RFID Labels On Prescription Drug Bottles 222
sonik1 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the Food and Drug Administration and several major drug makers are expected to announce an agreement Monday to put tiny radio antennas on the labels of millions of medicine bottles to combat counterfeiting and fraud. RFID labels provide a unique identifier that is almost impossible to copy. When pharmacists receive delivery, they should be able to pass a wand over the bottles and, through an online database, check the history of each. Each label costs 20 to 50 cents."
In the Money (Score:3, Insightful)
2) Opt out
3) ???
4) Profit!!!
So I can save 20 to 50 cents on my perscription by choosing not to purchase the RFID label? 5 or 6 perscription you woule have saved enough get a cheap bottle of wine.
Re:In the Money (Score:5, Informative)
Re:In the Money (Score:3, Insightful)
The 20 -50 cents will still be passed on to you, but the labels will be on the bulk bottles the pharmacy recieves. This will still not prevent the pharmacist from "diluting" the drug, which often happens with very expensive drugs, like chemotherapy agents, and HIV drugs. But it is a good start.
Re:In the Money (Score:5, Insightful)
>> This will still not prevent the pharmacist from "diluting" the drug
Tampering with a drug in this way would result the removal of your pharmacy license in a NY second. For injectable drugs, the pharmacy keeps very careful logs to prove how much medicine goes into each IV bag: who calculated the dose and how, who checked the calculations, who filled the order, who checked the order before filling (different than the person who does the filling) and who checked the bag before it went out. The system exists to minimize the possibility for error, an incorrect chemo dose could kill somebody. Besides, you couldn't get insurance for your pharmacy unless you kept these records.
Re:In the Money (Score:2)
Um... (Score:2)
First thing that comes to mind when I read this is now people will be able to tell who coming out of the drug store has the "good" drugs and who has the crap like antibiotics and "women's ointments".
Re:In the Money (Score:2)
Don't most medications recommend you NOT consume alcohol while on them?
Except Viagra, which I think, its a GOOD IDEA to drink a bit before getting a little randy.
Re:In the Money (Score:2, Funny)
Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:5, Interesting)
As if my three prescription drugs don't cost enough already (and my co-pays continue to increase) I am going to have to subsidize a possible invasion of my privacy as well? Are they going to insure that before I leave that pharmacy counter that the tag's information will be wiped?
I certainly don't want to be heading towards the door with Oxy and have some hi-tech thief scan me and follow me home to rob me of the drugs I just purchased... Perhaps even someone could scan important/famous people and either blackmail them for their drug purchases (HIV/STDs) or just blatantly report it to the Fish Wrappers for cash.
Costs are still far too high for individual consumer goods, like the amber bottles that pharmacies use to dispense pills to individuals. But prices are expected to plunge once radio labels become popular, so drug makers represent an important set of early adopters.
Once it does become viable for individual consumer bottles there will be yet another excuse why the prices need to continue to go up. Everything needs to cost more especially in the pharmaceutical industry. I swear everyone is in on it. I am told I need three low dose drugs when I have a feeling that a higher dose of another would handle it just fine. I am told that I am being prescribed these particular drugs because my coverage is good enough to afford it... It all leads to more money for everyone.
This still doesn't stop someone from switching the drugs once they arrive at the pharmacy.
Counterfeit drugs are still comparatively rare in the United States, but federal officials say the problem is growing. Throughout the 1990's, the F.D.A. pursued about five cases of counterfeit drugs every year. In each of the last several years, the number of cases has averaged about 20, but law-enforcement officials say that figure does not reflect the extent of the problem.
Then WTF are we doing this? 20 cases of counterfeit drugs yet we have to spend thousands and thousands and pass that on to the consumer. Ugh. Yeah, they are going to say that we need to protect against a possible outbreak of this. Personally, I don't see how a label can help when the medicine inside is what is important. Anyone can swap out the real meds inside for their counterfeit ones.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
access to the database of reference (Score:2)
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:5, Interesting)
Considering that it might save a pharmacist even a few minutes per day, it more than pays for itself immediately.
