BBC News | UK | Stopping the book thieves.
As well as combining a security tag and virtual barcode in one piece of technology, this makes it possible for a book to “remember” each transaction, from publisher to wholesaler, retailer to customer and (if the book is sold second-hand) beyond. Similarly, books borrowed from libraries could retain a record of every reader to have perused their pages.
Carl Lawrence, the chairman of the book industry's RFID working party, says the tags would give each book a unique serial number, as well as storing other details such as where it was shipped from and when.
“It's like putting a licence plate on every book, and it means we'd be able to track the movements of each and every title published.”
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The Home Office's ultimate aim is to have an RFID tag on every object sold. To that end, it has allocated £4.5m for a series of pilot projects that show how property crime can be reduced using such systems. The initiative is led by the Police Scientific Development Branch and involves companies such as Allied Domecq, Unilever and Argos. [Privacy Digest]