RFID Application

I've been thinking again about RFID tags because one of my clients is producing a very large line of collectible "urban vinyl" items. I suggested to them that it might be interesting to imbed an RFID tag into each one so they can be authenticated. Not sure whether it is necessary to serialize each product, but I'm sure it would be cheaper to just create a passive tag with the company ID on it and some sort of encription.

I also am curious if it is possible to create a tag that can withstand the rotocasting process, which involves enough heat to cure the plastic. The other issue is, if you put the tag into the roto mold with the liquid plastic, can you be assured that the tag won't show through the surface of the vinyl somewhere when you pull it out of the roto mold?

In any case, I think that the whole idea of RFID stuff is pretty fascinating. Some people however, are using this new technology as a means to get their names in the paper or just to make noise. I guess I question people who try to twist "right to privacy" to mean the right to anonymity.

Where in fact did this "right to privacy" come from anyway. If you live in a small town where everyone knows who you are and what stores you shop in and how often you buy ice cream at the town's only ice cream parlor, then you accept it and live your life. If you can't handle that, you move to the country. I suppose you could also move to a big city where no one knows you and you can live your life secure in the knowledge that no one really knows or cares how many times a week you buy Starbucks or fill your gas tank. So what?

I'm curious about people who are all up in arms about RFID tags on clothes or RFID tags in student id cards. What are they so paranoid about? They seem totally unconcerned about walking into a store in full view of other people, many of whom may know them including the people who work in the store. But the minute that there exists a technology to identify who you are, they go absolutely berserk and yell foul. These people don't walk around in disguise. They don't hire people to do their shopping for them for fear of being recognized. They don't remove the license plates off their cars for fear of someone tracking their vehicle around town. And they certainly must know that every place they visit on the internet leaves tracks.

So what is this all about? I think it is more about the freedom to screw up without someone catching you. Or maybe about the freedom to do things that you are ashamed of without other people finding out. I think that if you were to lead an open and honorable life and are honest in your dealings with others, then you should have nothing to hide. I know that's oversimplifying things, but never the less I think that is the real force behind all this uproar about RFID.

Of course, I don't intend to get one of those things implanted on my backside, no siree.