RFID is silly to put in a card that 99% will forget about and leave behind. QR codes are better as they are just the same ink that goes on it anyways.
Yeah I think that was the original point the other person was making but it sounded like you were arguing against that. I think we're all in agreement, a QR code is a cheaper and quicker method of doing the paper>electronic data connection than whatever the tech in this article is describing, unless they can increase storage a massive amount.
Does an RFID tag not require something electronic to read them?
Pretty much what happens now--name and shame, get the story out there. If McDonald's wanted to plaster a billboard with someone's personal family photos, the odds that that family could even afford a lawyer for recourse to an appropriate degree is essentially nil. What would likely happen is that McDonald's would settle for some absurdly low dollar value and perhaps take down the billboards--or just as likely, negotiate for use in the settlement agreement, saying "take this and let us use the photo or we'll see you in court."
If someone gets a reputation for stealing others' work continuously, who is ever going to work with them?
I'm not sure of any evidence suggesting that piracy impacts the bottom line in a meaningful way. The piracy problem is primarily one of competition and innovation--people pay for things they find valuable and convenient, and if the barrier to payment is too high, they won't pay it.
Highly pirated movies tend to be the most successful, most profitable ones. I don't know of any high profile, highly regarded pieces of media that didn't earn their investment back purely because everyone pirated it instead of paying for it.
Some links you might find interesting: https://copia.is/library/the-carrot-or-the-stick/
That last one is an especially interesting case study, albeit a perhaps accidental one.
The key here is that as a business your objective isn't to capture every last dollar that you potentially could have if every single use of your IP was completely in your control--you want to make enough people want to pay you so that you can be profitable. Pirates are often just providing free marketing to someone that may or may not have ever heard of your product.
I'm pretty sure that's in support of the concept.
Social media in general is likely contributing to the rise of violent facism. Anything that can reverse that trend is good IMO.