Hacker Convention to Make Art Out of RFID

This summer, hackers from around the world will track the movements of thousands of visitors to New York City.

As part of a social experiment, attendees at a hacker conference in July will be issued badges with electronic tracking devices. Large displays will show in real-time where people go, with whom they associate, for how long and how often.

The tracking technology, known as RFID, is fast becoming an unseen part of everyday life. This July, for the very first time, the general public will be able to participate in the transparent operation of a major RFID tracking program.

Conference attendees will participate in games built around the tracking system. Players will seek ways to protect their privacy, find vulnerabilities in the tracking system, employ data mining techniques to learn more about other participants, and choose how much personal information they will disclose in order to play.

This demonstration will be open to the public at The Last HOPE conference from July 18-20 at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. The first 1500 preregistrants will be guaranteed an RFID badge enabling them to participate in the game. More information and preregistration is available at www.hope.net.

RFID Tags: Invasion of Privacy or a New Kind of Art?

You've heard of them, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID, pronounced arfid) tags, little transmitter chips that broadcast your identity to airline check-in stations as well as to anyone who has a RFID snooper. The phenomenon has all sorts of people up in arms over the possibility we'd be tracked wherever we go, or that criminals could clone our identities from nearby.

Some people use the technology to make art.

This year, the Dana Centre's festival has asked us to run a 1 day RFID workshop on May 14th. Lead by Alex Zivanovic and Nick Weldin, this
intensive 5 hour workshop will be followed by an exhibition of the work produced.

Registration is free and open to at least 30 people. You will get to play with RFID modules, antennas and tags and an RFID shield for Arduino. These components will be sold on site.

To be able to get something out of it, we advise people to have a solid understanding of Arduino already as 5 hours is very little time and Alex and Nick won't go over the basics. If you're a newbie but desperate to get going, do email me and I'll make sure you're put in a team with people who will help you get there faster.

"Technology and design consultancy" tinker.it is offering the class in associated with the TakeAway Festival. To learn more go to http://www.takeawayfestival.com/node/129.