RFID Journal - Firewall Protection for Paper Documents

“The system uses “nanometric” materials– ”tiny particles of chemicals with varying degrees of magnetism–”that resonate when bombarded with electromagnetic waves from a reader. Each chemical emits its own distinct radio frequency, or “note,” that is picked up by the reader, and all the notes emitted by a specific mix of different chemicals are then interpreted as a binary number. Since the system uses up to 70 different chemicals, each chemical is assigned its own position in a 70-digit binary number.”

While not the first magnetic RFID system announced, CrossID’s solution has the capability to store a 70 bit number. The company founder positions the technology as a firewall for paper documents, suggesting copy machines at sensitive locations be outfitted with readers. The machine would not copy documents tagged as secure. Unfortunately, as with digital content rights management, normal users of the system are likely to be inconvenienced while the malicious element circumvents the system altogether.

At $.01 a tag, the system does have the envious advantage of being inexpensive. But like other exotic tag technologies the system will have to prove itself in the marketplace.