As usual, it also should cause a nice bump in the sale of tin-foil hats for the black helicopter crowd.
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:2)
Don't think for a minute that these savings will be passed through to the customer. It will still be used to justify a price increase.
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:2)
For over-the-counter drugs tamper-proof packaging is required by 21CFR211.132.
I couldn't see any regs regarding non-OTC packages, but I think that most big companies provide fairly strong tamper-evident packaging for drugs when they are in transit. They may not need tamper-evident seals on individual packages, but they usually use shrink-wrap on shipping containe
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:2)
This presumes that the thief would have access to the database of reference. The tag only contains a Unique ID, therefore, without the reference, the ID is useless. You or the famous person are at the type of risk you describe already if an untrustworthy person has access to your medical records or pharmacy records.
Hmm, I go from trusting my pharmacist (and people with access to his database) not to leak info about my drugs, to trusting any person with access to this database (which will necessarily incl
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:5, Interesting)
For the time being they are only doing this on the large bottles that pharamacies get and then split up to form the indiv amounts.
Besides thier are easier ways to find you have drugs then scanning you as you leave a drug store. if you are really so scared take your aluminum hat off and wrap the drugs in it.
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:5, Funny)
if you are really so scared take your aluminum hat off and wrap the drugs in it.
Tinfoil, dude, apparently why yours isn't working...
regionalism makes $ense. (Score:4, Insightful)
So that drug companies can keep people from importing drugs from Canada? Same drug, same label, different cost due to state controls. I'm sure the drug companies would consider their own pill a counterfeit under those circumstances. Drug companies could even demand special cash registers to deny sales, and I'm sure that's part of the thousands of dollars worth of cost and the "online" database. Welcome to entertainment style DRM for medicine.
I think I'm going to be sick.
Re:regionalism makes $ense. (Score:4, Funny)
Considering your paranoia concerning the pharmaceutical industry, I would recommend against you getting sick...
Re:tracking (Score:2)
RTFA
Re:regionalism makes $ense. (Score:2)
That would make sense if the perscription were transmitted properly from the doctor to begin with. If the computer is wrong because someone misskeyed RFIDs will do nothing but enforce the mistake and build a false sense of security.
What drug price dilemma? (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, the story that drugs are more expensive in the US is largely an urban myth. Patent-protected drugs without significant competitors are more expensive in the US, but because of free-market competition, generics are a lot cheaper here than in Europe or Canada. Malcolm Gladwell [gladwell.com]
20 to 40% delimma, by your article. (Score:2, Interesting)
The ?intolerable? prices that Angell writes about are confined to the brand-name sector of the American drug marketplace. As the economists Patricia Danzon and Michael Furukawa recently pointed out in the journal Health Affairs, drugs still under patent protection are anywhere from twenty-five to forty per cent more expensive in the United States than in places like England, France, and Canada. Generic drugs are another story. Because there are so many companies in the United States tha
Is universal health care ever cheaper? (Score:4, Interesting)
Even including the "universal health care tax," Canada and Europe achieve better results (lower infant mortality, longer average lifespans) than the US and at lower cost than the US, regardless whether you measure in dollars per capita or as fraction of GDP.
There is no question that the US system of medicine is quite inefficient compared to other industrial nations. However, drug costs are not a significant contributor to this inefficiency.
The greatest source of inefficiency in the US is that Congress requires insurance companies to pay for state-of-the-art care even when a much cheaper, but inferior treatment would produce almost as good results at a fraction of the price.
Even for the uninsured, physicians and hospitals often choose expensive courses of treatment because saving money with alternatives, which might be marginally inferior but much cheaper, would potentially expose them to lawsuits if things turned out badly.
In Europe, the government will pay for therapy they consider cost-effective and often make you wait for it. If you want something fancier or want faster service, you're free to pay for it yourself. This gives people an incentive to ask whether they really want the state of the art, since it might cost them out of their own pocketbook.
