The Killer RFID App
RFID has been in the news on and off again, with industry and privacy advocates lining up to do battle over whether this technology is the greatest thing since the UPC code, or the worst thing since Echelon. What’s really interesting is the central focus of the discussion is over something so mind-numbingly boring to a casual observer, it hardly seems to warrant all the attention: inventory control.
Much of the furor has been prompted by Wal-Mart’s decision to finally proceed with pilots of the technology with the goal of having all of suppliers using the technology by January. This is seen by many as the green light for the technology, which uses chips equipped with radio antennas to provide additional product meta-date information, allowing vendors to locate items and provide real-time tracking of inventory levels. Real-time tracking would eliminate traditional inventory tracking costs, while providing much better stocking planning capabilities for vendors.
However, retailers’ silver lining is unfortunately attached to the looming dark cloud of privacy advocates concerned that the technology could spur further privacy invasions. If every item eventually contains RFID tags, what’s to prevent massive tracking of individuals based on the tags embedded in the clothes they wear or the shoes they wear. These tags would become a real-world equivalent of the browser cookies used to track web site visitors, thereby allowing people to be tracked and targeted (perhaps fatally, as pointed out by John Gilmore) endlessly.
Though it has been suggested that this would be one way to allow a homeowner to find lost items within their house, my idea is slightly different: I want a comprehensive inventory of everything I own for both moving and insurance purposes. This idea occurred to me during my recent move, during which the movers had to guestimate weights and sizes to provide an estimate, and then tag everything manually. If everything I owned had an RFID tag, they could simply look up the item and get exact details on weight size, thereby providing an instant and accurate estimate of moving costs. Similarly, my insurer could ensure that I had enough insurance coverage for all of my items (after all, who can accurately guess how much all their stuff is worth?).
Taking the idea a step further, I could perform a scan of everything I own and upload the info to e-tailers like Amazon in order to obtain better personalized recommendations. Though Amazon already tracks past purchases, it is limited to purchases made from Amazon.com, and requires a manual process to upload additional information on items you own. This would streamline the process, and eliminate Amazon from suggesting items I already own. If all retailers did this, maybe they’d stop advertising crap I would never buy in a million years (nice dream, but probably unlikely).
On the other hand, maybe having everything tagged with RFID is not such a good idea – a burglar could easily wardrive for RFID tags, enabling a thief to target homes containing the high-value items. Then again, if I have the proper amount of insurance, what do I care?