Is it true that physical contact can damage passive tags and render them unreadable?
—Name withheld
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One way to render a passive RFID transponder unusable is to overload the circuits within the chip. This is analogous to blowing a fuse by overloading the electrical circuits in your home. Human beings are capable of building up a charge of electricity and then discharging it upon coming into contact with a metallic object (sometimes, you get a shock when you touch a doorknob, for instance). If there is a large enough discharge when you touch a transponder's microchip, it could blow a circuit and render the tag inoperable. This is a rare occurrence, because the chip is usually insulated by a paper label, a plastic inlay or some other packaging.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
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