Alarm over shopping radio tags (BBC) {RFID}

[eppur_se_muova]

By David Reid
Click reporter
***
{Vint Cert} told Click: "What everybody worries about is that these identifiers will be used not to keep track of the object, but of the person associated with the object and then there's a Big Brother scenario that everybody worries about.

"But when the economics get to the point where the readers are inexpensive and the chips are inexpensive, then you start to ask yourself who has the ability to read the chips and what do they do with the information?"

But with remotely readable tags on everything from boots to beans, is it the customers or what they buy that is being labelled?

Former Australian privacy commissioner Malcolm Crompton says: "If done wrongly, it really is possible that I can buy things in one shop and be tracked in another shop, that the data, once collected, stays there for someone to come in and collect and use under circumstances that I don't know about or that I don't approve of.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/4886598.stm

[matt819]

1. Point taken

But wouldn't the RFID tag be removed when the item is purchased, as the magnetic anti-theft tags are removed or deactivated? I'm all for tracking product and inventory - it's good business sense. But there certainly is a mechanism for removing that once the item has left inventory, no?

[wakeme2008]

2. some tags could be left with the article to track but NOT to

set of thief alarms. So two tags one that sets off alarm if not cleared and one that is a silent tracker.

[SoCalDem]

3. Pay with cash, and who knows you bought it?

or just use a boxcutter to carefully lift up a few "coils" and sever them :)

[SeaBob]

4. RFID

The whole rfid thing has gotten completely out of hand. And it has been fueled by people who know nothing about the technology.
1st RFID "Tags" are more expensive than Bar codes. So why use RFID and where?
RFID is primarily used in the field of logistics and supply chain management. The main reason for using RFID is because it is easier to walk down an aisle of Containers in a shipyard or a ware house and have the signals received in a scanner. This beats having to scan each item in terms of time & money. Also RFID tags on container locks provide more security than anything else that has come down the pike.

It is used to keep track of Items at different levels of packaging. By different levels I am referring to Containers, then crates in a ware house and finally individual packages.

Now pay attention folks each level of packaging has different needs in terms of how far the "tag' must broadcast Tags on containers usually broadcast for a distance up to 20 - 25 feet. tags in side crates usually broadcast for a distance of 15 - 20 feet
and lastly the tags inside individual packages broadcast for a distance of 5 - 10 feet. and each type of tags requires a different frequency. so a hand held scanner designed for receiving a signal from a distance of 20 - 25 feet wont work on other frequency.

Lastly Tags come in two general types Active and passive. what I have described here are active tags. They scream out all the time with the information that has been programed into them. Active tags are way more expensive than passive tags. in some cases, such as a container lock, they may cost as much as $2500.00
Passive tags are real dummies. they need a scanner to poke them before they provide any information. they are much cheaper they can range from a nickel to 50.00 depending on where they are going to be used.

In any event the likely hood of anyone being able to drive down any street and read what someone has in there home is stuff of someones over active imagination

[slaveplanet]

5. They wont need to

drive down the street and read what is in someones home

They're going to have the garbage removal service do it for them.

They already have experimental programs going on like that in Europe, as it will eventually be an integral component of keeping track of consumption guidelines, for VAT, flat income tax and other personal data on your permanent record.

They are also developing RFID for id documents and inspection stickers that will be read on the fly for ID and toll purposes.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

6. TIP - RFID tags can be deactivated

20 seconds in the microwave is all its takes.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Have you tried a Taser? That was my first thought. nt

[Freedom_Aflaim]

8. No I havent, but I bet it works

Although you would have to be careful not to zap yourself. There a very funny story floating around of a guy who did just that to see what it was like. Suffice to say that he thought they were quite effective :)