Curbing Bike Theft - Protecting Privacy

Well, we already put locator chips in cars, dogs, and liberals. Why not bikes?

My only proviso would be cost. If my bike cost $1000 and a locator system would cost $300, would that be worth it for me?

We can track stolen mobile phones, but do we?

I dare say the police have slightly more pressing matters to worry about here in NY.

BRC said:

I am interested in gauging the cycling community's response to RFID technology. BikeRegistryCanada.com is looking to integrate this technology into its products and services. There are some privacy concerns with this technology.

Already many manufacturers of products, including bike makers like Pacific Cycle, are at the very least contemplating the idea of putting an RFID chip in all their bikes to track inventory, from the point manufacture to the point of sale. Does the cycling community want this in their bikes? Do we even have a choice? If abused this technology could allow large corporations and your government to track your every move. Where you shop, What you buy, Who and Where you visit, Where you spend your time and money. Already there is the EPIC code, which if enacted into law, would guarantee individual Privacy. From our point of view this technology is wonderful advancement in bicycle security and theft prevention--so long as privacy is ensured. We feel a balance can be struck, between security and protecting ones privacy and are endeavoring to achieve that.

WHAT ARE YOURE THOUGHTS???

www.BikeRegistryCanada.com

I for one would not be in favour of this. If it were to add to the cost of the bike, we consumers would be paying to enable manufacturers and retailers to track products. It is not as if RF tags would cost all that much. It is more the case that the cycling community is already under attack with the threat of excessive tariffs on imported bikes. This is just one other unnecessary charge.

The RD tags would not present a privacy concern from the point of view of tracking cyclist's movements. They transmit a very weak signal and I am certain that there would not be receivers tracking my movements when riding. For that matter, I would immediately remove such equipment upon receiving the product (if the store had not done so already). I mostly buy vintage bikes anyway, so this would probably not affect me personally.

My other concern is with the prevalance of this technology. RFIDs have the potential to interfere with radio services. As a licensed amateur radio operator this concerns me greatly. The last thing we need is additional radio noise to compete with. These devices would require RF spectrum and such is often taken from other, licensed users. Further, even users of other frequencies may be affected by the transmission of spurious harmonics. 😠

Charles

Privacy is not my concern. If someone watches me ride, they could tell as much as (actually more than) what a person could tell by some sort of automated tracking.

However, as someone mentioned, these are short distance devices, and unlikely to be able to do anything reasonable...

And one potential down side... Could a person troll a neighborhood looking for bikes that may not be inside the house? Would this potentially lead to more theft?

dgregory57 said:

And one potential down side... Could a person troll a neighborhood looking for bikes that may not be inside the house? Would this potentially lead to more theft?

Good point.

Yes...... please remove the chip when I purchase my bike. Thank-you very much.

Quoted post said:

Tracking chips, no. Boobytraps, yes. 🙂

dgregory57 said:

And one potential down side... Could a person troll a neighborhood looking for bikes that may not be inside the house? Would this potentially lead to more theft?

The thief would need a high gain antenna to read the tag from more than a few inches away. He would also need a list of which rf signatures belonged to things that are worth stealing. This would be pretty tricky to get, but seeing how banks seem to periodially misplace whole hard drives worth of credit card data, not impossible.

Same deal with the black helicopters following your bike around. They could track your movements through the tag, but the resources involved would be imense. I personally don't think I'm important enough to warrant that kind of investment to follow.

Either way, I think most passive rf tags can be destroyed with an electromagnet. The only real privacy issue that comes up is when companies start building them into things without telling us.

Chance3290 said:

Well, we already put locator chips in cars, dogs, and liberals. Why not bikes?

My only proviso would be cost. If my bike cost $1000 and a locator system would cost $300, would that be worth it for me?

We are looking at price points significantly less than the $300 you mentioned

How much would you be willing to Spend??

[email hidden]
www.bikeregistrycanada.com

AussieRob said:

We can track stolen mobile phones, but do we?

I dare say the police have slightly more pressing matters to worry about here in NY.

Police in the UK already have about 3000 readers. North American Police Departments are likely to follow over the next couple of years. We would be happy if they atleast had them at their Property Rooms so that found bikes could be easily matched with their rightful owners.

The Ontario Provincial Police are already looking into buying the readers to read just about any RFID tags that might already be out there.

[email hidden]
www.bikeregistrycanada.com

BRC said:

We are looking at price points significantly less than the $300 you mentioned

How much would you be willing to Spend??

[email hidden]
www.bikeregistrycanada.com

Well, I would not be willing to spend anything to have an RFID tag on my bike. I would restrict my purchases to used equipment and let others be the ones who get hosed in this manner. 😎

Charles

dgregory57 said:

Privacy is not my concern. If someone watches me ride, they could tell as much as (actually more than) what a person could tell by some sort of automated tracking.

However, as someone mentioned, these are short distance devices, and unlikely to be able to do anything reasonable...

And one potential down side... Could a person troll a neighborhood looking for bikes that may not be inside the house? Would this potentially lead to more theft?

You pretty much have to have the reader in close proximity to the chip. These devices do not propagate over very long distances. They are putting out only a small fraction of a watt. The RF noise issue is not such a big deal. I just would not want to have the cost of these worthless gadgets passed through to me at the point of sale. My dollars would go to builders wise enough to not use these things, or to sellers of used equipment as I have already mentioned above.

Charles