ExtremeTech is promoting their new book, RFID Toys, but thankfully for us, this means a great introduction into what RFID is and who is or will be using the technology.
Radio Frequency Identification—RFID—is used throughout the world, mostly by big business, but that’s changing. It’s becoming a technology well within reach of the everyday hobbyist. Unfortunately, the majority of what you’ll read about RFID today mostly deals with the process of implementing RFID throughout businesses large and small, for the purpose of inventory management, personnel management, and supply-chain automation.
I sometimes look around my apartment and wonder how RFID will make things better, or atleast make information more accessible to me. So if you are looking for a bit of information on RFID, or are thinking about using it for your business, you might want to give the ExtremeTech article a quick once through.
While RFID technology can and should be used with great benefit to keep track of inventory, it also has more questionable uses. Businesses in the future will be able to set up a sort of “GPS system” in the store to track the movement of each and every item, so marketers would be know if you pick something up, how long you hold it, whether you put it back, or keep it and use that information to further develop advertising. Personally, I find the prospect invasive.
“Personally, I find the prospect invasive.”
If you don’t like the prospect of someone else keeping track of what you do with their property, don’t touch their property… simple as that. Stores (and anyone else) have always had the right to do just about whatever they want with their own property… they’re just finding new and better ways to keep track of their stuff. Don’t like it? Don’t shop there.
Me? I’m afraid that the tags will remain active (and monitoring will remain active) after the stuff no longer belongs to them and now belongs to me. *That’s* invasive…