New RFID tag system could restrict your movements

HITACHI ELECTRONICS, AKA Densa has widened the use of RFID tags to people.

Previously RFID was the domain of cardboard boxes or pallets, used in the supply chain. So Tesco, for example, could track the progress of its out of season fruit as it progressed from shipping container to shopping counters. RFID tags allow retailers to eliminate the expense of goods getting, ahem, lost in the supply chain, thanks to light fingered employees.

Having identified where the thieves are in the supply chain, and had them prosecuted, RFID can now be used to tag the blighters when they’re out of prison. Or indeed, to restrict the access of anyone whose movements might be suspicious, according to a report from Nikkei.net.

Room access management systems are now going to be based on active RFID (radio frequency identification) tags.

How? They use an internal power source, which means the active RFID tag can broadcast signals, telling a door to open automatically when authorized personnel approach. Or stay resolutely shut, if the tag wearer is a wrong ‘un. Which rooms? Whichever rooms they want to keep you out of: the IT department, the boardroom, the executive toilets. The warehouse, if you’re a light-fingered employee.

The active smart tag can signal as far as 20 meters, so it’s probably best for use indoors. The good thing is it means people who do have access don’t get held up at the door, fiddling in their pockets for their ID cards and dangling them in front of the reader.

Hitachi will market the system starting Saturday, targeting food-processing plants, hospitals and anywhere that access to certain rooms is restricted.

You wait, it’ll be on the door to your company’s boardroom soon. µ

L'Inq
The Last Enemy