Guess who’s credit/debit card now has RFID? Yup, apparently I used my old card at a highly insecure location within the past few days, so much so that Citibank had to rush me a new card. And lucky me, this one has RFID, only MasterCard calls it PayPass. I do have the option of disabling the RFID chip by calling the bank, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing that as soon as this post… → Read More
After almost a year in development, McDonalds Japan and this country’s No. 1 mobile telecommunications company, NTT DoCoMo, presented their new electronic payment and coupon system based on RFID. In order to join the so-called Kazasu Kuupon (“no contact coupon”) program, DoCoMo subscribers are supposed to download an application and register on McDonalds Japan’s mobile web… → Read More
Not the document in question A new passport-like travel card poses a threat to our Nation’s security because, some security experts say, it’s easily susceptible to counterfeiting. The card, which is the size of a credit card, has two identification mechanism: a photo and an RFID chip. The photo, it seems, can be removed by using a solvent, and the RFID tag could, theoretically, be… → Read More
The good folks at this year’s HOPE conference, organized by 2600 magazine, will track the movements of attendees by using RFID, while at the same time encouraging them to find vulnerabilities in the technology. The attempt to draw attention to the widely implemented yet poorly understood (by the average person) technology should be applauded. During the conference, says the press release… → Read More
Aim well, my friend Instructables has a detailed discussion on how to disable an RFID tag in a passport or other radio-enabled item. The bottom line? Smash the bugger with a hammer. -The last (and most covert) method for destroying a RFID tag is to hit it with a hammer. Just pick up any ordinary hammer and give the chip a few swift hard whacks. This will destroy the chip, and leave no evidence… → Read More
[photopress:itearfid.jpg,full,center] Rather than complain about RFID’s evilness, some artists are using the technology to make a name for themselves. Over at we make money not art, which is easily my favorite name for a blog, there’s interviews with five artists who, in one way or another, use RFID in their work. One such project, the iTea tea set, uses the radio technology to scour… → Read More
[photopress:hrfid.jpg,full,center] Hitachi and Toppan (no idea who Toppan is, either) have developed an RFID tag that has a hologram on it, which is designed to make merchandise theft as hard as possible. The RFID tag’s signals are encrypted, which should eliminate the threat of a miscreant hanging around and capturing and cracking the tag. As for the hologram, it’s supposedly… → Read More
Samsung, our favorite tech company ending in “sung,” has revealed a compact and complete RFID reader, which they’ve managed to compress onto a single chip. It’s small enough (6.5mm square) to be embedded in clothes, posters, and probably babies as well – at least, if they wanted babies to be able to read RFID tags. Its low power consumption rate means we’ll… → Read More
Back in high school, I worked at a Banana Republic part-time. One of the most common problems was running out of a certain article of clothing and having to direct customers to other stores, which in turn lost us business, which in turn meant less hours to work. Dillard’s is looking to change all that though (or at least the whole running out of stock thing) by testing out a new RFID pilot… → Read More
I swear, I have to get one of these if it kills me. For months now I’ve been watching those Visa and MasterCard commercials that showcase the RFID technology that’s in PayPass. You know, the one where the dude is running late and buys a pack of gum and a banana or something just by waving his credit card at a machine. Well now if you want to take it one step further, you should get a… → Read More
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