They use the RFID for inventory. As far as I know they do not put these in the stuff we buy. I am not sure. But it could be possible to track the stuff we buy at a very long distance. So in other words if you were to buy a shirt with the RFID they can track you to your house.
You guys should google "katherine albrecht". She talks about this on her radio show.
negative. coming from an IT person the RFIDs are for inventory purposes to be put on the items. this way they can, in very very basic terms, push a button and automatically count how much of what they have, where etc. it would take one hell of a tracking system to be able to track an item all the way back to your house. there needs to be a well configured tracking infrastructure in place. unless you have hundreds of wireless access points (for example) in a very limited area, you are only going to be able to get an 'approximate' position of the item. if someone attempts to shoplift they MAY be able locate the person until they get to their car, but even that isn't guaranteed.
hope this helped
I listen to katherine albrecht radio show that's why i was asking. She calls the RFID "spychips"
sharerfid chips only have a range of a few meters and tracking someone over several miles is laughable unless there was a grid of rfid readers every 5 meters over the entire country
share"rfid chips only have a range of a few meters and tracking someone over several miles is laughable unless there was a grid of rfid readers every 5 meters over the entire country"
Would you mind if I quote you saying this five years from now?
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In the words of Morbo from Futurama:
RFIDs DO NOT WORK THAT WAY.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/AwXomeMan/morbo.jpg
Good maybe they can track me to my house that way when the pants go on sale to match the shirt they can just bring them over to me, and it saves me from making the trip.... Walmart is wonderful thank you for pointing out to me this great new way to shop.
on a more serious note you are a tool...
I've worked in the past as a consultant developer working on RFID and smartcard products, and I could not agree with mistahtom more. While there are security and privacy issues (such as the risk of having your credit card information scanned by a thief with a handheld smartcard reader without your knowledge), long distance tracking is *not* one of them.
For the record, RFIDs have the potential to lower prices (lower inventory overhead) and make shopping a whole lot easier. Imagine how much easier it would be to just walk your cart past a scanner than to take everything out and have the cashier scan each item one at a time.
lvregent, Can you PROMISE that law enforsement will not use this technology against it's shoppers? Most shoppers don't buy anything anonymously anyway since they are hassled to use a credit card or "loyalty card" so it can easily be done.
"What if Hitler had RFID?"
bump it's funny how everyone is defending the RFID tracking but nobody is able to answer my further question ... What if Hitler had RFID?
sharethey use RFID in the military. When a unit goes on a deployment (either to afghan, iraq etc) all the equipment like humvees and vehicles have RFID tags attached to them. Once the vehicle with the tag passes a RFID gate it checks that vehicle as being in the holding area. Same thing when the vehicle leaves. Makes traking equipment easier as god knows how many pieces of equip the military deploys and redeploys... but to answer the question, RFIDs are short range and usually have to pass a gate or be within a RFID tracking station thingy.
share