https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/wiki/RFID-Zapper(EN)

neato. If you're not familiar with the dangers of RFID, I'll be happy to harangue you.

Nice tool for shoplifters.

This image makes me shudder.

I had a nasty experience once trying to dissassemble a disposable camera.

(image removed by Satis)

derf your image opens a popup om my screen asking me if I want to accept a cerficate for events.ccc.de or someshit. Quit trying to hack my pc spammer.

zomg, maybe it's a windows meta file?

yea, I got the popup too. I'm removing the image. Try copying it to your local pc and uploading it as a message attachment.

...screwed up...the site I linked at the top does the certificate thing as well. Still, at least it doesn't force it on you. :p

ah screw it. It was just the photo of the disposable camera all dissassembled.

hehe, no worries. I'm extremely careful around anything that holds an electrical charge. There's nothing like tools exploding in your hands to make you way of electricity.

OK, so what's the big deal about RFID chips? Why is this so exciting?

Well with RFID's being in so many product that we could buy say from Walmart (cough* cough*) I don't like the idea of being tracked what items I may or may not have in my house. With RFID's there is a potential that say a government official or some other entity could scan for the items I have in my house - and damnit that is not any of their business - to me it is just one more step closer to all the distopian futures books I like so well.. Just to close to 1984, Brave New World etc - they all started with someone thinking they knew better - or making life easier - yet it just opens the door for another personal privacy to be exploited and more civil rights being taken away - a stretch true but I would bet with any great society which has fallen to opression - the people probably did not think the little things made much difference until they all added up - but I am sure Satis will tell you more - and probably call me an idiot as well /giggle

I think shops will destroy the chips when you buy them just like they do with those anti-shoplifter thingies now. Those consist of a small circuit with a condensator in it, and when you buy a product they always put it on a plate or in a hole in the desk with a strong magnetic field, so the condensator is blown up and the protection no longer works. I believe those RFID chips work in a similar way. That's why I called the RFID zapper a usefull tool for a shoplifter.

well, RFIDs are currently in use, and they are currently not destroyed when you purchase the item.

The positive aspect of RFID is that it allows per-item tracking in a supply system environment. And by per item, I mean that every single item in the world can have a unique identifier.

And that's the problem. Say you buy a shirt at walmart...you buy it on a credit card. The next time you walk into walmart (or a federal building, or anywhere else for that matter) an RFID scanner that's embedded in the wall (and completely invisible to you) reads the RFID chip in your shirt. From the unique id, it now knows who you are.

RFIDs are supposed to replace UPC entirely...so every single item would have an RFID that could be used to track you. Considering the government and private industry's history of violating everyone's personal rights on a whim, I consider this a pretty big deal.

And, up until this RFID zapper, there was no way to destroy RFID tags short of throwing them in the microwave...and that usually destroyed whatever the RFID was embedded in.

*gets off soap box*

OK, I'll accept that. So how do you know items have an RFID, and where it is on the item itself?

you don't, and that's another problem.

However, RFIDs are standards based, so an RFID reader should be able to read any RFID. IF this stuff actually becomes common, I'll probably just invest in a reader....use it to scan purchases, then something like the zapper to neutralize them.

Best solution is to stop buying...ride old bicycles, grow your own herbs, kill your own cattle, make your own socks and cotton underpants!! wooo!