RFID is a near-field communication method. In essence, an RFID tag is a very simple circuit that beams out a small amount of information over weak radio frequencies, when prompted to by nearby scanners. The idea is that things don't need to make actual contact with anything else to be identified. For example, a car parking pass that you could sit by the windscreen in your car, and would automatically open the gate and clock you in as you drive up.
RFID technology is very real, and it's happening right now. An increasing number of everyday things are starting to become RFID-based, including passports and driving licenses, ID cards and permits of various descriptions, even commercial products tagged for security reasons. In a world where a primary focus is on convenience, this seems like a pretty good idea, right?
The technology is not without it's drawbacks. For example, RFID tags are very easy to read, and anyone with the right bit of kit (not expensive, I should note), can read an RFID tag. Yes, including someone who is walking down the street trying to zap your driving license ID number as you walk past. It goes without saying that radio technologies are inherently insecure to a certain degree; after all, a radio transmission is broadcasted to just about anything in the broadcast vicinity. If there's a device in that vicinity capable of receiving and interpreting the transmission, that's pretty unfortunate.
Reading an article on theregister.co.uk brought it into perspective a bit, where a US state feels it is important enough to make data theft by means of RFID illegal, and punishable by up to ten years in prison. For something that is supposed to make our lives easier and revolutionise the way we identify ourselves, that's a pretty big protective step to take, albeit, a necessary one. RFID data theft will be a pretty big problem if one day, we all find ourselves having an RFID identity chip injected into us at birth.
