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RFID Everywhere, A Nightmare?
posted by Satri
on Thursday January 31, @10:18PM
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from the the-return-of-the-mark-of-the-beast dept.
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from the the-return-of-the-mark-of-the-beast dept.
RFID technology is regularly covered on Slashgeo. Slashdot discuss a long AP article on RFID, its future and privacy. It was the first time I read about anti-RFID initiatives such as CASPIAN and the related spychips website. Their summary: "[...] a long AP article laying out the nightmare scenario of RFID chips in everything tracking not only things but people. The darker possibilities of a technology capable of enabling ubiquitous surveillance are not news to this community, but it's not so common to see them spelled out for a wider audience. Microchips with antennas embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items and consumers wherever they go. Much of the radio frequency identification technology that enables objects and people to be tagged and tracked wirelessly already exists and potentially intrusive uses of it are being patented, perfected and deployed... [A director at FTI Consulting] said:] 'It's going to be used in unintended ways by third parties — not just the government, but private investigators, marketers, lawyers building a case against you."
Related Stories
GPS Trackers Find Novel Applications
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Slashdot runs a discussion nourished by a NYTimes article on novel applications using GPS tracking. Personally, I wonder why some of these applications are not driven by RFID instead, which would probably be more economic (despite the range limitation). Their summary: "Inexpensive GPS devices like the Zoombak (which costs just $200 plus $10 a month) have becomes so prevalent that some people are using them routinely to keep tabs on their most precious possessions. Kathy Besa has a Zoombak attached to the collar of her 5-year-old beagle, Buddy. If Buddy wanders more than 20 feet from the house, she gets a text message on her phone that says, 'Buddy has left the premises.' The small size made possible by chip advances over the last two or three years is enabling many novel uses of GPS tracking. An art collector in New York uses one when he transports million-dollar pieces, a home builder is putting them on expensive appliances to track them if they disappear from construction sites, a drug company is using them after millions of dollars in inventory turned up missing, and a mobile phone company is hiding them in some cellphone boxes to catch thieves." See also below numerous related previous stories.
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