Spychipped Levi's Brand Jeans Hit The U.S.

Spychips.com & Computer Power User ^ | April 27,2006 | Katherine Albrecht

[MissAmericanPie]

I would be tempted to leave the tag in the restroom of a topless joint, along with penning the phone number of the CEO of the company, saying, "For a good time call XXX".

[RinaseaofDs]

Fabulous. Prove to consumers the chip doesn't work after point of sale and I'll stop opposing it. I work in competitive intelligence and am an EE, so while I agree that RFID is amazing technology, I also agree the potential for abuse is appalling.

[hadit2here]

There are probably many ways, but disabling every pacemaker and other electronic device within a 100 yard radius may not be appreciated...

Not a problem. Go to Radio Shack (ugh!) and buy a bulk tape eraser. It's just a large electromagnet. Run that over any item of clothing you buy and bye bye any RFID sewn into, or tagged or attached to them.

Since audio cassette tapes have started to become extinct, the bulk erasers may not still be available a lot, but it's not difficult at all to make a simple electomagnet.

[VRing]

"Where did you buy them?"

The local Fleet Farm.

[VRing]

I told you the wrong brand. They were Carhartt's, not Dickie's.

[Publius6961]

http://www.rfidgazette.org/2006/02/global_rfid_pas.html

LOL!

[ThinkDifferent]

...and we're not interested in what you're doing at home. We care only about the movement of material from point of make to point of sale.

Which makes perfect sense. But what I don't understand is that this entire issue could be defused if the tags were deactivated when the product is purchsed by the customer, and nobody seems interested in doing that.

[ccmay]

Don't forget, there's not one of these little chips that can survive a direct blow from a hammer against a hard surface.

Free the Britches!

-ccm

[The Red Zone]

There's the gnarly issue of how returns are handled. This would require chip reactivation, or insertion of new chip.

[clyde asbury]

David Letterman's World Wide Pants now make sense.

[MissAmericanPie]

This may be perfectly true at this point, but here is a scenario. I buy the pants put them in my shopping bag. At come future point some marketing sales exec is going to say, this is a good way to track people's shopping habits.

So after my Levi purchase I leave the store and I walk into Marshal Fields and my chip is automatically registered as I enter, not only there but every store I visit. That is invading my privacy. Just because you sold me pants doesn't entitle some marketing company to follow me through the mall registering what shops I favor.