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Paranoia Agent: RFID Sniffer tells you if you are tagged and tracked
The average consumer will protest if they think their privacy is being invaded, but few realize just how exposed they already are thanks to RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tracking chips hidden in nearly everything we purchase today. (The chip-heavy Will Smith in Enemy of the State was only a slight exaggeration). Dutch technologist Marc Boon now has a mainstream solution called the RFID Sniffer that allows anyone to check various items for RFID chips.
The device is a credit card-sized panel with a circuit board and an LED indicator that lights up when in close proximity to an RFID chip. Boon offers do-it-yourself kits for just 15 euros ($21) and pre-assembled sniffers for 40 euros ($56). If you're in the Amsterdam area later this month you can get hands-on training on how to assemble your own sniffer from Boon himself, details can be found here.
Via Mediamatic
By Mr. Gumsandals at 8:01 AM ON 06/05/09
The gift that keeps on giving for the paranoid in you and your friends. Plus, it can be part of the cure: use it to discover not everyone is out to get you what with their devious implants and hidden tracking devices. Despite those remarks, I like it-- especially its design and the DIY element. Again, what with the Zippo spy camera and the eyeglass device that projects info to your retna as seen in the last couple of posts here, it makes it possible for everyone to be his or her own spy. CIA, take that!
By waycoolsnoopy at 3:18 PM ON 06/06/09
It's a terrific idea. Unlike the post by "Mr. gumsandals" it is not about paranoia or looking for "devious implants!" The best way to fight ubiquitous item-level RFID is to know what products contain them and tell the manufacturers and retailers to take their RFID and shove it you know where! I love it when I see comments like the one I referenced above where the author implies, "gee, since I am a sheep and do not mind living in a control grid, you must be crazy or paranoid to not want to live like me." Your own passive, lobotomized, indoctrinated attitudes will be your downfall! I HATE SHEEPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
By TooSmartForParanoia at 9:41 PM ON 06/06/09
"The best way to fight ubiquitous item-level RFID"
Interesting - no basis for exactly WHY I should care if there are RFID chips in the products I buy, just total, knee-jerk reaction to a technology that the you, and all the other terminally-clueless, clearly think is some sort of magic.
Why don't you take the time to learn a little about the world around you, and maybe the it won't be such a scary place. I find that people are not scared of a thing when they have taken the time to learn that it isn't some kind of magic. But if you choose to remain in your mystical state of technology-as-magic, then at least do us the favor of not presuming to make decisions for the rest of us - find an island somewhere, and move there with all of your Luddite buddies.
By scienceTASTIC at 4:05 PM ON 06/10/09
The paranoid would think, "This will find all of the RFID chips in my house," but the truly paranoid would think, "This will find all of the RFID chips in my house... or will it?"
We cover this story on the "Monkey Tickler" episode of my podcast at sciencetastic.net.
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scienceTASTIC:
The paranoid would think, "This will find all of the RFID chips in my house," but the truly paranoid would think, "...More »