My son noticed a sticker on the windshield of our car that said, "Please do not remove this RFID tag" and we got into a conversation about how RFID tags are now ubiquitous.
I checked the windshield of our other car and sure enough, there it was, and I am sure the R3 has one too. I read an article recently that said that most apparel has RFID tags sown in near the label on the collar to help track inventory as it moves across the supply chain.
Ostensibly, the tag has served its purpose after it has moved with the item across the assembly line and through the factory gate to the truck and to the store. But it does not stop functioning. Every time you take your car back for servicing, the RFID reader at the dealership picks up the telltale signs. In the US and in Singapore I hear, toll gates have RFID readers and so do most car park gantries.
Big brother knows where you drive and how long you park there and when you leave. If certain movements are out of character, perhaps an algorithm picks them up and flags them. If you have been paying for your clothes with your credit card, big brother knows not only where you are, but also what you are wearing, and if you arrive at the gym in your tennis attire but leave in your dress shirt for dinner, and he knows where you go after the gym everyday.
I had read about some people who nuke their new clothes in the microwave oven to fry the RFID tag and I thought that was a little paranoid. But here is something my son mentioned that has got me thinking. Most new smartphones, he said, are now equipped with a fingerprint scanner which makes it so much easier to unlock the phone and also to make payments with Android Pay or Google Wallet. Mobile phones by the very nature of the technology they rely on, are being tracked and located in real time. Now with fingerprint scanners built into them, and presuming some people will choose to use their fingerprints to unlock the phone instead of a passcode or pattern swipe, they are tracking not only the phone but actually the user. Someone is possibly storing your fingerprints too and there might soon be a black market for fingerprint scan databases. You have probably also noticed that new App you try to install on your phone pretty much insists on getting access to your location, your messages, your phone book, your calendar and other stuff you didn't even know your phone was tracking.
So let me see now. They know what time you wake up, they know how long it takes you to get ready and have breakfast before you get in your car and start your commute. If you pair your phone with your car, they know what make and model of car you own and what model year. They know how long it takes you to get to work. They know which restaurants you like to frequent and what you do in the evenings. They know if you are a fitness freak and if you wear a Fitbit device and if you use Nike running shoes to measure your stride and distance. They know what search terms you type into Google. And of course they know who you call and how often. They have algorithms to read your email and offer relevant advertising. For the few times that your phone is out of reach with their network, they can probably track you by the clothes you wear as you walk into buildings and into elevators. When I first watched Enemy of the State starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman I thought I was watching science fiction.
Now that I know better, I have to go and peel that RFID tag off my windscreen, microwave some clothes and pull my old Mitsubishi clamshell phone out of its box.
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