Chipped

Tracked and dangerous

Does your office door magically open when you wave a plastic card close to a scanner?

NFC equipped Snapper Card

Do you pay for your morning bus ride by holding a Snapper card (Oyster in London, Octopus in Hong Kong) in front of a GPS-enabled reader whilst waiting for it to debit your card for the fare?

Well, if you answered yes, the chances are you are using a contactless card, probably featuring a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) chip and possibly Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

Hong Kong's Octopus Card is like Snapper

The chip in the card requires no separate power source and uses just the radio waves emitted from the reader/writer.  All very clever and generally reliable.

RFID has become so common place in proximity cards that most people don't even stop to think what is happening every time you wave the card.  RFID provides a unique code that identifies the user individually.  This means that each card can be tailored to the user's specific requirement so if you don't need to be given access to a specific area, well that's easily sorted.

NFC technology in a payment card

You may also have already experienced the next generation of point of sale (POS) devices that use Near Field Communication (NFC) to automatically debit your bank account when you wave a card, like a Visa payWave, a MasterCard PayPass or even an NFC-chipped smartphone in front of a special reader.  Just 'Tap and Go'.

Animal magic

RFID controlled cat flap

RFID technology is widely used for livestock tracking. A valuable animal like a cow or sheep will probably be 'chipped' by the farmer and recorded as a stock item in the farm's database.  That unique code can then be used to track every treatment received by the animal, monitor weight gain, record sale of the animal or provide evidence of ownership for insurance purposes. Not only livestock have benefited from RFID.  Many pet-owners will 'microchip' their wee ones by having the vet insert an RFID under the skin.  These tags can then be read at animal shelters, or council inspectors for tracking down the owners of lost pets.  You may even invest in a pet door that reads the RFID to allow or prevent entry (I want one of these).

This all seems really useful - sounds like a great idea that should be encouraged, doesn't it?

Hey, we could even use it to track people.  Hmm, now I'm not so sure I like the sound of this.  Well, why not - we already track felons released into the community via ankle bracelets linked to GPS.

Check out this post for a discussion on the darker side of tracking.

Understanding the difference - NFC and RFID

Some tracking news stories

Ear tag (Wikipedia)

AniTrace UHF RFID products (Manufacturer site)

Auckland Snapper thrown back

Snapper in a smartphone

OysterCard FAQ

Contactless card technology (EFTPOS NZ)