In the US, everyone with insurance is decoupled from market forces and feels entitled to spend unlimited amounts on medical care in exchange for a small annual premium. This is not the way to get a market to operate efficiently.
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:5, Informative)
Even from the summary, it was obvious that these RFID tags are NOT going to be on the bottles you're carrying home. They're going to be on the bottles of prescription drugs that the pharmacies receive and will be used to authenticate that the drugs were not replaced during shipment. You'll still get the same amber bottle you've always gotten to carry your drugs home in.
Your last couple of points, however, are totally valid. Unless opening the bottles destroys the RFID tag, there's no way to tell that the drugs inside the bottles haven't been replaced. And 20 cases per year? Given the huge number of prescriptions filled in the US per year, 20 cases of counterfeit drugs is so miniscule that the problem is essentially non-existent.
--Ender
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:2)
Counterfeit drugs are a BIG problem! (Score:5, Informative)
According to a story [washingtonpost.com] in the Washington Post, the scale of the problem is much larger than "20 cases" might sound like. Each of these cases may involve tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of doses of counterfeit drugs, many of which are resold back to the major pharma companies, so your local drug store can't tell that they came from a shady middleman rather than directly from Merck's factories.
Part of the problem is that Even worse,Re:Counterfeit drugs are a BIG problem! (Score:3, Insightful)
So...they'll end up with "pure as the driven snow" RFID tags when they're repackaged by the pharma cos for distribution to retailers.
Part of the problem...
This looks like a regulatory issue, and has very little to do with the enduser. It looks a lot like proper oversight and policing of pharmaceutical distribution licenses is more likely to catch the bad guys than RFID tags and scans.
Re:Counterfeit drugs are a BIG problem! (Score:3, Interesting)
Last summer, nearly 200,000 tablets of Lipitor, the world's best-selling cholesterol-lowering medication, was found to be counterfeit and recalled by a small Missouri wholesaler. Some of the pills had already reached Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies.
It can be harder to become licensed as a beautician than as a pharmaceutical distributor. With a $700 per
Re:Counterfeit drugs are a BIG problem! (Score:2)
Re:Counterfeit drugs are a BIG problem! (Score:2)
Why would a state's department of transportation spend $10 mil on installing safety lights on a frequently fog covered mountain when the lights cause more deaths than not having them?
Answer, hindsight is 20/20. In my lights example, people thought that having these bright lights on the side of the road would make it safer in the fog because they could see the road right? Well, yes it makes it easie
Re:Counterfeit drugs are a BIG problem! (Score:2)
If you've got a reference for the mountain fog lights, I'd love to learn more about them.
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:2)
First of all, 50 cents isn't going to break anybody. Secondly, if this system makes it easier to verify the authenticity of the drugs, that probably means that there's a cost-savings somewhere else in the system to offset the expense.
Re:Paranoia fueling higher costs, yay! (Score:2)
One hundred government regulations could cost me $50/month. One thousand - $500/month. How can I even begin to estimate how much of my monthly budget is being eaten by government regulations? Sure, I can look at my income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes, but it's much harder to estimate what percentage of the purchase pric
Impossible to copy? (Score:5, Interesting)
Really? [slashdot.org]
What does this have to do with my rights online? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What does this have to do with my rights online (Score:2)
special labels... (Score:3, Insightful)
ignore what they say and ask what it does. (Score:3, Insightful)
The only thing that makes sense is that drug companies are looking for a way to restrict sales of re imported drugs. It's not going to stop tampering and we can be sure that counterfeiters will be able to fake the RFIDs no matter what the drug companies do. If you can make one, someone can make one just like it. The only thing I can think of that works is computer enforced regional cost discrimination.
