5)
Condiments/
Condiments/ketchup package (13)
Condiments/mustard package (2.5)
Condiments/SoySauce package (1)
Condiments/Unidentifiable (5)
Condiments/mayonnaise (1) (warning: use-by-date 5 months expired!)
Vegetables/
Soda/
Coke (.5)
Mountain Dew (4)
non-caffeinated/
ActualFood/
lunchmeat_ham (1) (warning: use-by-date 1 week expired!)
cheese_cheddar (2) (warning: use-by-date is tommorow!)
End of directory. No healthy food available.
>man healthy
Sorry, you need to install the Mother or Health-Conscious-Girlfriend modules for these extensions
>make food
Unable to make food. Stop.
>exit.
Goodbye.
see?!!!!! see! this is my vision!
unrelated, I'm worried about
GriffJon@[ ]mail.com ['Hot' in gap]
hot in gap? what does that imply?
[1] That's a "Mall Rats" reference, for the rest of you.
Re:Big Brother? not necessarily. (Score:3, Interesting)
My TV remotes (especially the oft-unused VCR or DVD remote)... it always pisses me off when someone misplaces these and I really want to watch a tape or DVD.
My keys and work badge -- Why is it I always leave these in different places? Guess I'm lazy.
Anyways, it'd be neat to have a home that could tell you the location of an item in your "inventory", at least down to the room... of course, that would require you to h
Re:Big Brother? not necessarily. (Score:3, Interesting)
More scarily they also had a demo of potential us
Re:Big Brother? not necessarily. (Score:2)
But nevertheless, lots of power for automation and data-enriching of boring everyday things.
Re:Yugo (Score:2)
Security paranoid? (Score:5, Insightful)
"When a transponder receives a certain radio query, it responds by transmitting its unique ID code, perhaps a 128-bit number, back to the transceiver. Most RFID tags don't have batteries (How could they? They're 1/3 of a millimeter!). Instead, they are powered by the radio signal that wakes them up and requests an answer."
Later he throws in this little paranoia bit about "Do you really want your car's tires broadcasting your every move?" What's that about? He knows they don't "broadcast" and that you'd have to be within several feet to monitor. You already have a frickin license plate on your car, so who cares? The good side of that is that you could prove that your tires were now living on someone else's car when they were stolen...
And in that line of thinking, how long will it take for commercial "scanners" to come around, so you can locate the chip and neutralize it? It just seems that people are freaking out about security when in reality, people can already track everywhere you go anyway. How many people out there use cash exclusively? No one I know. I can't WAIT for the day when I just walk out the door with a cart full of stuff and it's automatically taken out of my checking account. that would well be worth someone being able to count how many hammers I buy in a month.
You are obviously single (Score:2, Funny)
The thought of my wife doing that scares the living shit out of me.
Re:Security paranoid? (Score:5, Insightful)
Trancievers in every street light...
London would be the first city to implement it [guardian.co.uk].
how long will it take for commercial "scanners" to come around, so you can locate the chip and neutralize it?
How long will it take for DMCA-like laws that make that practice illegal?
I can't WAIT for the day when I just walk out the door with a cart full of stuff and it's automatically taken out of my checking account. that would well be worth someone being able to count how many hammers I buy in a month.
Yes, and I can't wait for organised crime to automatically skim a lil' bit off the top of all our checking accounts as we walk past 'em.
Not much, just a few bucks per person, walk around in a crowd and you'd make a few thousand dollars in minutes...
Re:Security paranoid? (Score:2)
Extremely high-powered tranceivers? Remember - these tags are passive. You need to be within a few inches (or extremely powerful) to read a signal much farther than that. And of course, there's interference.
How long will it take for DMCA-like laws that make that practice illegal?
Is it presently illegal to remove barcodes from products you purchase? No? Then what makes you think laws could/would be enacted to make an analogous act illegal?
Yes, and I can't wait
learning by RF-ID in Linux... (Score:5, Interesting)
For anyone who is interested in looking more at this area and has a Linux box....
