[ale] Radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips

[Mike Murphy]

question: what's the typical range at which one can get data out of an 
RFID chip?

Mike


Michael Mealling wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-01-07 at 12:58, Preston Boyington wrote:
> 
>>I typically don't cut/paste from other places, but this was thought
>>provoking:
> 
> 
> I'm currently the chair of several working groups within what was the
> AutoID standards process. It has since become part of UCC which is now
> known as EPCGlobal. I'll try and speak to some of this and some of the
> misconceptions about RFID and its capabilities.
> 
> 
>>Wal-Mart believes RFID is the future of inventory management 
>>and has set a deadline of January 2005 for its top 100 suppliers 
>>to fit their products with the chips. Other suppliers have until 2006 
>>to implement the technology, providing the push necessary for 
>>RFID to one day replace the barcode.
> 
> 
> To be specific, Walmart is requiring the use of field programmable 96
> bit tags. This means that its possible, with an RFID writer, to
> reprogram these chips in the field.
> 
> 
>>Wal-Mart's January 2005 deadline has now been matched by
>>the Department of Defense for its 43,000 suppliers as well. The DoD
>>wants to be able to better coordinate supplies to its forces and
>>believes RFID chips are the perfect solution for making sure troops
>>in the field are properly equipped at all times. Other companies
>>such as Texas Instruments Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Wal-Mart
>>competitor Target are also looking into RFID technology.
> 
> 
> And every single one has no intentions of deploying any customer facing
> RFID applications. RFID chips are to easy to defeat. Heck, most RFID
> writers will burn out a chip if you leave it there to long. 
> 
> 
>>While still a long way off, analysts believe RFID tags will
>>eventually be found on every product in the store. Those with
>>privacy concerns worry that, some day, people might be tracked
>>through the RFID tags on the things they've purchased. Some RFID
>>enthusiasts envision a can of soda being tracked from manufacture
>>to warehouse to store to a customer's RFID-equipped refrigerator.
> 
> 
> So far there are no use cases or business models that suggest its
> worthwhile to tag a single can of coke. The RF wouldn't make it through
> the can, much less the watery substances inside it. Cigarrete
> manufacturers hate RFID because of the foil in their packages. RFID
> doesn't work well on things like cases of liquid detergent. Hardly
> anyone in supply chain management thinks anyone will ever tag actual
> individual products.
> 
> 
>>Despite the concerns, RFID is moving ahead and, according to one
>>expert, "People who cannot come up to speed on this technology are
>>going to be left behind. Eventually, it's going to be a way of
>>life."
> 
> 
> Unless you actively manage a warehouse or an assembly line (i.e. you
> deal with actual RFID readers/writers) then 'technology' is really just
> standardized web services and DNS. We use DNS to actually lookup the
> product code that's in the tag. Actually, there's no reason the entire
> EPC Network architecture can't be used with existing bar code readers.
> 
> RFID is interesting but there's nothing specific about it that's hard or
> paradigm changing that the simple application of 'wireless' isn't the
> complete equivalent of. You have to realize, most of the people in
> supply chain management still think in terms of 'big iron' and assembly
> line workers. Those of on this list naturally assume that anything
> electronic can and will be wirelessly accessible one day....
> 
> -MM
> 
> 
> 
>>RELATED LINKS:
>>
>>Wal-Mart Will Use Radio ID Tags To Track Goods, Raise
>>     Efficiency - Yahoo News:
>><http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibd/20031224/bs_ibd_ibd/2003
>>1224general>
>>
>>A Free Big Brother in Every Pack - The Sydney Morning Herald:
>><http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/19/1071337156806.html>
>>
>>Summit Group Confirms Use of ID Chip - The Washington Times:
>><http://www.washtimes.com/national/20031217-115051-5373r.htm>
>>
>>Jan 2005 Radio ID Supply Tag Deadline Remains - Forbes:
>><http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/12/03/rtr1168579.html>
>>
>>Defense Dept. Working to Resolve RFID Standards Issue - ComputerWorld:
>><http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/erp/story/0,10801,87808,00.html
>>
>>Sun Sets Up European RFID Test Center - CNet:
>><http://news.com.com/2100-1006_3-5113755.html?tag=nefd_top>
>>
>>My initial concerns are with Microsoft and the possible privacy issues.
>>With their DRM push I imagine having to "prove" you own the software by
>>having it in close proximity to your machine.
> 
> 
> RFID is to easy to spoof to make this doable. Plus, what's the actual
> value proposition for that?
> 
> 
>>Also, how will Linux get involved with M$ already at the forefront?  M$ will
>>probably say that proprietary software is the only way to protect the
>>information and try and shut an open source movement out.
> 
> 
> MS isn't at the forefront. They've only recently joined the consortia.
> Nearly every company involved is behind having an open source reference
> implementation available...
> 
> Plus, its kind of hard to 'shut an open source movement out' when the
> technology is all based on open, existing Internet standards....
> 
> -MM
> 
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Mike Murphy
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