What this system will do is burn a pharmacy that's
Humm (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd usually be against RFIDs but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'd usually be against RFIDs but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, but you can keep that private by doing something radical like putting the bottle in your pocket where curious eyes can't see the label. With an RFID, it can be read at some distance even when squirreled away in a bag or pocket.
I really do think this could be a big deal. There has been an increasing trend in pharmacy to just dispense full, prepackaged bottles of pills (why it still takes 30 minutes to fill is a mystery since all they do is stick a
Re:I'd usually be against RFIDs but... (Score:3, Informative)
The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:5, Informative)
This will save you MORE than money.This will potentially save you (or your family members) lives as it prevents fake drugs- or at least makes them a lot harder to produce.
The number of fake pills out there is staggering. This is actually a 'good' implementation of RFID.
The only thing this has to do with the little brown bottle you bring home is that it may vist a few cents more (the tag costs like 20 cents, the tagged bottle may fill 10-50 prescriptions). The benefit is that you can be pretty darn sure tha medicine you get is legit.
I think it's worth it.
Re:The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it's worth it if the drug industry is paying for their own screw ups. In reality, the customers who are already the victims of counterfeit drugs are going to have to pay for this.
Re:The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:3, Insightful)
The cost is about 20 cents (or 250 canadian dollars...just teasing) per bottle. That same bottle will fill several prescriptions. The costs to you will be anywhere from less than one cent to 20 cents max.
PLUS, your co-pay, if you are insured, is not going to change. Technically, you will not really pay anything.
Now, I know a valid argument can be made to say that any cost will make premiums go up, etc, BUT, think of this. RFID will cost much less to
Re:The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's say it's $0.20/large bottle to tag and each large bottle on average fills 20 perscriptions. That SHOULD only raise the price about $0.01/perscription. Which is barely noticable.
Now add in the cost of the RFID reader. I don't know how expensive these things are, but I'm sure they're more than a couple of dollars. Now install at least one reader in each pharmacy. Now train each pharmacy tech to use the equipment. See how fast the costs can increase? Companies will most likely want to make up for these costs ASAP, so they'll increase prices immediately instead of trying to spread the costs over a year with only slightly higher prices. Once the insurance companies are paying these prices, the pharmacies have no incentive to lower the prices (citing continued maintenence and training costs). This, of course, causes insurance premiums to go up and we won't even talk about what happens to the uninsured.
Re:The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:2)
Hi! Quick hint: drug companies get their money from people who buy medicine. No matter how you look at this, you will be paying for it. And if they'd had before a better system that prevented this fakery? You would have pai
Re:The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:2)
One other thing-the cost of one lawsuit for incorrectly dispensed medication could by a lot of RFID ta
Re:The Label is on the pharmacy bottles (Score:2)
Those costs have always been there. You bear the cost for R&D. You bear the cost for manufacturing. You bear the cost for shipping. You bear the cost for content verification. You bear the cost for retail markup. You are the consumer. All the costs fall to your shoulders. If you can't handle that, then I think Ted Kaczynski has a shed
same as any business..... (Score:2)
i have never stolen anything from a Home Depot, yet part of the price i pay for tools and hardware goes for security tags and readers and guards. the system would not work if only the thieves had to pay up for the cost of security.
Andd what *exactly* does this have to do with... (Score:4, Funny)
No more Canadian counterfit drugs (Score:3, Informative)
Looks like the plan is unfolding as it should
Or is it just tin foil hat time?
RFID's easy to copy (Score:3, Informative)
They're a 10 digit number emitted over RF at 13.57mhz. RFID ain't magic, it's just barcode over AM radio.
Even the physical security guys are starting to realize that perhaps moving all access control to this tech was a profoundly questionable move. Something like a deadpool is forming for the first time someone walks by a TSA agent and electronically pickpockets access to the entire airport. Convenience, eh?
Re:RFID's easy to copy (Score:4, Informative)
So if one is copied then as it was scanned in it would show up that it was also purchased by some other end parmacies and that would be a great clue that it was bad.