For more info [autoidcenter.org] and then Download it here [autoidcenter.org]
If you want to build an RF-ID lab you need some cash to get tags and readers but this would help with the theory.
RFID tags used to find stolen musical instruments (Score:3, Informative)
Ironic (Score:2, Interesting)
[Drum roll]
1984.
Re:Ironic (Score:3, Insightful)
Privacy (Score:3, Insightful)
Am I the only one sick of "privacy" being used as an argument? It reminds me of "won't someone think of the children." The Constitution/Declaration of Independance do not stipulate privacy.
I'm beginning to think that privacy is costing us too much. If we had access to a plethora of medical information, perhaps we could do some data mining and identify some patterns that would benifit us more than we can imagine.
I'm trying to remember WHY I want all this privacy, why it's so impoartant my purchases be private, who is it I'm afraid of them knowing that I bought a copy of "swank" magazine. I guess if I was a politcian I wouldn't want people to know some things, but I'm just a pretty average citizen, I don't need someone else protecting my privacy.
Maybe an employer would do a backround check and find something - but if they won't hire me becuase of some obscure piece of information, maybe I don't want to work there. Perhaps I'm the kind of person who doesn't really have something like that to hide... it seems the only people concerned about privacy are trying to hide something. Now I'm beginning to ramble...
M@
Re:Privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
The ability to access and share information to help the world would be great, it if wasn't for selfish people who will use that information to their own advantage and the disadvantage of the people who the information is about.
Or how about the government monitoring everyone who reads 'Leaving the 21st Century' (not the book about music), 'The Anarchists Cookbook', '2600' or any number of other books.
Here's the thing about privacy, it's yours to give up. You are or will be a responsible adult who can make desicions about how your personal information is distributed and used. You can publish all the facts if you like.
You do need someone to protect your privacy, because you can't get it back once the cat is out of the bag, therefore you need to make the responsible choice about it's use. You can't do that if it's not protected, the desicion is made for you.
What happens when someone who takes Catherine McKinnon's thinking a little to far and decides to shoot people who look at porn (I don't think Catherine would ever do or suguest that).
We all have things to hide. Sure, we would all like to work somewhere were we are wanted for what we can do and not who we are, but the reality of the situation is some of us need to have jobs and we can't pick and choose. In Florida your employer could fire you for the fact that you look at porn in the privacy of your own home. Some companies have fired everyone in the company who was gay or lesbian. Even with protected status clauses often times you get fired for one reason, but they wanted you gone for another. Privacy protects that.
People say your information wants to be free, but I'm still waiting for them to free their credit card numbers and enough bank details to give me access to them.
Re:Privacy (Score:2, Interesting)
'Who are you?'
'The new Number Two.'
'Who is Number One?'
'You are Number Six.'
'I am not a number - I am a free Man!'
as much as the constitution doesn't explictly define a right to privacy, it doesn't either require one to diseminate their own information. thus, it allows privacy. it also restricts unreasonable searches and seizures on your property which does provide a level of privacy.
you don't seem to mind others profiting from your person
Re:Privacy (Score:2, Interesting)
It's about power, and how knowledge is power. Politicians (as you mentioned), CEO's, and other powerful high profile people will tend to protect their privacy while seeking to violate ours. They can project any image of themselves they want so long as their privacy is intact, and anyone who challenges their authority automatically gets whatever skeletons they have in their closet dragged out into the public eye.
The situation is exacerbated by our tende
Re:Privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
Access to aggregate information can accomplish nearly the same thing without identifying individual people in the process.
I'm trying to remember WHY I want all this privacy...
Okay, citing recent news, what if you were an "evil" sodomizer in Texas, who happened to get "evil sodomizer" stamped on his permanent criminal record, potentially harming him for life in the midst of a bigoted and unfair society?
Everyone has different reasons for desiring privacy. Most of those reasons are very subjective in light of religion, culture, and politics. Is there any logical reason why sodomy should be illegal? Absolutely not. What about if you are a Southern Baptist? Or a member of the KKK? What if a person with access to a national database finds you immoral, based on their own bias, and injects incriminating data into your profile? What if you are among the millions of people whose lifestyle doesn't match assumptions built into an arbitrary database schema?
