The labs at RSA Security on Wednesday outlined plans for a technology they call blocker tags, which are similar in size and cost to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags but disrupt the transmission of information to scanning devices and thwart the collection of data.
The technique, one of few RFID-blocking technologies being worked on by researchers, is still a concept in the labs. But the next step is to develop prototype chips and see if manufacturers are interested in making the processors, according to Ari Juels, a principal research scientist with RSA Laboratories. Blocker and RFID tags are about the size of a grain of sand and cost around 10 cents.
RFID technology uses microchips to wirelessly transmit product serial numbers to a scanner without the need for human intervention. While the technology is potentially useful in improving supply chain management and preventing theft in stores, consumer privacy groups have voiced concerns about possible abuses of the technology if product-tracking tags are allowed to follow people from stores into their homes. Many retailers view RFID as an eventual successor to the barcode inventory tracking system, because it promises to cut distribution costs for manufacturers and improve retailing margins.
RSA's technique would address the needs of all parties involved, according to Juels. Other options, such as a kill feature embedded in RFID tags, also are available, but with blocker tags, consumers and companies would still be able to use the RFID tags without sacrificing privacy.
"This is not meant to be a hostile tool," Juels said. "It balances consumer privacy and retail use in a profitable way... Tags are too useful to completely disable them."
Retailers have been testing how to use RFID technology in their warehouses to improve inventory management and have dipped their toes into product-level tracking.
Juels said that he foresees a day when tags in clothes can tell washing machines the proper way they need to be washed.
The idea isn't to disable RFID tags, but instead to disrupt the transmission of certain information to scanning devices when consumers want privacy. Blocker tags could be embedded in watches or bags.
Juels said the issue of privacy with regards to RFID technology has been overblown but that there is a need to establish how to best address those concerns before the technology becomes more prevalent.
"If we don't think of it now, it will be more difficult in the future," he said.
Talkback
RFID blocker - RFID tags would be useless at checkout unless you turn it off. Then (at possibly the worst point with regard to commercial privacy) all RFID tags in your closthing etc. can be read along with your new purchases. The technology also open to smarter readers that can listen through the noise.
The only acceptable (privacy wise) solutions are:
* Zap the tag completely.
* Delete the unique ID from each tag as the goods are purchased. This allows "washing instruction" type applications to still work. (Even then a combination of anonymised tags could be used to track a person on a given day).
* As has been suggested elsewhere - 10 second burst of full power in a microwave!
They say one of the prime roles of marketting is about creating a consumer requirement for a product they never knew they wanted before.
Charge the shops for RFID tags. Make sure they can be used to track product movements and as a result, take away individual privacy.
Now you can charge the consumers to get their privacy back again !!
Their is no question. These tags should simply be completely disabled as soon as a product has been legally purchased!
RFIDs may solve some merchants imagined problems but, the additional level of complexity for such a simple task is silly.
I had a pair of shoes that would trigger the alarms at numerous stores. No one could erase the damn security device - no one. I cut the shoe open to remove the silly device but, the shoe was destroyed in the process. And, this was a simple passive device.
Simply place the item you suspect having the RFID chip in it into your microwave oven for a few seconds. I've zapped microchips into oblivion in my microwave before and it works like a charm. With clothes you would need to be careful of metal buttons, zippers, snaps, etc.
The heck with putting it in the Micro Wave, Just Zap it dead with tagzapper. I read someof what Tagzapper does on zombiewire. Zombiewire has all the RFID info for both sides of the fence. yeah go then to www.zombiewire.com and read all the news. funny they even have RFID sporting news.
A 10 second burst in a microwave will disable most RFID chips but it will also destroy most products containing the chip. This method of deactivation was used on several different RFID enabled customer loyalty cards (read; grocery store, book store type cards). Though the chips were destroyed at shorter "nuke times", the cards were scorched or melted. Knowing where the RFID tag is half the battle. Getting your new shoes or car tires into a microwave is the other half.