The problem would be if they generate a number that corresponds to a bottle that was in transit. It would take until the other bottle is delivered to find you have a possible forgery.
RFID is a GOOD thing... (Score:5, Informative)
Or at least it is in this case.
I recently co-oped at a large pharmaceutical company and it honestly looks like RFID is a good idea here.
Counterfeit drugs are a serious problem. There are several large counterfeiting operations working out of areas like China that produce product that is so authentic looking that most people (even doctors) can't tell the difference. The only problem is that nobody has any idea as to whether the dosages are correct or if the product was manufactured under sterile conditions. There have already been a few deaths.
I've read quite a few people complaining about how RFID is going to jack up the cost of prescriptions, but I would willingly pay %0.50-$1.00 to guarantee that I'm actually taking what I think I'm taking.
It's your life, though. Feel free to gamble with it if you must.
Re:RFID is a GOOD thing... (Score:2)
So would I, but tell me how you think this is going to guarantee that the drug is actually what you think you're taking? The article mentioned nothing about how it would be used, just that if the same ID showed up in the system twice or at the wrong pharmacy, then it would know something suspicious happened. Nothing about making sure the drug inside is correct, or anything like that.
Sounds more like theft de
Re:RFID is a GOOD thing... (Score:2)
Re:RFID is a GOOD thing... (Score:2)
and
Re:RFID is a GOOD thing... (Score:2)
I think that chemical tracers are often used for this (trace amounts of certain elements in certain ratios, or isotopes, or little (smaller than bacteria) pieces of multi-colored plastic, or whatever).
Actually. (Score:3, Informative)
The article says the tags are for the big bottles the pharmacy receives, not the amber bottles for the consumers. This doesn't seem to be a consumer rights issue at all, mostly.
RFIDed Viagra bottle (Score:2, Funny)
I guess... (Score:2, Interesting)
Not for consumer bottles (for now) (Score:4, Informative)
For now at least... I'd imagine that if this is succesful, that consumer bottles will be next on the list, where they'll likely meet the same kind of debate that RFID tags are now dealing with.
this is getting ridiculous (Score:5, Informative)
the tags are only on the large bottles that pharmicies get. the kind that has about 1000 or so pills in it. that is about 33 perscripions. so $0.50/33= $0.0001.
Re:this is getting ridiculous (Score:2)
Re:this is getting ridiculous (Score:2)
Food & Drug Packaging, ( smart packing) (Score:2)
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UQX/is _11_65/ai_81221653
Doesn't anyone remember the old saying... (Score:2, Insightful)
"Making more complex locks just makes for more highly skilled thieves, not less thieves."
Basically this is alluding to the fact that good security is not just about making better safes & locks, (because there will always be a thief who will open/crack them), but deciding how to keep the larger portion of the population from profiting off of your "valuable" items.
RFID Tags Can't Be Copied - Just like Music (Score:2, Funny)
If you believe that, I have some Ocean Front property in Arizona for sale - Are You Interested?
I can't disclose the precise location because it would be in violation of the DMCA.
RFID evil? (Score:2, Informative)
RFID proposed for tracking from manufacturer to retailer. You're jug of 5000 Viagra (buy the 10's the 5's are 80% the price and a pill cutteris cheap) will only go up by $.50/$5000.
IMO this particular application is a solution in search of a problem. Drugs are already tracked. Every time a shipment changed hands, someone has to sign for it. Ahh, but the RFID solution is so much easier than taking note of the $8.78/hour warehouse worker wearing $50k in bling and driving a new H2.
What you should rea
Devil in the Details (Score:2)
But I can see that little gem of a price rapidly inflating over time for "new advances."
Also, I have to wonder just how much good it will really be at things like combating the rare but extremely dangerous incidents of pharmeceutical human error. Human error is almost always the weakest link in any chain of security/precation.
