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RFID. Remember it. You will hear a lot about it.

This weird new acronym has been popping up all over my screen all day. Boing boing, Dan Gillmor, Tech News... First I didn't think nothing of it, I tried to follow Supernova, but when it showed up on IP and then on mymarkup.net I realised I probably should find out more.

RFID spells out Radio Frequency Identification and is briefly put a way of tagging objects with chips that transmit a unique signal identifying the object.

Invented in 1969 and patented in 1973, but only now becoming commercially and technologically viable, RFID tags are essentially microchips, the tinier the better. Some are only 1/3 of a millimeter across. These chips act as transponders (transmitters/responders), always listening for a radio signal sent by transceivers, or RFID readers. When a transponder receives a certain radio query, it responds by transmitting its unique ID code, perhaps a 128-bit number, back to the transceiver. Most RFID tags don't have batteries (How could they? They're 1/3 of a millimeter!). Instead, they are powered by the radio signal that wakes them up and requests an answer.

Always there, always "on". No moving parts, long lifespan.

Great for keeping track of products and parts in a supply chain, great for making sure all those containers are going in the right directions and truly helpful in tracking everything you buy, everything you carry with you and oh, yes, where you are spending your time during the day... And night.

Sounds ominous enough? Getting that Orwellian vibe yet? Good. You probably should. Especially since this seems to me to be one of those fascinating technologies that has some really appealing applications: Never again lose your keys. Marking your CDs? Don't bother, you can keep track of their RFIDs. Counting money in your wallet, nah, it reads out on the LCD display based on the RFIDs on the bills. Scared that your kid gets lost in the mall or perhaps even kidnapped? Nope, not without removing or destroying all those RFIDs on and perhaps even in his body first. Looks like it can do some seriously helpful work, those little chips.

Of course, you'd have to trade off all your privacy and all your anonymity unless some serious regulation is made in this to date pretty unregulated area. There are no laws saying that vendors need to diable RFIDs when they leave the store, so why should they. There isn't even a law requiring objects containing RFIDs to be labelled as such.

This is pwerful and scary stuff. Read the article in The Register for a great breakdown of the possibilities and risks. The article also explains the driving forces behind innovations like these (did you know that bar codes where invented over 50 years ago, but didn't catch on until more then 30 years after their invention).

The Register | RFID Chips Are Here

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