[kadavul]

jsprague wrote:
Yeah, you are correct and that commercial I am referring to seems like a bit of a fairy tale for the time being. I have read that currently, the maximum distance for RFID is 300 feet, although I am not sure of the accuracy of that fact. There should be no doubt that this distance will be greatly expanded in the near future, and there are other ways tracking could be handled.

For example, you could be tracked in smaller environments such as your work. There is already one company in the US that is tracking their employees via RFID implants. The employees were not forced to get them, but it sounds like most of them did. There is also a retirement home here in Oregon that tracks the old folks using RFID tags. Worse is that the employees are required to wear them as well and they talked about how they get in trouble because they are constantly monitored. The employer can track their every movement and see how often they go to the bathroom, how many smoke breaks, etc, etc...

Then there are all of the privacy concerns with regards to stores scanning the chips that will eventually be implanted in your clothing and other personal effects. The stores will then use this information to target live marketing at you based on your "tastes" (as seen in the movie iRobot). IBM currently holds the patent on this technology and you can view it for yourself at the USPTO web site. There are also several companies including Levi Strauss, Walmart, etc that are experimenting with the use of RFID chips in their products. Currently, they claim they are just being tested for inventory tracking, but I have a pretty good idea where that road will end.

Regardless as to CURRENT tracking distances, 40 international civil liberties groups feel their are way too many opportunities for abuse with this technology and I have to agree. It is a tough situation, because as IT people we tend to want to embrace new technology and toys, but we also have to realize that we might be the last line of defense against oppressive uses of technology. Smile


Point to note ... I worked for an Irish shipping company ... and they COULD tell you exactly where your package was at all times ... but it was through a combination of services.

All boxes/crates/packages were RFID tagged, and swiped into/out-of the vans/trucks. All vans/trucks were GPS tracked (to within a couple of meters) at all times ... security would track the truck from the loading bay to the gates ... if we could not pick it up on the Satelite - it was not permitted to leave ...

(You wouldn't believe how stressed Intel would get about even a single 8-wheel rig full of P4 chips going "missing" ...)

Thus if UPS/Fedex/whoever state that they know exactly where the package is ... don't write it off as a lie just because RFID wouldn't allow them to do it by itself !!

Cormac

[kadavul]

Excellent example. Add an RFID scanner inside each shipping truck and link the trucks to a computer and GPS, and all items will be accounted for wherever they're en route.
_________________
A+ 2003 Obj, CCNA, (70-270 in progress)

[kadavul]

Hey, don't make this forum a "government/big-business" "bashing" site!!

RFID is a technology! YOU use it, when you use your non-swipe badge to get into your workplace or computer room. You use it when you drive through a toll-booth. you use it, when you take a high-value product out of a retail store (or, hopefully, you DON'T use it).

RFID is also a money-maker for those who know the technology, and it has many potentials for improving our work-area processes, sales, inventory, database entries, and hundreds of valuable uses.

If you wish to vote for people who oppose using RFID for people implants, be my guest, but don't label RFID "bad," just because it has potential for bad. If we did that, we would have boycotted automobiles years ago. Remember Al Capone used automobiles to do bad things (and so, I presime, does the government, and "Big Business").
_________________
Will Harper, MCT, MCSE, CTT+,
MCDST, A+, N+, S+
(NT, 2000, XP, 2003, SBS 2003)
Trainer and Consultant
HyperLearning Technologies

[kadavul]

Quote:
Hey, don't make this forum a "government/big-business" "bashing" site!!


Well, it is my site and I can do what I wish with it... Life, technology, and work aren't all just about money. If they were, I would be hosting a braindump site. People with integrity sometimes need to stand up against things that may cause harm to others (or all of us).. Whether you appreciate it or not, when others do that, they do so for your benefit too.

Quote:
RFID is a technology! YOU use it

No I don't... You and others might, but don't assume everyone does.

Quote:
YOU use it, when you use your non-swipe badge to get into your workplace or computer room. You use it when you drive through a toll-booth. you use it, when you take a high-value product out of a retail store (or, hopefully, you DON'T use it).


Well I'm sold.. I guess that makes it OK then...

Quote:
If we did that, we would have boycotted automobiles years ago. Remember Al Capone used automobiles to do bad things (and so, I presime, does the government, and "Big Business").


That is an awful analogy. What do cars have to do with Big Brother and invasions of privacy?

[kadavul]

P.I.'s can sit in their car in front of your house with a camera and take pictures of you without you knowing.
_________________
A+ 2003 Obj, CCNA, (70-270 in progress)

[kadavul]

So the government knows where we are at all times, big deal. Government employees only work from like 10am till 2pm with a lunch break in between and every days some kind of holiday for them, so who's gonna actually watch the tracking screens?

Even if they did track you around, so what? What are they going to do with that information? Most people are just a number to them, you're not very interesting to the government. If they want to track you that bad, they already can. They're not organized enough to be able to manage something like that, and they'd waste a billion dollars per capita on it.

[kadavul]

You're right. It's not worth the time or money to keep track of people unless they are on a wanted list.
_________________
A+ 2003 Obj, CCNA, (70-270 in progress)

[mnop396]

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