Chipping away at privacy with radio waves

[NewGuy]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/04/14/rfid/

(CNN) -- Privacy advocates are alarmed by a new technology that might be able to monitor even the tiniest aspects of our lives. It comes in the form of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips.

Knowing what toothpaste you use might be worth millions to some company, and the people who are spending that much on research and development for these chips are betting that it is.

Do these chips really amount to a dangerous invasion of privacy, or are they a harmless monitoring of insignificant facts such as which razor blades we use?

How do they work?
Most people haven't heard of RFID chips, which can be woven into clothing or stuck invisibly on toothpaste tubes.

These chips are small, inactive radio transmitters -- but they don't actually broadcast. They have one piece of information on them: a serial number.

When the RFID chip gets a certain radio signal, it perks up and sends its serial number back to the master radio, to be recorded in a database.

If you have a RFID-chipped credit card, stores could automatically debit your account for whatever products you walk out the door with, eliminating checkout counters.

But regardless of protests, the chips are coming.

Wal-Mart has mandated that its 100 top suppliers incorporate the chips on cartons and pallets by January 2005.

The U.S. military is also going to RFID chips for its complex supply chain.

The chips could even be used in dental work to uniquely identify the various pieces of hardware in your mouth.

Anybody heard of getting radio transmissions through your fillings?

BOHICA:

Bend Over Here It Comes Again.

 

[DKSuddeth]

This will be the boom and bomb when it comes to new business. People will rebel at the privacy aspects of this and will look for products without this technology. I know if it happens, I'll be starting my own manufacturing business.

 

[NewGuy]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
This will be the boom and bomb when it comes to new business. People will rebel at the privacy aspects of this and will look for products without this technology. I know if it happens, I'll be starting my own manufacturing business.

Well, I don't see you having any viable way out when you wont be able to purchase anything that DOESN'T have these tags. Remember the DOD was the originator of these. I am sure there will be a mandate for "security purposes". The American people seem to be oriented toward giving up privacy for security --even if it has to be done like a boiled frog approach.

 

[DKSuddeth]

Originally posted by NewGuy
Well, I don't see you having any viable way out when you wont be able to purchase anything that DOESN'T have these tags. Remember the DOD was the originator of these. I am sure there will be a mandate for "security purposes". The American people seem to be oriented toward giving up privacy for security --even if it has to be done like a boiled frog approach.

what purchasing? I'm talking about manufacturing. make the same products WITHOUT the chips, people will buy.

as far as a mandate to have them.....I personally don't see it happening (though they may actually try it) but I think it will sour tremendously from the people.

 

[NewGuy]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
what purchasing? I'm talking about manufacturing. make the same products WITHOUT the chips, people will buy.

as far as a mandate to have them.....I personally don't see it happening (though they may actually try it) but I think it will sour tremendously from the people.

You can manufacture, but how?

You need tools, materials, etc. You will still buy clothes, food, shelter and such.

Also, if you use credit, the cards have the IDs. Pay an employee? You are using cheques right? -Chips in those, your bank cards, etc.

It is really a pervasive thing.

Remember, many cards and products have been using this for a year or more.

 

[5stringJeff]

The military has been using this stuff for years. It's how we track containers.

 

[JeffGuidry]

Hello. This is my first post.

I've read and thought a bit about RFID. It seems that these tiny transmitters couldn't possibly have a very long range to send or receive RF (max 10-20 yards). Even if you could drive down a street and send out signals, how could you be sure which house the signal was coming from? Of course, that lets you gather lots of information about a particular neighborhood, but individual privacy in this instance doesn't seem to be threatened. Plus, how long would the power source for items like these last? Just enough juice to send out a signal when commanded, and enough in reserve for natural drain for the anticipated length of time the item would sit on a shelf. Likely these RFID's would not be able to send out multiple signals, and even if they did the window of opportunity would be pretty short (a few days?).

I've thought of a novel use for RFID's to make safer landmines. An RFID could be inserted into a landmine, and would respond to a complex RF code that would be difficult for the enemy to discover. At the end of hostilies in an area, an RF transmitter near the landmine could send out this code, and the RFID could begin transmitting its location. Using triangulation, a mine clearing team could pinpoint the location of a mine and dig it up or explode it in place, thereby dramatically reducing the amount of UXO after a war.

The main limitation of this idea is battery power, discovering a battery (likely lithium) that could keep an adequate charge for a decade or more. But if the RFID system reduced the UXO after wars to near zero, it would be worth it, and the US could take signifigantly less crap from the 'international community' about anti-personnel mines.

 

[Bullypulpit]

...The RFID tags don't need a battery. THey'll resonate to a specific radio frequency. Although for the UXO application they would need a battery. The range is approximately 300 feet.

Scenario: You're walking down the street, and every store window, every kiosk greets you by name and exhorts you to buy more of the product you're wearing. Extrapolate that to traking your every move...Who needs a universal ID card then. Just tap into the internet and voila you're location is pinpointed to the nearest millimeter. Ever see "<i>The Minority Report</i>"?

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Originally posted by DKSuddeth
This will be the boom and bomb when it comes to new business. People will rebel at the privacy aspects of this and will look for products without this technology. I know if it happens, I'll be starting my own manufacturing business.

I don't care if corporations know what products I use.
It's research to serve me better.

Again, we should focused not on disclosures of information but what is made illegal.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Ok. Let's say they use this this chip to figure out your race. Is it then ok to use your race information to discriminate against you?

 

[jon_forward]

just because I use Black hair products and like soul food doesnt make me black. I also like Hot, spicy foods too. Does that make me Latino? come up for some air.

 

[JeffGuidry]

Point taken Bullypulpit. But certainly, each individual product will require its own unique RF to resonate to so a reader will know to differentiate between items (ex: one RF for a 6-pack of Bud Light, one RF for a 12-pack of Bud Light). Each retail chain will probably want to assign its own frequency to its products so that its particular system will be compatible with the RFID's (so that like a cellphone, the RFID can be made by anyone, but can be assigned a unique number and be used on any system).

An advertiser in the above scenario would basically have to 'cold call' every frequency until it got one that it resonated on, and then it couldn't be sure that the frequency it got corresponded to one of its products, making its usefulness as an advertising targeter minimal, unless the advertisers were in collusion with the local merchants and knew the frequencies of products they wanted to target. Laws could easily be put in place to prevent such collusion on grounds of privacy.

Your 'Minority Report' scenario would certainly be appropriate if the RF of the RFID's was the same for the same product everywhere the product was sold.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Originally posted by jon_forward
just because I use Black hair products and like soul food doesnt make me black. I also like Hot, spicy foods too. Does that make me Latino? come up for some air.

My dad, a white guy, got hair plugs from one of his strong black fieldhands. Now he has to use Black hair products too.