RFID Will Be Unavoidable
January 29, 2006
In response to my RFID Fears, Jon commented about being able to “zap” RFID as a solution:
Look at the bright side. Electronic devices fail. Sometimes on their own, and sometimes with the help of a little device like this.
This is cool, but short sighted.
Currently a lot of work is going into getting RFID into US Passports. Most proposals so far have failed and we keep getting a delay on the inevitable here, but that’s one you won’t be able to zap. How long before state drivers licenses follow in those footsteps?
American Express has an RFID chip in it, probably zapping that would be bad if you care about the card, me I just switched away from the damn thing. But, if other CC providers get in on the game there may be nowhere to switch.
Or how about Speedpass for the gas station?
Or how about EasyPass to get through toll booths faster?
It’s very important that we realize these things are going to enter our lives on the basis of adding convenience. You’ll be promised a discount, or the ability to do something faster/easier. One potential big market is in replacing the stupid customer appreciation discount tags we all have on our keychain for grocery stores.
The reality is RFID is coming, we’ll all have a few tags, and the potential misuse of this is tremendous.
Tags: american express, credit card, easypass, freedom, passport, passports, RFID, speedpass, toll, toll booth
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8 Responses to “RFID Will Be Unavoidable”
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well … it sounds like it’s time we start sewing up some tin foil suits to match our tin foil hats …
well at least our own state is against the Real IDs, or soon to be (i hope).
You can always put your RFID-enabled passport, drivers license, etc inside an RFID safe pocket. That gives you control over when the tag operates and when it doesn’t.
RFID will be unavoidable - you will all be assimilated…
AFAIK, RFID systems operate on are unlicensed bands, so you should be perfectly free to carry your own personal RF “cloaking” transmitter that puts out a nice phase-modulated square wave which covers the band of interest with a thick layer of noise to create your own personal “RFID-free zone.”
You could also wear a transmitter of around 10 W as you walked through WalMart that could put out sufficient power to blow out the fusible links used to deactivate many RFID tags.
That would be fun…
messing with wally world can always be considered fun
[...] It seems that the United States’ RFID Passports (which has privacy advocates scared) is finally becoming a reality. According to MSNBC: The US has begun issuing passports that contain biometric information stored on remotely readable microchips, in spite of lingering security and privacy concerns. [...]
thank
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