A DEVICE designed to allay privacy fears over the introduction of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags could also wreak havoc with security systems.
RFID tags are small microchips containing a unique 96-bit code that can be used to identify any object they are attached to. While retailers hope the tags will replace barcodes and act as anti-theft devices, privacy advocates worry they could be used to track buyers. So RSA Laboratories in Bedford, Massachusetts, has created a modified tag that produces a barrage of noise, drowning out all other tags in range.
When a tag reader sends out a query,…
