The Problems With RFID Chips

from the privacy-schmivacy dept

A topic that's been discussed here a few times, but Security Focus is running a good article summarizing some of the reasons why RFID chips could be bad for privacy. There are clear benefits to the chips, and Wal-Mart's support practically guarantees their success and increasing acceptance. However, the privacy questions aren't getting very much coverage. Of course, a simple way to deal with the privacy question is to make it simple to turn off an RFID chip from broadcasting, or allow consumers to change the information certain chips broadcast to protect their privacy. Even if that did happen, there would still be issues when dealing with things like currency that has RFID chips, making it impossible to buy anything anonymously any more. I'll admit that many of these stories seem a little overblown, but if people don't think about them now, then it'll be tougher to deal with them later.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2003 @ 2:35am

    RFID Body Piercings?

    Will the new decade see a fad of youngsters implanting RFID chips under their skin, to confuse sensors?

    Or this could go the route of advanced bar codes -- in the late 90s, there was a brief fad of bar codes that could store GIF images, but it faded out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      munich, 27 Jun 2003 @ 8:32am

      Currency?

      Currency is already identified today - it's called a serial number and it is easily scanned with today's currency readers (plus a number of sites track a bill's ciculation on the internet today). Why would making the serial number electronic make the currency less anonomous. Besides the fact that RFID is unlikely ever to make it into currency, tracking billions of dollars of currency (most of which circulates outside the U.S.) just isn't feasible.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mark Norman, 27 Jun 2003 @ 8:25am

    RFIDiocy

    If the EU places RFIDs in bank notes then they're
    going to have to make hole-punches illegal.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.