In Benetton's case, a box containing clothes with embedded RFID tags can be scanned and data uploaded in one pass, instead of having each item unpacked for bar code scanning. This supports a statement from Benetton last Friday, which said: "We are...
The use of radio tags, considered by many to be the future for inventory tracking, has sparked some consumer fury, while those in favour laud its superiority over bar codes. However, the tags are now being used mostly to replace bar codes on boxes...
Stores such as Tesco and Wal-Mart have already begun testing RFID tags, which proponents hail as the next-generation bar code, allowing merchants and manufacturers to operate more efficiently and cut down on theft.
The MM is a multi-band RFID chip, which means that it would also be usable in the US and Europe, which have adopted a different RFID frequency standard from that in Japan, FEC officials said in the report.
MIT handed off the administration of RFID standards and other duties in September to EPCglobal, a joint venture of the Uniform Code Council and EAN International, which oversee global bar code standards.
This in turn opens up the possibility of mass surveillance, with people being tagged, monitored and profiled without their knowledge and consent through hidden RFID chips. RFID tags are very small chips containing a tiny antenna, and can be fixed...