Databases, by themselves, are benign. Databases in the context of human administration and consumption are terribly dangerous.
I guess if I was a politcian I wouldn't want people to know some things, but I'm just a pretty average citizen, I don't need someone else protecting my privacy.
This really answers your own question. There should be no barriers for average citizens to become politicians, if they choose. Representation by the people for the people, or something like that. Simply, privacy is necessary for democracy.
Re:Privacy (Score:2)
There's a whole lot of things that people do which others have no need to know whatsoever. If it has no effect on my work habits and does not lead to performing illegal b
Re:Privacy (Score:2)
First: I am VERY impressed with the decorum exersized in the replies so far! There are some VERY good arguments made.
There seems to be a common thread of "What if they could find out you were gay," and I'd like to suggest that maybe if it were easy to tell if someone was gay (not so much a matter of public record, but just easy to tell) then we'd realize how totally NORMAL this is and the biggotry might be greatly dimished.
a helpful review (Score:2)
scary stuff
Great quote (Score:2)
Wal-Mart."
MS + RFID = New Slogan? (Score:2)
If AOL RFIDs their CDs, (Score:2)
The other side (Score:3, Interesting)
However, I've had yet another thought recently, one that I haven't heard in any RFID discussion; I am currently in Hong Kong, home of the wondrous Octopus Card [octopus.com.hk] an RFID-based smart debit card. Octopus is used for every transit system in the HK metro area, and is increasingly used by retailers to pay for small transactions. Now, actual use of the Octopus rocks: you don't have to take it out of your wallet/bag/briefcase, just swap the whole thing over the reader; you can get an Octopus chip implanted in things other than a card, e.g. the back cover of a Nokia phone, etc.
But one other feature is very cool: an Octopus is anonymous. Anonymous as in cash: you can buy an Octopus and charge it with cash and it does not get traced back to you. There's the potential of RFIDs to actually enhance your privacy by reducing the overhead of certain transactions, and that's pretty big in my book.
I guess it's kind of the same thing as GSM SIM cards: yes they can be used to trace you --both phone-record-wise and location-wise via E911 services-- but you can also go to a shop and pay cash for a cell and a pre-paid SIM and you're online anonymously. There are two sides to every coin...
I emailed the author of that article (Score:2)
Missed the biggest application (Score:2)
Why worry about RFID clothing? (Score:3, Funny)
-Chris
Always look on the positive side... (Score:5, Funny)
Jamming? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm no expert on RFID tags, but it seems that the signal they emit must be fairly faint if it is only a modified echo of the transmitted query. For passive tags, this means their emission can be no stronger (and in reality must be far weaker) than the strength of the query signal when it reached the tag. Transmitted through three dimensions, my college physics course tells me that these signals drop off proportionally to the inverse square of their distance -- and for RFID, whose query signal must be bounced back without additional power, the distance would have to be double that from interrogator to tag. And then we'd have to factor in the unavoidable inefficiency in the tag itself.
So the signal is going to be faint. Why can't we carry around a jammer? It wouldn't have to be very complicated to function quite elegantly -- it could passively monitor RFID query broadcasts and automatically reply with misleading noise. Since it can measure the signal strength of the query, it could use its own power source to magnify its response by, say, 20%. It seems that should be enough to drown the response from any tag in one's clothing, driver's license, or other effects. A switch could allow the user to disable it when he wants RFID signals to get through -- to have the cashier ring up his purchase, for example.
I can't imagine that the power requirement for extended usage would be that steep -- active (powered) RFID tags theoretically function for 10 years or longer. The circuitry, too, seems like it would be fairly trivial. I'd guess that they wouldn't be significantly more costly to produce than regular AA battery cases. Maybe they could even function for years on the juice of a button battery, and fit the form factor of a credit card.
