IBM Sez: Worried About RFID Privacy? Just Tear Off the Antenna!
InfoWorld's Ephraim Schwartz reports that IBM's Watson Research Center has developed what it calls the Clipped Tag, an RFID tag that's designed to allow users to easily snap off a portion of the tag's antenna if they're concerned about privacy.
The tags, made by IBM partner Marnlen Management, are shipping this week.
Clipped Tag inventor Paul Moskowitz says tearing off the tag essentially changes it from an active tag (with a range of 30 feet) to a passive one. "If you tear off a part of the antenna, it would be have to be held up to a reader," he says.
As Red Herring's Cassimir Medford explains it, the clipped tag puts control over privacy in the hands of the consumer. "At a range of a few inches, reading the tag would require the active cooperation of the consumer because the item would have to be placed in close proximity to the reader, which is generally a fairly clunky device," he writes.
IBM's press release is here.