Originally published July 25 2005
Scientist researching the possibility of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or radio tags used in things like ID badges have the capacity to carry "invisible" information and relay it to other radio tags that can read it, which means objects may soon be able to "talk" to each other.
You've probably seen radio tags, though you may not have realized it at the time.
The tiny devices are used in ID badges to give the right people access to buildings or rooms.
An electronic "reader" detects that information from a short distance away.
(Don't be confused by another tracking technology with an odd acronym. A Global Positioning System, or GPS, can also track something. GPS units can "watch" migrating tuna or a prisoner on parole, but it's all done via satellite. RFID units are much less expensive and work mostly over short distances.)
"One of the primary advantages of RFID technology is that it doesn't require line of sight," says Dr. Raj Veeramani, professor of engineering and business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
That's because radio signals can pass through most opaque materials (though metals and liquids are difficult).
You may have seen the small white bars stuck on CDs, small electronics, or other expensive items in a store.
When a reader activates the tag, the antenna transmits a simple signal.
In the case of a pet tag, it is a number in binary code.
Tags like these are called "passive tags" because they have no power source.
Since 1992, every railroad car in America has been required to carry a battery-powered RFID tag.
By the end of the war in 1945, small radio transmitters (they were about the size of a one-pint milk carton) were being used to make proximity fuses.
In the 1960s and '70s, researchers explored ways to make the radio transponders smaller and the readers more efficient.
Today, various kinds of miniature radio transponders are in everything from pets and CDs to medicine bottles.
People have considered other uses for the chips: tagging children in case they get lost, tagging convicts who leave prison for work-release programs, and even tagging everyone to help avoid identity theft.
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