Final Week 2: RFID Surveillance

Radio frequency identification "tags" are objects capable of being embedded in products, animals, and humans for purposes of identification and tracking. Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. There are generally two types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and thus can transmit its signal autonomously, and passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require an external source to initiate signal transmission.



RFID technology is a potential tool for surveillance for several reasons, the least of which are its ability to be read at further distance than bar codes. Nor do they require a direct line of sight. RFID tags are also essentially invisible to people.

This project seeks to explore the uses and applications of RFID technology and its implications as a tool for surveillance. It will explore how RFID technology could be applied for better or worse to everyday environments and situations and how that application may affect personal privacy.

The project will consist of several objects each with an embedded RFID tag. These objects will represent certain identity traits that may be conveyed about the individual in possession of them. Participants will be asked to select any or all of the object that they feel represent them. They will then walk through a door (doorways are obvious places where individuals may be tracked) and past an RFID scanner. Based on the objects the person is carrying or wearing the information will be interpreted to make assumptions about the individuals identity.

Surveillance has typically inferred suspicion, but in a society where everything and everyone is constantly being tracked surveillance takes on a different meaning.

A similar attempt at RFID surveillance experimentation:
The Sorting Door
A related article