[wordup] Could we be tracked by micro RFID tags?

[Adam Shand]

i seem to remember that last time i made a comment about what fucking 
horrendous idea this was i got a lot of not very appreciative email.

this time i'll let you decide how much you like the idea.

adam.

From: http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html

    RFID tags: Big Brother in small packages
    By Declan McCullagh
    January 13, 2003, 6:26 AM PT

    Could we be constantly tracked through our clothes, shoes or even our
    cash in the future?

    I'm not talking about having a microchip surgically implanted beneath
    your skin, which is what Applied Digital Systems of Palm Beach, Fla.,
    would like to do. Nor am I talking about John Poindexter's creepy
    Total Information Awareness spy-veillance system, which I wrote about
    last week.

    Instead, in the future, we could be tracked because we'll be wearing,
    eating and carrying objects that are carefully designed to do so.

    The generic name for this technology is RFID, which stands for radio
    frequency identification. RFID tags are miniscule microchips, which
    already have shrunk to half the size of a grain of sand. They listen
    for a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID code.
    Most RFID tags have no batteries: They use the power from the initial
    radio signal to transmit their response.

    You should become familiar with RFID technology because you'll be
    hearing much more about it soon. Retailers adore the concept, and CNET
    News.com's own Alorie Gilbert wrote last week about how Wal-Mart and
    the U.K.-based grocery chain Tesco are starting to install "smart
    shelves" with networked RFID readers. In what will become the largest
    test of the technology, consumer goods giant Gillette recently said it
    would purchase 500 million RFID tags from Alien Technology of Morgan
    Hill, Calif.

    Alien Technology won't reveal how it charges for each tag, but
    industry estimates hover around 25 cents. The company does predict
    that in quantities of 1 billion, RFID tags will approach 10 cents
    each, and in lots of 10 billion, the industry's holy grail of 5 cents
    a tag.

    It becomes unnervingly easy to imagine a scenario where everything you
    buy that's more expensive than a Snickers will sport RFID tags, which
    typically include a 64-bit unique identifier yielding about 18
    thousand trillion possible values. KSW-Microtec, a German company, has
    invented washable RFID tags designed to be sewn into clothing. And
    according to EE Times, the European central bank is considering
    embedding RFID tags into banknotes by 2005.

    [... remainder snipped and available at 
http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html ...]



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