What is being described likely is possible, with tinkertech, but tinkertech generally requires maintenance, and this sort of tracking device is something you would need to be very reliable. Due to the number of units that would be needed and the expected use environment, anything so finicky is unlikely to be practicable
One trick might be to put the equivalent of a cross-dimensional RFID rag in devices, which is passive, pretty stable, and has loadsa (stream-encrypted) conventional tech storage associated with it. The
active bit is the remote dimensional-scanner, which contacts, powers the tag, and receives any associated stored data.
If you're
mean, unless this scan is done regularly, and received by the device, said device stops working.
Meaner? Some sort of regular, needed, processing is done at the
scanner end of the system. No, capturing a reusable token isn't enough to evade the scheme -
new tokens are needed every so often. Encryption and WORM storage will be mixed into this mess.
Complaints? "It's Tinker-tech, you were
warned it'd need maintenance."
Yes, a good enough Tinker can likely crack a single instance of this system (they've got physical access to it - that's a general deal-breaker). Dragon can likely make it difficult to use the same cracking scheme on all protected devices. Dirty tricks like random-number biased timer-before-shutdown, half-a-dozen different security designs, circuitry embedded in solid materials, false (but remote-powered) circuitry, etc., etc.
TL;DR: Evil Tinker-tech is Evil
