an element formed of components for providing user functions for the product, said element comprising element semiconductor circuits manufactured with a semiconductor process; and

a tag for providing tag operations through RF communication with said RF communicator, said tag being permanently affixed to and transportable with said element and comprising tag semiconductor circuits manufactured using the same semiconductor process for manufacturing said element semiconductor circuits, wherein said semiconductor process encapsulates said tag with said element so as to impede tampering with said tag, and wherein tampering with said tag impedes normal tag operations by destroying RF communication of said tag or causing said tag to provide a logical state that indicates tampering, and tampering with said tag also damages said element and impedes normal user functions provided by said element, each tag comprising:

a tag memory having storage locations for storing security information,

a controller for accessing said tag memory to access said security information in response to a security routine, and

an I/O unit for electronic communication with said controller and for RF communication,

wherein said I/O unit receives an instruction associated with the security routine from said RF communicator, said controller executing a security protocol in response to the security routine for controlling access to said tag.