System and method for disabling a RFID tag. A preferred embodiment comprises attenuating a signal received at an antenna of the RFID tag based upon a status of the RFID tag and responding to an instruction in the received signal if the attenuated signal is detectable. The attenuation of the received signal requires that the received signal have a signal strength greater than a specified threshold in order for the instruction in the received signal to be detectable. This means that for a given signal transmit power, the RFID tag must be within a certain distance from a RFID reader attempting to retrieve information from the RFID tag. By setting the attenuation amount at a sufficiently high level, the method ensures that the RFID reader must be substantially adjacent to the RFID tag, preventing the unintended retrieval of unique identification information by RFID readers remotely located from the RFID tag.