Friendly reminder many manufactured goods also have RFID stickers within, used to track/trace parts during factory assembly. These are active and readable at all times by systems like this - irrespective of if the devices are powered.

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Lammy a day ago | parent | next [-]

So do all four tires on your car: https://dspace.networks.imdea.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12...

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tavavex a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Are passive RFID tags actually trackable for these purposes? That's horrifying. But I thought they would only be readable from at most a meter, maybe several with sensitive equipment - far too short of a range, no?

	▲	kotaKat a day ago \| parent [-]
		Ironically just picked up a Zebra EM45 RFID recently. https://www.zebra.com/us/en/products/mobile-computers/handhe... I turned on the RFID scanner and did a leisurely stroll through a local Walmart Supercenter. I read nearly 6200 unique tags over 39,000 times in the span of a ~20 minute walk in the store. Every single tag has a unique serial number and a unique serialized EPC GTIN. https://i.ibb.co/994NJfgJ/photo-2026-08-16-13-14-52.jpg RFID/EPC enabled merchandise is going to be a huge trackpoint for passive RFID scanning moving forward. Walmart attempted this back in the early 2010s (and failed because it cost so much) and now that tags are pennies a tag, they can finally force suppliers to roll it out (starting with apparel, then hardlines over time).

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rolph a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

its fun when you shuffle these stickers around...

https://rfidtag.com/how-to-program-rfid-tags/

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ck2 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

ha my shoes have RFid tags for stock tracking, I wonder how far away that can be read

even most watches people have now broadcast bluetooth MAC (and maybe ANT+ id)

and that data is never ever going away, there's no warrant and no law to regulate it

they still have tracking data for everyone who visited Epstein Island decades ago (which is even more crazy that no-one was prosecuted out of hundreds)

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foxyv a day ago | parent [-]

You can read a passive RFID from about 30 meters with the right equipment.

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VTimofeenko a day ago | parent [-]

"Right equipment" is probably very load bearing. Wouls need a very high gain directional antenna, not sure if a camera next to the road has the space to pick this up from a moving car.

	▲	foxyv 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Long distance RFID readers are currently used mostly for warehouse inventory tracking. Nowadays you can steer antennas using phased arrays like they use in 5G. https://www.zebra.com/us/en/products/rfid/rfid-readers.html?... Although, as I understand it, Flock itself is mostly just looking for Bluetooth, BTLE, TPMS Sensors, and Wifi devices.