A group of stupid people in L.A. have proposed adding an RFID tag to every DVD. RFID tags are found in most car keys these days, and are starting to appear on shipping pallets. It's a quick and easy way to wirelessly identify something.
Anyhow, their idea is that when you purchase the DVD, you imprint the DVD by putting your finger on a fingerprint reader which transmits your fingerprint to the RFID tag embedded on the DVD. Then, to watch the DVD, you have to put your finger on the fingerprint reader on your DVD player.
This is so fudicrous* for so many reasons.
- If I die, my family can't watch their DVDs, unless they keep my finger in the freezer.
- Your DVD player doesn't have a fingerprint scanner? Oh, that's right... their plan would involve everyone buying new DVD players.
- Could it account for changes in finger size? For instance, could Rachel still watch her favorite DVDs as she grew older and her hands got bigger?
- How could I imprint a DVD I bought online?
- The RFID tags in car keys have already been cracked. How long would it take before someone figured out how to re-imprint the DVDs?
- So I couldn't loan my friends my DVDs?
- Would Blockbuster have to keep my fingerprint on file electronically?
- etc., etc.
This is one case where I'm glad it costs $1,000 to file a patent. (Something I learned this morning trying to figure out how to monetize the great idea I have. Which is not stupid at all.)
*Not a spelling mistake, but a new word I made up.
1 comment:
There is also a merchandise tracking system used by high end retailers. It uses GPS tracking to pinpoint the locations of items down to the square inch. If used it eliminates any and all theft, internally and externally. The problem is that is costs more than the salary bonus of the ex-CEO of Blockbuster.
The same would be true of this latest anti-piracy invention. It would curtail bootlegging but it would cost more than it saved. Companies like to threaten things like this so consumers and their employees who might have a sense of morality buried deep down inside of them contemplate not stealing. Of course, the professional thieves will just cut of the finger of someone along with the DVDs they steal.
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