Set to ship this week, the tags, made by partner Marnlen Management, will allow consumers to shorten the range of RFID from feet to inches -- reducing privacy concerns -- by simply snapping off a portion of the tag's radio antenna.

Retailers and manufacturers see RFID as a way to lower costs by tracking inventory more accurately at the store level, using the tag as a form of a permanent receipt for returns and recalls, or to catch shoplifters. Also, because RFID tags do not have to be aligned with a reader as do bar codes, they could be a competitive differentiator from other retailers due to quicker check out times.

However, a typical RFID tag has a range of 30 feet, and it is possible that a consumer product using an embedded RFID tag could be read without the knowledge of the consumer.

"If you tear off a part of the antenna it would have to be held up to a reader," said Paul Moskowitz, a member of the Watson Research Center and one of the inventors of the Clipped Tag.

Retail industry representatives have long talked about using the tag on products so that mall shoppers might be called on their cell phones as they pass a store from which the tagged item was purchased offering them a discount.