Originally Posted by
wirehead
Simplicity is better.
What advantages would an RFID tag offer above a stamped serial number in various places? With a stamped serial number in the same place all the time, if the number's defaced, the item is probably stolen. If the number's reported as stolen, it's stolen. You don't need an RFID reader to read a stamped serial number.
RFID tags require a reader and only work over a reasonably short range. You can't sit a donut-eating-cop in his paddywagon with a RFID sensor and have him find the mysterious bike chop shops like they could with a LoJack that has respectable range.
How do you propose to do the fancy programming of the RFID tags securely? Remember, RFID tags don't have not enough range to let a cop track them down easily but do have enough range that I could park my car by the bike shop and pick up the programming signals. Encryption key? People have been fairly good at cracking these sorts of things, either by stealing the private key or by bypassing the whole procedure.
There's pretty much no real advantage of RFID tags over a simple stamped serial number.
Serial numbers are easy to cover up with glazing putty and paint. Cheap bicycles don't have serial numbers nor are there any requirements they have them. The only time serial numbers are used is by the factory to track the frames during production and by the dealer for warranty service and tuneup. With RFID tracking during production is automated. The dealer loads the owners and dealers information in the chip allowing automated registering and tracking of the product with the manufacturer. Every time the owner brings in the product for service this information is automatically sent to the manufacturer allowing the manufacturer to track and log information. An active cyclist can be placed on marketing lists targeted to there activity's and would actually enjoy marketing media sent to them.
RFID readers are cheap so there is no reason even the smallest bike shop could not afford to own one. Theft recovery is also improved. If the bicycle is ever brought within range of an RFID receiver and it's been reported stolen it can be automatically reported to local authorities for retrieval and return to the owner.
Competitive and training events can be automated reducing or eliminating the number of people required at each check point to log competitors.
These chips are so cheap a bike shop owner can install them on every bike they sell or service eliminating manual entry into a database every time a bicycle is brought in for service and if serviced by another dealer that dealer can easily view the service history of that bicycle.