And what is to stop counterfeit F
Despite what you may read . . . (Score:3, Funny)
in the pill (Score:2)
RFID Scan==Illegal Search (Score:4, Funny)
#inclu
bool JudgesRuling(double);
bool CongressApproves();
bool CoperationsArgueBetter();
double MoneysInvolved(double);
void Appeal();
void GoAheadAnyWay();
bool The_System_Works();
int main(int argc,char* argv[]){
bool RFID_tags_become_popular = CONSUMER_APATHY_INDICATOR;
long number_of_consumers = NUMBER_OF_SUCKERS;
long number_of_RFID_readers = CORPERATION_RUTHLESSNESS_INDICATOR;
double massive_amount_of_personal_data_in_private_hands =
RFID_tags_become_popular * number_of_consumers * number_of_RFID_readers * AVG_READS_PER_DAY * AVG_READ_COOKIE_SIZE;
bool RFID_scanning_is_illegal_search =JudgesRuling(massive_amount_of_data_in_private_h
if(RFID_scanning_is_illegal_search){ if(MoneysInvolved(massive_amount_of_data_in_priva
else
printf("You have no Privacy, get over it\n"); endl;
return A_LOT_OF_$$$;
}
return OUTSCOURCED_RFID_PROFITS;
}
bool JudgesRuling(double possible_infraction){
if(CongressApproves()) return false;
else if(MoneysInvolved(possible_infraction) > A_LOT_OF_$$$) return false;
else if(CorperationsArgueBetter()) return false;
else return true;
}
bool CongressApproves(){
if(CorperationsArgueBetter())
return true;
else
return false;
}
bool CorperationsArgueBetter(){
if(A_LOT_OF_$$$ > PROTESTERS_FUNDS)//always true
return true;
else
return false;
}
double MoneysInvolved(double data_recieved){
return data_recieved * NUMBER_OF_SUCKERS * DOLLARS_PER_SUCKER;
}
void Appeal(){
if(The_System_Works())
return;
else
GoAheadAnyWay();
}
void GoAheadAnyWay(){
printf("We will find other methods to make life better for consumers\n");
exit(-1);
}
bool The_System_Works(){
if(A_LOT_OF_$$$ > 0)
return false;
else
return true;
}
RFID This, RFID That, What about the airlines? (Score:2, Interesting)
My complaint is: WHAT ABOUT THE GODDAMN AIRLINES?!?! I've been com
Bulk bottles only to pharmacies, eh? (Score:2)
This has been alluded to by a couple of other posters, but what about the situations where the end user *does* get the bulk bottle? I get three-month supplies of prescription drugs via mail for some stuff, and I assure you that the mail-order prescription house is not bothering to remove the drugs from the manufacturer's bulk packaging except where necessary (in my case, one drug in particular comes in bottles of 100 from the manufacturer and my prescription is not for an even number of hundreds, so I'll g
Re:Bulk bottles only to pharmacies, eh? (Score:2)
Non-Paranoia use for RFID + Drugs (Score:4, Interesting)
Not all people (think the visually impared, illiterate, non-english speaking, etc) can read the bottles, and some computer assistance can certainly help with the medication...
Re:So... (Score:2)
Re:So... (Score:2, Funny)
What worries me is when will the, umm, prescription, umm, drugs that I import from Colombia have RFID tags?
Re:So... (Score:2)
I'm sure the original poster knows this, but a quick warning for others:
Please don't take antibiotics unless you are under a doctor's care, and when you do make sure to take all the antibiotics prescribed. Why? Because if you do it wrongly, you can help diseases evolve antibiotic resistance. Superbugs are a big problem [fda.gov], causing increased costs (as people have to use expensive new antib
Re:So... (Score:2)
In every study I've heard about, antibiotic resistance has never been proven to occur in the general population at a level significantly greater tha
Re:So... (Score:2)
I would say we will see it up front...as soon as they have to buy this expensive equipment.
Re:So... (Score:2)
What a mess.
