Comments on: The New RFID Chip

By: Carol Cross

Carol Cross — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:31:04 +0000

RFID chips are here to stay and will eventually reduce the costs of the control of inventories at wholesale and retail level. While the author of the very excellent book “Spy Chips” indicates that the corporate world will misuse these chips and invade our privacy, I’m sure the commercial uses of the chips will override the “privacy” concerns and the corporate spies will win in the end.

Hopefully, RFID chips, as suggested by MIT, who researched and helped to develop this technology, will mandate that merchants use the chips to prevent shoplifting and that the legalized extortion of “Civil Recovery” statutes for “apprehended” shoplifting detentions and arrests will become unnecessary.

Someone at MIT suggested that Winona Ryder would have been spared her ordeal for shoplifting if RFID techology had been in place because the items she was found guilty of apprpriating and carrying outside of the store would have been automatically debited to her credit card.

By: Logical Extremes

Logical Extremes — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 04:29:50 +0000

I’d be a little surprised if these new micro-RFIDs have much of a detection distance, but they are quite scary nonetheless for being practically undetectable by potential victims.

By: Daniel J. Solove

Daniel J. Solove — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:25:35 +0000

Orin — Interesting point. I wasn’t aware of the circuit cases to this effect. I wonder to what extent they turn on how the device was attached versus whether they hold that no matter what the method of attachment, the use of an RFID tag to monitor movement is a search of seizure.

By: Orin Kerr

Orin Kerr — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:20:27 +0000

Dan,

Are you assuming that installing the RFID is not a search or seizure? As I understand it, right now there is a circuit split on whether the initial attachment of locating devices on a car is itself a search or seizure (a question not addressed due to bad lawyering in Knotts).