The battle for privacy with RFID

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2006

This spring, Wisconsin passed a bill making it a crime to forcibly implant people with RFID chips that could be used to track their movements. That may seem like a solution in search of a problem, but it does highlight the kinds of privacy issues being raised about RFID.

"RFID is a great technology for tracking pallets from point A to point B," says Liz McIntyre, spokesperson for CASPIAN Consumer Advocacy and co-author of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID." "Where we draw the line is when it's placed on individual items and cartons that consumers will interact with on the sales floor and buy," she adds.

Once the infrastructure and databases are in place, she says, she fears business and government will use RFID tags to mine for information without informing the public. "That's why we need to be very proactive as consumers," she says, "and tell these companies 'no' to item-level tagging."

On the other side of the fence are RFID supporters, such as RFID Journal editor Mark Roberti, who dismiss most of the arguments made by privacy advocates.

Theoretically, Roberti agrees it's possible to embed an RFID tag in every item we buy and every government document we carry and to build a network of ubiquitous readers to monitor our every step.

But practically speaking, it seems unlikely. Take RFID-tagged clothing. "The problem with that scenario is that is suggests I'll be forced to wear underwear with an RFID tag in it," Roberti says. "To think that's going to happen in a capitalist society is crazy. Consumers will always have a choice because that's the nature of our system."

His solution? Pass laws that shut down abuses of the technology and still allow consumers to get the benefits.

"There's no doubt the technology can be abused, just like the Internet can be abused," says Roberti. "We don't shut down the Internet. I firmly believe that when consumers understand how RFID works, they will be comfortable with the technology."