Don't you know the party line by now? (Score:5, Funny)
By preventing fraud (and cheaper imports), the pharmaceutical companies will protect their investment, which will naturally lead to LOWER COSTS! It's a win/win situation!!!
You, the consumer, should embrace this, just as you should embrace DRM, because when companies don't have to enforce their IP, they pass those savings on to YOU!
Hey, that sh!t's worked before...
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:2)
Good luck.
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:5, Insightful)
1. RTFA. The RFIDs are on the bulk packaging received at the pharmacy, they are not on the small containers doled out to the customers.
2. Why would a junkie, desperate for his next hit, be driving around in a vehicle, with expensive remote-RFID sensing equipment, looking for prescription drugs? Why wouldn't he just sell the laptop/van and buy the heroin he wants?
3. Where would this highly-sophisticated, highly-educated, well-equipped drug addict get a copy of the confidential RFID tag database that he would need in order to make the connection that ID # 8736704385748932 is Penicillin? And if he is capable of hacking (oops, sorry, I mean "cracking") into Pfizer's mainframe and stealing databases, why wouldn't he instead just steal a credit card database?
4. When did anyone invent an RFID reader capable of reading passive RFID tags at a range greater than 3 yards, let alone the 75 feet from the street to your medicine cabinet?
5. Why wouldn't the junkie just skulk around a rich neighborhood, pick a big, dark house that looks empty, with no security alarm stickers in the window, break in, steal the jewelry, and pawn it for drugs? Why go through all the trouble/hassle of war-driving, reading a bunch of RFID tags for foot cremes, when the cheap, classic, time-tested methods still work just fine?
In what world do drug addicts have the intelligence, financial means, and patience to do the ridiculous things you suggest?
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:2)
You forgot to mention the tags are inside a metal cabinet in many homes. Somehow I think there is some attenuation involved..
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:2)
In what world do drug addicts have the intelligence, financial means, and patience to do the ridiculous things you suggest?
Hey, I think you are over looking all those smart rich folks that happen to have drug habits. I wouldn't know if they have patience, but if they have the ability to be wealthy, then they most likely do. I wouldn't be worried about this type of criminial mugging me since he most likely makes 10 times as much money as I do. I'd be worried that he is a supplier that could sell imported
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:2)
I don't think it's out of the question to have an illegal reciever with 100x the power and a really good directional antenna. That would be an increase of roughly 80x. If RFIDs can normally be picked up at 3ft, they'd make it 240 ft.
Medicine cabinets are normally made of metal, aren't they? Specifi
Re:Moderators on drugs? (Score:2)
Please re-read my post. I deliberately bolded the word passive for a reason. The RFID tags discussed in the article are passive. There is no such thing as a passive RFID tag that can be read over distanced larger than a few feet, let alone through walls.
Most of the Oxycotin addicts I know are rich housewives.
Rich housewives who will burglarize a home for a small bottle of Prozac or painkillers? Not likely. Breaking and entering takes a sp
Re:FCC to install 'steal me' RFIDs (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're that worried then unhook the battery and antenna attached to your bottle of v14g4r4 that will be required to broadcast the RFID through not only the medicine cabinet, but through the walls of your house.
RFID comes in both passive and active flavors and the passive kind that will unquestionably be used in pill bottles has a range that will - at best - be measured in inches. Not only that, but wardriving involves listening for signals that are already out there. To get a passive RFID read you need to transmit a signal - and cruising around the neighborhood broadcasting like that in the hopes that you can pick up the RFID tag on a bottle of p3ni5 pills that are still in the mailbox at the curb (which is as close as you'd have to be) is likely to attract a good deal of attention.
Black market in RFID tags (Score:2)
Re:edible rfid (Score:2, Funny)
Re:edible rfid (Score:2)
Imagine every toilet in America equipped with an RFID scanner.
I thought it was bad when they were talking about RFID tagging chickens!
Actual you are right (Score:4, Funny)
The more i think about the more i think your right. The supporters of Liberal Gun laws (NRA) are pretty mental.