Jat

More Big Corporate Brother watching you. What next, they going implant these chips in your heads so that they'll know if you buy someone else's product and than they give you a zap?

http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-9997...g=fd_lede2_hed

NialScorva

It's inventory management. You don't own the widget until you get to the register, and at the register they will either ask you if you want the rfid killed or just kill it without asking. I don't see the issue here.

Jat

In most stores now they don't bother to say thank you, do you expect them to ask you if you want it deactivated or not. It can be used to locate you as well since it is builtin to product. Have you ever heard of the term data mining?

NialScorva

It's just the next generation of the anti-theft tags that has the bar code in it. If they don't turn it off, someone will be able to say "there's a VCR in that house" if they get rather close with the right equipment.

Quote:

Have you ever heard of the term data mining?

I'm vaguely familiar with it, working for the intelligence community and all. Here's something that no one seems to think of: no one cares if you're wearing calvin klein underwear. The reason data mining exists is to remove all of your information from the stuff that's actually useful.

In any case, to build a customer database they need to link the purchase with a personal ID... kinda like buying something on credit card. If you buy it in cash, how can they link it to you? Any information they can get from this, they already have.

John Hancock

Is this cost of this retailer convenice device passed on to the consumer? Damn nickle and dime nickle and dime.

Martin Buber

Jat

Irrelevant, it is none of their business and an invasion of privacy. Do you read everysingle spam email you get, or leave all of that spyware on your system which uses up your bandwith?

Kinross

Your worried about RFID tags? Thats nothing compared to what the DoD is funding. Do a search on "Smart Dust", I designed some early prototypes at a previous employer. Thats some scarry stuff that you should be worried about.

NobleSavage

I've done a little research on RFID tags. Obviously there are privacy concerns with RF tags, but the other side of the coin is that such a system does have lots of benefits for the retailer -- not to mention much quicker check out times. I'm normally a little on the paranoid side and a big supporter of privacy rights; however, I've come to the conclusion that RFID tags are really not worth getting your knickers in a twist over. I can't see what the hysterical whining is about. Here is the link: http://www.rf-id.com to general tags site. Read all about them. The tags are just that - tags, just like any other tag on your clothing. It is not as if unique ids are "embedded" in the threads of your pants and cannot be removed.

Incidentally, what is the issue with privacy, even if the tag was somehow magically embedded into the thread of your pants? The tag identifies your pants as being olive-green khakis size 38L, specifically made in Malaysia by a 12 year old? What part of that is not public knowledge or painfully obvious? What part of that is divulging information about the wearer of such clothes that he/she is not already giving up simply by wearing them? They contain no more information than a normal bar code. If you are truly paranoid you can always throw you clothes in the microwave for a few seconds which will fry the tags. You have a much greater chance of being tracked by you debit/credit card. More information also at http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030327S0016

NobleSavage

There are also MANY very beneficial uses of this technology. Smart dust can be used for everything from reducing pollution to more efficient use of energy. Technology is not good or bad; it's neutral. It's the way we use it that is important. Instead of taking the alarmist position we should be spending our time discussing the ethical issues and how best to regulate such new technologies. I don't see how luddite position will help because I don't see the march of technology coming to a stop anytime soon.

Good intro to smart dust http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,44101,00.html

Happy Wonderer

I can imagine a lot of annoying scenarios with these tags. Suppose we decide to make smoking really unpleasant: as you walk by video screens on the sidewalk you get bombarded with anti-smoking ads directed at your particular brand of cigarettes. ("Smoke Camels? Humph, you'll soon look like one...") At some point you know that this will be hijacked by 'worthy social goals.' (I'm an anti-smoker by the way.)

Or perhaps you are carrying a box of preparation H down the supermarket isle, and an in-aisle display starts up with an ad for a competing product ("Did you know that Tucks was considered by doctors to be more than seven times more effective...") Everyone looks to see who triggered that ad...

They will probably really be used to do in-store psychology stuff (they already use the security cameras to figure out traffic flow and other issues.) One thing that would be useful is to figure out what causes people to change their mind and return a product to the shelf. Being able to track the movement of products in the store would help. All in the goal of making us even less rational consumers.

Random point: even though the tags currently only contain barcode information, is there any technological barrier to putting globally unique identifiers in them? I know people get into a tizzy about Microsoft's GUIDs (which are merely a programming convenience) but it really would be useful to have GUIDs in smart tags. This would help in stock rotation and prevent certain kinds of fraud.

Anyway, I'm sure that it is inevetiable, but I'm also sure we will end up with annoyances from it -- probably in some form that we haven't imagined yet.

hw