Growing support for radio frequency identification
tagging is convenient for consumers but could threaten their
privacy.
This was the consensus among a panel of experts at a debates at
the Cebit trade show.
Retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores have been eager to adopt the
technology because it can help them track inventory and buying
information. However, privacy advocates fear that the tags can be
left "active" after a sale, and the data stored will continue to be
accessible. There are also concerns that RFID tags placed in store
loyalty cards could be used to profile consumers' shopping
patterns.
"I can't really see the positive aspects of RFID for consumers
and citizens," said Rena Tangens, founder and board member of the
German privacy group FoeBuD e.V.
Tangens argued that it is easy to covertly place RFID tags in
products without consumers knowing. Transmitter guns could then,
theoretically, access information about consumers stored in the
tags.
Her group, which gives out an annual tongue-in-cheek Big Brother
Award to companies deemed to be privacy violators, is calling for
new legislation and technologies to protect consumers from the
mishandling of RFID technology.
However, Philip Calderon, The ePC Group vice president in
Europe, downplayed Tangens' concerns. "There are more myths in RFID
than there are in Greek mythology," he said.
Calderon has worked with retailers as well as industry players
on RFID standards. He believed RFID could offer great advantages to
consumers and that the privacy concerns can be solved through the
development of new technologies.
"I believe there is a place for legislation, but not if it holds
back new technologies until it is put in to place," he said.
"Companies shouldn't have to wait five or six years until the
privacy issues are dealt with."
There are reasons why consumers would benefit from having RFID
tags left active after a purchase, such as the ability to return
goods without a receipt or send an item back without filling out a
warranty card, Calderon said. All their purchase information would
already be stored in the product's tag, eliminating the need for
paper proofs of purchase.
Art Coviello, president and chief executive officer of RSA
Security, agreed that RFID offers advantages to consumers, but said
that he "would be very worried of his privacy".
RSA has just launched an RFID tag blocker that prevents readers
from performing unwanted scanning of products or goods.
Coviello said that he also supported legislation, but not if its
keeps companies from deploying RFID because the ramifications -
positive or negative - cannot be known until it is in practice.
"The fundamental thing about technology is that there needs to
be co-operation as never before between governments, consumers and
vendors," he said. "Consumers cannot be passive. They have to state
their rights and how they wanted to be protected."
However, consumers may not yet know all the potential privacy
concerns related to RFID, the panel members said.
One headline-grabbing case of supermarket chain Tesco using RFID
tags as a kind of antitheft system has caught the attention of
some. Tesco tried to reduce theft of high-price items by attaching
RFID tags to them and, when consumers pulled the items off the
shelf, the in-store security cameras were triggered. Some images
were destroyed if the item was purchased while others were saved to
identify potential thieves.
Many shoppers became incensed when they were made aware of the
programme, although Calderon and other RFID advocates said that
Tesco's use of the technology was exceptional.
"There have been some mistakes made but the potential of RFID is
huge," Calderon said.
Scarlet Pruitt writes for IDG News Service