The assumption is that RFIDs are going to invade all products as companies strive for better inventory management.

Use an "ownership" registry, coordinated between an individual RFID chip and a centralized exchange type clearninghouse to know who owns what at any given moment in time.

Besides being able to conclusively prove that "this is my stuff", this would allow for safer eBay type transactions, because the non-volatile part of the chip would signify what you're buying, and the ownership would be switched upon funds clearing
-- theircompetitor, Mar 13 2004

From the title, I thought this was going to be a much more advanced method allowing RFID chips to communicate with other people's products with a view to negotiating exchanges. So if you had a lawnmower you could program it "swap for a cellphone" and if someone walked past your house with a cellphone they didn't want, things would start beeping. But this may be baked in Japan, I wouldn't know.

Other than that, do you really want a central registry to store details of every product you own, even your Britney Spears DVD and novelty sombrero?
-- kropotkin, Mar 13 2004


For the most part, the credit cards, or iBill, already have that info. I'm interested in the instant, verifiable transfer of ownership
-- theircompetitor, Mar 13 2004


some of the stuff i own i wouldn't want appearing on a database about me...
-- engineer1, Mar 14 2004



random, halfbakery