Money to Burn - Debunking Another RFID Myth

Filed in archive Privacy and Security , RFID Basics on April 5, 2004

There's been a lot of talk recently on the Internet and in the blogs about RFID chips supposedly being hidden in US$20 bills.

Turns out that's just an urban legend.

The story got started when two people -- apparently with money to burn -- put some of the new U.S. twenty dollar bills into the microwave oven. They say the right eye of andrew jackson exploded. They then deduced that RFID chips had been inserted into the new bills.

AIM Global debunks this myth at its website.

To test the theory, AIM conducted its own experiment. According to the press release AIM issued, not only did the $20 bills NOT explode, they barely got warm when put in the microwave.

As a second experiment, AIM subsequently put an RFID laundry tracking tag into the microwave alongside the twenty, and the tag did indeed explode. But old Andy Jackson still had his right eye. Intact. See below:




Source: AIM Global.



The conspiracy theorists will continue to have a field day with RFID until the public becomes (a) more knowledgeable about RFID, and (b) more comfortable with it.

For that reason, education about RFID is very important. And most likely some basic laws and regulations protecting the individual's right to privacy will need to be enacted before the public reaches a comfort level with this technology.