By Jo Best, 16 March 2007 15:00
NEWS
After pondering RFID technology for a year, the European Commission has decided Europe cannot live without the chips - but privacy concerns that surround them must be resolved.
According to the EC, the market for RFID is growing rapidly and will contribute 7bn to the community's coffers by 2016. The Commission has now announced it intends to put together a 'stakeholder group' which will be charged with working out a European RFID policy.
The stakeholder group and the EC will also club together to work out by 2008 the social and economic impact of RFID and whether there is a need to introduce legislation to govern its use.
Speaking at the CeBIT trade show yesterday, information society & media commissioner Viviane Reding said that following the consultation launched last year, the Commission had discovered privacy concerns among EC citizens.
She said: "The Commission's Europe-wide public consultation in 2006 identified a strong lack of awareness and considerable concern among citizens. The Commission's RFID strategy will therefore seek to raise awareness, stress the absolute need for citizens to decide how their personal data is used and ensure that Europe removes existing obstacles to RFID's enormous potential."
The Commission is now planning to work on convincing the privacy sceptics. Among its arsenal will be a recommendation on how all those involved with RFID can tackle privacy and data security, as well as informing them how existing privacy legislation applies to RFID; and propose an e-privacy directive as part of an upcoming update of telecoms legislation. Both are expected to be completed this year.
A communication on RFID adopted by the EC said: "With wider use, it becomes essential that the implementation of RFID takes place under a legal framework that affords citizens effective safeguards for fundamental values, health, data protection and privacy."
The EC will also analyse issues of spectrum, standards and environmental health surrounding RFID.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Jeremy Wickins
How good of the EU - consumers don't want it, but they're going to persuade us because the market is worth 7bn euro. Where does this figure come from? Anyway, since it is clear we are going to be inundated with the crappy little things regardless of any trivial concerns about privacy, I'm going to build myself an RFID Zapper <https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/wiki/RFID-Zapper(EN)>
2. Roger Huffadine
Jeremy has it in one - if you read my previous posts I'm just waiting for the widespread deployment of RFID crap and then I'm going to make a whole bunch of money building zappers. Jeremy how do you fancy a joint venture - we could even take our prototype to Ce-bit next year and 'demonstrate' it around the numerous booths of snake oil salesmen :))
3. Andrew Meredith
Come now Jeremy, you know how it works. It's not that we don't want the crappy little things, it's just that we, like the French and Dutch electorate, simply don't understand. We are all so much more dense than these deep thinkers in the commission.
It goes like this: Be damned all your civil liberties. Be damned all your belly aching about being tracked and targeted. There's a buck to made! Full steam ahead!
4. Jeremy Wickins
Thanks, Roger - sounds like a great idea to me! We can't lose!
Andrew - that is a far neater way of putting it than I did. Thanks :))