By Graeme Wearden, 21 November 2003 10:00
NEWS Over 30 civil liberties and privacy groups have demanded a suspension to the deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging systems until a number of issues surrounding the controversial technology have been addressed.
These organisations, including Britain's Foundation for Information Policy Research and Privacy International, have backed a position statement on the use of RFID on consumer products that was issued on Thursday.
It claims that RFID, if used improperly, represents a major threat to consumer privacy and civil liberties. This follows earlier protests against RFID by campaigners, and is thought to be the first formal global alliance against the technology.
RFID tags are very small chips containing a tiny antenna, and can be fixed to physical items. A number of major retailers are interested in using them as a high-tech replacement for barcodes, as they offer the possibility of improved stock control - allowing a company to automatically count how many items it has in store, for example.
A number of trials have already taken place this year, involving companies such as Wal-Mart and Marks & Spencer.
Thursday's position statement lays out the case against RFID. It claims that hidden placement of tags could mean an individual wouldn't know that their clothing was broadcasting information, possibly to a hidden reader. It also states that RFID's electronic product code would theoretically allow every object in the world to be given a unique ID number.
This in turn opens up the possibility of mass surveillance, with people being tagged, monitored and profiled without their knowledge and consent through hidden RFID chips.
For these reasons, the organisations that have backed this position statement want a moratorium on the deployment and use of RFID until a "formal technology assessment" has taken place, involving both industry and consumers.
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
There will always be those who fear advancement in enabling technologies and are given to extreme scenarios. Similar fears were expressed when bar codes and automobiles were first rolled out. The fact is that manufacturers can and will easily implement simple RFID attachment methods that can be deactivated at the point of sale, are overt and are removed by the consumer, just as sale tags are. Big brother conspiracy scenarios are best left to action-adventure films. RFID has a clear value proposition in the supply chain and there is no *factual* basis for consumers to be concerned. Claims that our clothing could be "transmitting" without our knowledge shows just how ignorant the "conspiracy groups" are of how this technology works, and what it can(and more importantly cannot)do.
Those who panic over RFID fail to explain how the covert mystery systems would know exactly which tag belongs to which person.
Relax a little - the Kremlin isn't listening to your sweater.
2. Glenrick White
I work for a development company,who develop management software for the waste management industry. RFID tagging has been used in the waste management industry for sometime to monitor commercial weight volume collected, monitor the volume of recycling collected, help councils to target resource at persons not recycling to assist them with any issues they are experiencing and to manage assets (bins, vehicles, etc) There has been no abuse of this technology to date, and the notion of tracking persons using RFID I believe is a long way of. First there is the problem of distance, as tags can only be read at present from a very short distance, then there is the issue of readers, these are not very minute at present so this could also present a problem. Of course there are other factor such as metal inteference, acuracy of the read, matching the tag ID with corresponding data in a database that cross refers with the tag ID and then generates the required information. It is still early days for RFID and it can be a big cost saver in relation to asset management, however it is going to be a while before we are tracted using RFID. I believe more attention should be addressed to the new service being offered by companies which allow tracking of individuals based on their mobile phone signal.