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General discussion

RFID chips. They are everywhere.

Nov 29, 2003 3:29AM PST

How many do you bring home each day? How many will you give to friends and relatives this Christmas?

If paranoia is on your personal dance card, you may want to skip this post Devil

Still with me? OK, the following links/quotes will get you started on the subject. You can find more information with a simple search at google for "RFID chips".

~Orwellian eyes~
By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

It is reminiscent of George Orwell's futuristic Big Brother in his book "1984" and it's all possible now thanks to technology being developed or on the market in the United States and Europe.

"We've reached a point where a '1984' surveillance society is technologically possible, and that trend was accelerated by the events of September 11," said Barry Steinhardt, director of technology and liberty programs at the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The technology is developing at the speed of light, but the laws that protect us go back to the stone ages," Mr. Steinhardt said.

~Genesis of the Versatile RFID Tag~
RFID Journal

Mario Cardullo received the first patent for a passive, read-write RFID tag. He tells how he came up with the idea in 1969.


~RFID Chips Are Here~

RFID chips are being embedded in everything from jeans to paper money, and your privacy is at stake.
By Scott Granneman

Bar codes are something most of us never think about. We go to the grocery store to buy dog food, the checkout person runs our selection over the scanner, there's an audible beep or boop, and then we're told how much money we owe. Bar codes in that sense are an invisible technology that we see all the time, but without thinking about what's in front of our eyes.

Bar codes have been with us so long, and they're so ubiquitous, that its hard to remember that they're a relatively new technology that took a while to catch on. The patent for bar codes was issued in 1952. It took twenty years before a standard for bar codes was approved, but they still didn't catch on. Ten years later, only 15,000 suppliers were using bar codes. That changed in 1984. By 1987 - only three years later! - 75,000 suppliers were using bar codes. That's one heck of a growth curve.

So what changed in 1984? Who, or what, caused the change?

Wal-Mart.

When Wal-Mart talks, suppliers listen. So when Wal-Mart said that it wanted to use bar codes as a better way to manage inventory, bar codes became de rigeur. If you didn't use bar codes, you lost Wal-Mart's business. That's a death knell for most of their suppliers.

The same thing is happening today. I'm here to tell you that the bar code's days are numbered. There's a new technology in town, one that at first blush might seem insignificant to security professionals, but it's a technology that is going to be a big part of our future. And how do I know this? Pin it on Wal-Mart again; they're the big push behind this new technology.

Discussion is locked

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Re:RFID chips. They are everywhere.
Nov 29, 2003 4:36AM PST

I've read several articles about them and the uses planned, from Time Magazine to PC Magazine articles.

It's the old bit, very convenient, very easy to be misused.

roger

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Re:RFID chips. They are everywhere.
Nov 29, 2003 4:41AM PST
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Further - RFID for YOU
Nov 29, 2003 8:43AM PST
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I'm collecting them. Soon to festooned on my hat.
Nov 29, 2003 9:22AM PST

Since these things work long after they are sold (not the anti-theft tags...), collect as many as you can and wear your RFID hat everywhere you go.

Bob

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Re:I'm collecting them. Soon to festooned on my hat.
Nov 29, 2003 9:34AM PST

Bob !

One of your rare appearances in this forum.

Trust your Gobble Day went as desired.

T Lee

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25 pound turkey, 4 or more pies, two families... And why I wrote.
Nov 29, 2003 11:15AM PST

A good time was had by all and the dog was overfed again.

The RFID item is not going to be that great an idea at the checkout counter. The retailer's dream is that you push the cart up and the items autotally on the registy. Or no-registy....

Consumers will unlikely see RFID as I know it today work very well. Stay tuned, but for today as a designer of things I see this one as a waste of some company money. It will be a year or two before they figure out if it pays or not...

My special hat will be me just toying with the system.

Bob

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Re:25 pound turkey, 4 or more pies, two families... And why I wrote.
Nov 29, 2003 3:11PM PST

Bob,

Thanks for your response and I'm glad you had a happy Gobble Day too.

Sounds to me like you are bit of a rebel like I am wont to be. Happy

T Lee

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Re: RFID chips. They are everywhere.
Nov 29, 2003 10:44AM PST

Anything with the potential for misuse surely will be misused.

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Hard to say because of Wal-Mart, Louis...
Nov 29, 2003 3:12PM PST

Louis, it's hard to blame the adoption and wide spread use of bar codes on Wal-Mart. They were adopted in 1973. Wal-Mart was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972, and didn't have a billion dollar sales year until 1979.
The grocery chains were the people who really found them useful back then, as I remeber.