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posted by mrpg on Saturday February 02 2019, @11:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the color-me-wireless dept.

Many customers at a small town grocery store in Alberta had trouble unlocking their cars, while others had their car alarms going off mysteriously, since early January. According to the CBC, after trial-and-error of turning off electricity to nearby buildings and calling in the federal government for assistance, the source of the interference has been traced back to "faulty consumer electronic equipment stuck in transmit mode".

The story of the original mystery can be found here.

Key fobs that suddenly won't unlock vehicles. Cars that won't start. Alarms that go off for no reason and can't be quieted. Something mysterious is thwarting drivers outside a grocery store in the small Alberta town of Carstairs — and it's sparking all kinds of theories.

The problems have been happening for weeks in the parking lot outside the Westview Co-op grocery store in Carstairs, a town of about 4,000 about 60 kilometres north of Calgary.

[Ed. note: key fob: A passive wireless electronic device that usually uses RFID technology to control access to buildings, containers, computers, etc. by being placed near a detector.
Remote keyless system (RKS):

Widely used in automobiles, an RKS performs the functions of a standard car key without physical contact. When within a few yards of the car, pressing a button on the remote can lock or unlock the doors, and may perform other functions. A remote keyless system can include both a remote keyless entry system (RKE), which unlocks the doors, and a remote keyless ignition system (RKI), which starts the engine.

Updated: 20190202_131403 UTC]


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 02 2019, @11:46AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 02 2019, @11:46AM (#795364)

    Your definition of keyfob in this instance is wrong.
    You're thinking of an RFID tag embedded in a key or badge or NFC whatever, that's not what this is.
    They specifically state in the article the RF transmitters used to unlock and start vehicles and that people go into the stores looking for a new battery for their fobs.
    This is active RF not passive, and it's the little remote control thingy for your car locks and alarm, although some vehicles require that doohickey to be inside the car and even build them directly into the key ala VW etc.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Saturday February 02 2019, @01:21PM (6 children)

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 02 2019, @01:21PM (#795381) Journal

    You are correct. (I have no idea why such a commonly-used term does not have a readily accessible definition on the web!)

    Story has been updated; thank-you for bringing it to our attention!

    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday February 03 2019, @12:54AM (3 children)

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday February 03 2019, @12:54AM (#795519) Journal

      I see no reason to restrict "key fob" to passive items only. I'd put a giant CITATION NEEDED on this. This sort of thing is precisely how language usage pedantry usually gets started -- some jerk simply DECIDES a word only should be used the way he (it's almost always a he) likes... and a generation later the "people in the know" are bitching about "misuse," when the distinction was made up by one idiot. (Seriously, consult Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage which contains detailed histories of such things -- you read it and you realized most of the pedants aren't policing standard usage. Instead, a lot of the stuff was just made up 100 years ago or 50 years ago by some other pedant.)

      A "fob" is simply a thing on a pocket chain other than the main thing on that chain. Originally it referred to ornamental things on a pocket watch chain. Then it referred to things on a key chain. Then it referred to things on a key ring (like those stupid ornamental things businesses put on key rings).

      Then it came to be used to refer to the device on a key ring given by car manufacturers to unlock doors and things. And ONLY then (after keyless starting for cars and such) it came to be used for doohickeys on key rings for passive systems to start cars or other things and such.

      And now some weirdo comes along and claims the word "fob" should ONLY be used for passive systems?? Sorry, but where the hell does that distinction come from? Why give into such BS?

      • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday February 03 2019, @12:59AM (1 child)

        by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday February 03 2019, @12:59AM (#795522) Journal

        And not to be a jerk, but did you read the Wikipedia article you linked? From the article on RKS you linked in the (amended) summary:

        The functions of a remote keyless entry system are contained on a key fob or built into the ignition key handle itself.

        • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday February 03 2019, @01:02AM

          by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday February 03 2019, @01:02AM (#795524) Journal

          And by the way, I apologize for my tone here. You don't deserve it. I just get really annoyed by pedants who don't know what they're talking about (or just make something up).

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday February 03 2019, @01:17AM

        by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday February 03 2019, @01:17AM (#795533) Journal

        Sorry for so many self-replies, but when one calls out a pedant, one opens oneself up to all sorts of pedantic criticism. When I said a "fob" "originally" meant an ornament of a pocket watch chain, I was speaking of the first usage of the word akin to its modern sense.

        The word "fob" truly originally meant the pocket itself in waistcoats, then it became associated with the phrase "fob chain" for the chain that connected to the pocket watch, then that was shortened to "fob" to refer to the chain itself, and then it came to be associated with things ON that chain.

        All of that is pretty irrelevant to the present discussion, but I just wanted to be clear, in case someone wanted to derail discussion by challenging my wording.

    • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday February 03 2019, @01:18PM (1 child)

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday February 03 2019, @01:18PM (#795665) Journal

      Oops. I think I misread this thread. I gather an editor may have added the passive note to TFS, and AC may have asked you to correct it. (I assumed you added the editorial note about the passive definition AFTER the AC posted and then later clarified with the RKS link.)

      I had a long work day yesterday and obviously wasn't thinking clearly... and also couldn't see the edit history of TFS. Apologies for my reply.

      • (Score: 2) by martyb on Monday February 04 2019, @11:28AM

        by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 04 2019, @11:28AM (#796081) Journal
        I *was* wondering what you were going on about. Sorry to hear you had a long, difficult day! Thanks for the apology... much appreciated, and accepted!
        --
        Wit is intellect, dancing.