4 ms·

10 Uses of RFID Tags

5 points by aneesh 18y ago

aneesh 18y ago
One thing that surprised me was that so many of these uses are tagging living beings, rather than inanimate objects.
- russell 18y ago
  Being chipped so the club can automatically charge your drinks? God no. Being chipped so the police can track you after your are kidnapped? I dont think I want to live there. Chipping sponges so the surgeons can retrieve them? That makes sense.
tom_rath 18y ago
They've missed my favourite: Tagging groceries for automated billing. I'm going to love walking out of a store without needing to wait in line for a cashier first.
- Brushfire 18y ago
  Yes, but I would hate to be the guy forced to tag all the oranges. or steaks. or heads of lettuce. Obviously, I'm being a little facetious. I love the idea of walking in and out on credit (although the privacy implications bother me), but I still havent figured out a way that they can do fresh produce without completely revamping how it is sold. I suppose you could go to an honor system where people bag and then print label/rfit sticker.
  - dmix 18y ago
    The chips could be inserted automatically by machine when the product is being assembled at the manufacturers expense. I could see Home Depot or a similar big box company, who have quite a bit of influence over manufacturers, making that a requirement. The cost might be a trade-off if customer satisfaction is boosted. Although that might be impractical for grocery stores or smaller items (small fruit, nails, etc).
    - yters 18y ago
      Maybe the cost savings of tagging the more expensive items can make paying for the cheaper items part of an honor system. I.e. pay $X monthly to have unlimited access to item Y. Or, untagged items are locked. They are unlocked with a credit card, and the weight difference is billed to the card. Those are just a couple off the top of my head. I suspect there are many creative ways to deal with untagged items.
    - Brushfire 18y ago
      How exactly do you imagine oranges are assembled again? No one is inserting shit into my oranges, hopefully. Honor system only I think for produce. Or buying bags of the shit, which most people arent used to.
chanux 18y ago
And when you want to go against those 10 uses and any other possible uses... https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/static/r/f/i/RFID-Zapper(EN)_77f3.html https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/static/r/f/i/RFID-Zapper...
zacharypinter 18y ago
Why does it not surprise me that Britain wants to tag prisoners?
yters 18y ago
The problem with ideas like RFID is that without a global method of tracking people a global government is unworkable. However, once we can electronically track everyone, then global government becomes much more feasible. That being said, I doubt RFID actually can allow global tracking. The infrastructure cost and maintenance to make that happen is way too high, and not worthwhile.

5 points by aneesh 18y ago

aneesh 18y ago

One thing that surprised me was that so many of these uses are tagging living beings, rather than inanimate objects.

russell 18y ago
Being chipped so the club can automatically charge your drinks? God no. Being chipped so the police can track you after your are kidnapped? I dont think I want to live there. Chipping sponges so the surgeons can retrieve them? That makes sense.

tom_rath 18y ago

They've missed my favourite: Tagging groceries for automated billing. I'm going to love walking out of a store without needing to wait in line for a cashier first.

Brushfire 18y ago
Yes, but I would hate to be the guy forced to tag all the oranges. or steaks. or heads of lettuce. Obviously, I'm being a little facetious. I love the idea of walking in and out on credit (although the privacy implications bother me), but I still havent figured out a way that they can do fresh produce without completely revamping how it is sold. I suppose you could go to an honor system where people bag and then print label/rfit sticker.
- dmix 18y ago
  The chips could be inserted automatically by machine when the product is being assembled at the manufacturers expense. I could see Home Depot or a similar big box company, who have quite a bit of influence over manufacturers, making that a requirement. The cost might be a trade-off if customer satisfaction is boosted. Although that might be impractical for grocery stores or smaller items (small fruit, nails, etc).
  - yters 18y ago
    Maybe the cost savings of tagging the more expensive items can make paying for the cheaper items part of an honor system. I.e. pay $X monthly to have unlimited access to item Y. Or, untagged items are locked. They are unlocked with a credit card, and the weight difference is billed to the card. Those are just a couple off the top of my head. I suspect there are many creative ways to deal with untagged items.
  - Brushfire 18y ago
    How exactly do you imagine oranges are assembled again? No one is inserting shit into my oranges, hopefully. Honor system only I think for produce. Or buying bags of the shit, which most people arent used to.

chanux 18y ago

And when you want to go against those 10 uses and any other possible uses... https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/static/r/f/i/RFID-Zapper(EN)_77f3.html https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/static/r/f/i/RFID-Zapper...

zacharypinter 18y ago

Why does it not surprise me that Britain wants to tag prisoners?

yters 18y ago

The problem with ideas like RFID is that without a global method of tracking people a global government is unworkable. However, once we can electronically track everyone, then global government becomes much more feasible. That being said, I doubt RFID actually can allow global tracking. The infrastructure cost and maintenance to make that happen is way too high, and not worthwhile.