lilfluff

Take:

One part hype,

One part fear,

One part endless possibilities

Yes folks, we've taken another step into the future. While checking /. today I discovered two things. First that there is actually an online journal dedicated to radio frequency ID-tags; and secondly that Gillette has become the first major company to make a large order of RFID's from a startup called Alien Technology.

For people who aren't quite the tech junkies that I am, here's a short description of what an RFID is. Take a small antenna, radio receiver, and a radio transmitter and shrink them down as small as you can (preferably something on the order of a grain of rice, but thin as paper). Now give each one of these radio tags a serial number, and design them so that when they receive a radio signal they will transmit back the serial number.

You would then have an RFID. Do you make use of RFIDs in your daily life? Has your employer given you one of those new fancy Employee ID's which you only need to wave near a box on the wall to unlock an entrance? Good chance that ID has an RFID embedded in it.

What are some positive uses for RFIDs?

Hands off tracking of packages during delivery. A shipper could link each packages ID into a database so that when a truck arrived at a depot, there would be instructions on which packages to move where before the engine was even turned off

Can't find your keys? In the home of the future you could simply ask your computer. "Gee Steven, how'd you get the keys behind the couch for the fifth time this week?" Gah, have to remember to uninstall the sarcasm module.

Make that warehouse store experience even more efficient. Just wheel your cart up to the checkout lane, verify your desire to pay for everything in the cart, and pick up your receipt in seconds. The register simply checks the RFIDs on each item in the cart. Tags that were built into the packaging by the manufacturer.

Well, is there anything about RFIDs to worry about?

Okay, so when the manufacturers put the RFIDs on that bag of "Socially Embarrassing Nighttime Product" you picked up for your child, will the neighborhood techie be able to spot the tag from halfway down the block on his PDA and embarrass him the next day at school?

"Gee Mister Jones, we're afraid we're going to have to dock you a few points on your employee review this quarter. Company security spotted your employee ID's signal at one of the nightclubs on the proscribed list."

Forget the neighborhood kids teasing your child, what about thieves taking an inventory of your household goods to decide if you're worth robbing. Even if they decide tagged goods aren't worth taking if they see fancy enough stuff showing up on the scan they might well figure there will be cash, jewelry and other tagless items enough to make it worth while.

Here's another interesting RFID link. From MIT's Technology Review an RFID Consumer's Bill of Rights. Which unfortunately they've decided once again to make a pay to view article (Well, it was publicly viewable for a week or so). It's the October issue if you'd rather just hit your local library.