So why doesn't CASPIAN or anyone else against RFID privacy violations mass-produce these things and sell them online for a couple bucks? I'd grab one just for the coolness factor, and I'm sure lots of privacy advocates would use them too. It'd certainly protect the privacy of anyone using one, and by making the collected data less reliable, even those without would indirectly benefit.
It wouldn't interfere with non-retail uses of RFID tags, since there is a specific spectrum range reserved for retail use -- something like 1.25-8.64mHz. And by introducing a degree of randomness into marketers' data, general trends (governed by the Central Limit Theorem) could still be deduced, whereas individual data points would be significantly less reliable. Hence, the data would be quite useful for tailoring goods to what most people want (a good thing) without allowing individual-level violation of privacy.
RFID (Score:3, Funny)
RFID tags to find my TV remote (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Register (Score:3, Informative)
Re:RFID explained (Score:5, Insightful)
They are like bar code tags, except that they are scanned by electromagnetic sensors through your clothing/belongings possibly without you knowing, and carry enough bit-depth to uniquely identify your specific item (serial number), rather than visible lasers at checkout counters, which can only identify the type of item it is, not exactly which specific item it is.
As you can see, it's a bit more complicated than you would have us believe.
Re:RFID explained (Score:3, Funny)
Brilliant! Consise! Wow.
And a newspaper is EXACTLY like radio, except you recieve it with your eyes, instead of with a tunable RC network with optional FM demodulation.
Re:RFID explained (Score:2, Insightful)
You're right - there's nothing to fear from RFID tags. What people have problems with are the evil deeds [slashdot.org] RFID tags could enable.
Again, people need not fear guns, they should fear homicidal maniacs. But like guns, RFID tags take the wrap because they're the enabling technology.
Nope they aren't (Score:3, Informative)
1D barcodes store only a reference number that can be used to indicate WHAT TYPE the product is.
And EPC stored on a tag tells you exactly WHICH product it is, and from that you can map its whole supply chain if it is all connected.
If you'd said 2D and 3D barcodes you'd have been more accurate, but those still can only be read one at a time.
RF-ID tags can be read thousands at a time and identifiy exactly which items you are dealing with. It is definately different but not by definition something to be pa
Re:RFID explained (Score:2)
The paranoia is completely justified (Score:2)
You can be RFID tracked anytime, anywhere, without your knowledge. Your location/possessions can be itemized/tracked/databased. Sounds like reasonable grounds for paranoia to me. Excuse me while I put back on my tin foil suit.
Re:RFID explained (Score:2)
If the tags can't be deactivated I can see some privacy issues arising from unauthorized detection. What if Walmart were to hide a sensor outside the doors of a competitor's store, scanning and logging every product in their customers' bags?
If the tags can be deactivated, what's to stop shoplifters from acquiring this technology? We all know that any security is eventually broken.
Re:RFID explained (Score:3, Informative)
Can RFID tage be deactivated? Once the product is purchased, is the tag still active or can the store "kill" it?
Yes it can be killed. In fact, stores have a good reason to do so, since that way they can tell the difference between an item that has been purchased and one that has been stolen. (Unless the thief has a device to deactivate tags, of course, but casual shoplifters wouldn't).
Re:RFID explained (Score:2)
Re:RFID explained (Score:2)
Only if they want to track individual items, which makes sense for some goods and doesn't for others. Plus, it means if they want to use this technology to scan goods on the way out, their scanner has to have access to the database. Simply deactivating the RFID is simpler and cheaper from their point of view, not to mention less likely to provoke customer paranoia. And I'm speaking from the point of view of a consultant who has worked with real-world retailers considering real-world RFID deployments.
Re:RFID explained (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:RFID explained (Score:2)
Re:RFID explained (Score:2)
Right, but the distinction is between the laser and the electromagnetic sensors. Lasers have to "see" barcodes to scan them, RFID can be detected through layers of clothing, etc from several feet away. The idea of a purse snatcher stopping my wife, asking to
Re:Hehe (Score:2)
Re:disabling RFIDs with mini-EMP? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:disabling RFIDs with mini-EMP? (Score:2)