Infrared Tags Hide Information Like Magic: Will Bad Actors Respond?
April 26, 2022
A trope in fantasy stories is when an object is enchanted with information and will only reveal it to the “chosen hero” or under specific circumstances. A famous example of this trope is from Tolkien’s The Hobbit when Elrond reads the Thrór’s Map at Rivendell. Humans have found ways to hide information for centuries using chemistry, physics, and physical/pictorial illusions.
These hiding tricks are described as magical, but it is really human ingenuity that casts the true spell. Wonderful Engineering explains a new way to render information invisible: “These New Infrared Tags Can Embed ‘Invisible’ Info Within 3D-Printed Objects.”
Ph.D. candidate Mustafa Doga Dogan heads a MIT team working on “Infrared Tags.” Essentially these Infrared Tags will contain all the same information as a barcode, but instead of being unattractive or coming off an item they are hidden. The Infrared Tags are invisible to human eyesight, but are visible with an infrared camera. The Infrared Tags can be printed within any object and can be manufactured in two ways:
“MIT team has developed the tags, that seem like regular barcodes, using an infrared-transmitting filament interspersed with air gaps. Such filament appears opaque in visible light but looks translucent in Infrared Light. It was printed inside the walls of the 3D object. One approach involves carving a pattern of tiny air gaps out of a layer of plastic, covered with a smooth protective layer. These gaps represent ones and zeroes, so they can be read like binary code by an IR Camera. There is another approach as well. It involves the utilization of a second plastic. Such plastic is opaque to IR light to create more traditional QR codes. These are covered with an outer layer of the main plastic.”
The Infrared Tags are actually built into the item. It makes an object more appealing, because a barcode is not printed on it. The tags are also more durable as they cannot be removed through physical means.
If mobile devices are built with infrared cameras, then these tags would return design to pre-barcode days. Barcodes contain an extraordinary amount of information, especially for entertainment mediums, retail, and organization systems. What would it mean if they were rendered invisible? The proper magical device may inspire bad actors. The digital sword of Damocles is swinging.
Whitney Grace, April 26, 2022
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