Issue #158 | Aug. 15, 2008 | by Andy Kowl

In honor of the proverbial "dog days of summer," a phrase used with apology to the millions of pet dogs running around with implanted radio frequency identification tags, we offer some light summer reading this week rather than taking a vacation week off.

Traditionally this is the time before a new television season begins in September. Although between the explosion of television channels, the recent writers' strike and online broadcast of shows, the concept of television seasons is not quite as firm as it once was.

Nonetheless, we shall take a moment and wonder how RFID as a plot device may be served up to viewers this coming TV year. The results from last year are mixed.

The little we have seen so far is that RFID can be used by television writers as a catch-all track and trace technology where it helps the plot. Conveniently for them, the general public's lack of knowledge of RFID – some having "heard of it" and others having heard it might be something vaguely to fear – works to their advantage. It is the technological equivalent of the character in a story that goes through an improbable series of events and then wakes up from a dream, saving the writer from having to actually connect the dots.

RFID and cheating spouses
A few weeks ago I walked into the house and a Law and Order repeat was on. No news there, obviously, since Law and Order repeats evidently play 24 hours a day. But what immediately caught my intention was that the two cops – I never know their names – discovered that some suspect had "planted miniature RFID readers" in a few places, one of them within the entrance of a nightclub.

I’m not sure of that detail and some others since I had missed the beginning of the show; but I immediately got a chuckle envisioning this fellow clandestinely installing RFID readers all over town on the off chance his quarry might pass by. Regardless, the suspect was tracking his wife (who he may have murdered) courtesy of RFID sending signals to his PDA. The cops were impressed and revolted by this geek technology.

This suspect had killed a couple of people earlier in the show it seems, though apparently with RFID-free weaponry. Thank goodness for little things. Anyway, turns out he (rightfully) suspected his wife of cheating on him. You'd use RFID in that case, too, right?

Here is where it gets complicated. The next scene had him admitting his infidelity tracking and tracing to his wife as she lay dying in a hospital bed. You see, just the week before, he had “drugged her tea” one evening and implanted an RFID tag in her neck. The trouble was, he had not "sterilized the needle" and she was dying of an infection received from this RFID injection!

Don't you hate when that happens?

RFID as James Bond-like gadget
The show Las Vegas last year wasn't so bad, just equally inaccurate. If you have seen this show, you know it is TV eye candy, tailor made for hi-def, big screen television the way Bonanza was the first show to exploit the new medium of color television more than 40 years ago.

During this episode of Las Vegas, the casino security crew was intent on tracking a potential troublemaker to ensure he made no trouble for them. "How can we track him all over town?" one of the principal characters asked.

"No problem," came the reply. "I already planted an RFID chip in his clothing and we can track that wherever he goes in the city."

Good luck. At least in this case, it was the human who was bad, not the RFID.

Have you had an RFID sighting on TV you might like to add to the list? If so, please use the 'Post Reply' button below and let us know. Enjoy the rest of the summer!