RFID

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification system of storing and remotely retrieving computer data, using devices called “RFID tags” or “transponders”. An RFID tag is an object that can be stuck on or in a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radiowaves. Some tags can be read from several hundred meters away and well beyond line of sight. Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, processing the radio signal, and perhaps other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. A technology called chipless RFID allows for discrete identification of tags without an integrated circuit, thereby allowing tags to be quite literally printed directly onto an object.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a pervasive computing technology, often touted as the replacement for now traditional barcodes. Wireless identification capabilities promise to revolutionize industrial, commercial, and medical operations. The heart of the utility is that RFID makes gathering information about physical objects easy. Information about RFID tagged objects can be transmitted through physical barriers, and from quite some distance. These tags could turn our interactions with the national computing infrastructure into something subconscious leading investors, inventors, and manufacturers to adopt RFID technology for a wide array of applications. RFID tags could help combat the counterfeiting of goods like designer sneakers, pharmaceutical drugs, and money. RFID-based automatic checkout systems might tally up and pay our bills at supermarkets, gas stations, and highway toll stations. We reaffirm our position as “top of the food chain” by RFID tagging cows, pigs, birds, and pets, thus enabling ingrained quality control and infectious animal disease tracking. RFID technology also manages our supply chains, mediates our access to buildings, tracks our kids, and defends against grave robbers. If the family dog and cat have RFID pet identification chips implanted in them; and given the trends towards RFID use, their owner will be next in line.

RFID tags come in three varieties: passive, active, or semi-passive (also known as battery-assisted). Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas semi-passive and active tags require a power source, usually a small battery. Passive RFID tags use the minute electrical current induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal to provide enough power for the integrated circuit in the tag to power up and transmit a response. That response is not limited to an ID number, but can contain a programmable memory for storing data. Passive tags have a practical read distances ranging from about 10 cm (4 in.) up to a few meters,depending on the radio frequency and antenna size. Unlike passive tags, active RFID tags have their own internal battery which is used to power the integrated circuits and broadcast the signal to the reader. Active tags are typically much more reliable than passive tags due to the ability for active tags to conduct a "session" with a reader. Active tags, due to their battery power, also transmit at higher power levels than passive tags, allowing them to be more effective in "RF challenged" environments like water (including humans/cattle, which are mostly water), metal (shipping containers, vehicles), or at longer distances. Many active tags today have practical ranges of hundreds of meters, and a battery life of up to 10 years. Semi-passive tags are similar to active tags as they have their own power source, but the battery is used just to power the microchip and not broadcast a signal. The RF energy is reflected back to the reader like a passive tag.

Basically, there are also three different kinds of RFID tags based on their attachment with the object to be identified, attachable, implantable and insertion tags. In addition to these conventional RFID tags, Eastman Kodak Company has filed patent applications for monitoring the ingestion of medicine, with a digestible tag. Implantable RFID chips designed for animal tagging are now being used in humans as well. An early experiment with RFID implants was conducted by British professor Kevin Warwick, who implanted a chip in his arm in 1998. Night clubs in Spain and in The Netherlands now commonly use an implantable chip to identify their VIP customers, who in turn use it to pay for drinks. In 2004, the Mexican Attorney General's office implanted 18 of its staff members with the Verichip to control access to a secure data room. (This number has been mis-reported as 160 or 180 staff members.)

The use of RFID technology has engendered considerable controversy and even product boycotts by consumer privacy advocates who refer to RFID tags as "spychips". The four main concerns regarding RFID are: The purchaser of an item will not necessarily be aware of the presence of the tag or be able to remove it. The tag can be read at a distance without the knowledge of the individual. If a tagged item is paid for by credit card or in conjunction with a “product loyalty” card, then it would be possible to indirectly deduce the identity of the purchaser by reading the unique ID of that item (contained in the RFID tag). The EPC global system of tags create globally unique serial numbers for all products. Most concerns revolve around the fact that RFID tags affixed to products remain functional even after the products have been purchased and taken home and thus can be used for surveillance and other purposes unrelated to their supply chain inventory functions.

Critics from the Christian community believe that RFID tagging could represent the mark of the beast” (666) mentioned in the Book of Revelation (Revelations 13:16). Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, authors of Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID, wrote a new book on the subject from a Christian perspective. John Conner, leader of an organization called "The Resistance of Christ" also believes there is such a connection.

Even worse, RFID can be successfully “hacked” by pranksters, bored kids, or criminals with a specific target in mind. Years after the successful introduction of RFID-based pet tagging, one veterinarian's pet identification system started displaying odd behavior. First, the RFID reader seemed to be reporting incorrect pet data. A couple hours later, the system seemed to be erasing data from pets' RFID tags. Then the display on the pet identification computer froze and displayed the message: “All your pet are belong to us.” Tag input data can be used by hackers to access normally secure computer systems. This is old news in the computer industry, but it has not prevented RFID system designers from implicitly trusting the integrity of data provided by RFID tags.

From my experiences with computer “glitches” over the years, and no more than I trust the reliability of anything computerized, you can picture my eyebrows raised over that one.