[OT] NH protest against HP printers with RFID chips Nov. 5th

[Brian Chabot]

Bill Sconce wrote:

>Arguably it's not very different (other than the RF exposure you'll get
>at the checkout counter) from a barcode tag.
>  
>

The RF exposure is a consideration, but I honestly don't think the
current readers are all that powerful.  You get more RF exposure walking
past your own refrigerator most likely. Or sitting in front of a CRT.

>On the other hand, plans for RFID tags go beyond stickers on boxes.
>Suppose they were, say, sewn into a jacket?  THEN your person becomes
>trackable well after you leave the store. 
>

Technically, your jacket is the trackable item, but that's beside the
point. 

Is there (coming a little closer to on-topic here) a publicly available
RFID sensor/reader?  It shouldn't be too hard to pull off.  Run a moving
current over an area, listen for a low level transmission.  Something
like that would be quite useful in locating RFID tags in/on/attached to
your posessions or person.


> A similar argument raged
>recently over binding RFID tags into passports, for similar reasons.
>  
>

...And I think the US Government has a pretty good solution, too.  They
wanted to put the RFID *inside* the passport while making the cover out
of or lined with a metallic material so that the RFID couldn't be read
unless you actually open the cover.

Over my mental protests, I do have an EZ-Pass.  It came with an
anti-static bag to put it in if you don't want to be tracked.  Hell, the
tint on my front windshield is enough to block the signal.  (I really
wish they'd go back to the tokens.  They were a better value and pretty
much anonymous.) 

Now I *know* we all can find antistatic bags laying around.  If there
were a cheap RFID locator, we could just toss the damned things into
these bags and not worry about them.


Brian