There’s something about ‘RFID’ that makes it sound so much more sinister than ‘bar code’. It must be something to do with the acronym. Mention RFID at a conference, and someone there will immediately be thinking of the ‘privacy’ implications. Maybe that’s why most RFID conferences and seminars have to have the obligatory ‘Privacy’ session at which there’ll be lots of hand-wringing and hypotheticals.
I’m not about to pass judgement either way on the rights and wrongs of RFID. Clearly, there are benefits from RFID – just a glance at RFID Journal will show you a multitude of different applications – and equally, safeguards about individual privacy need to be considered.
However, a glance at this local San Diego article will show the extent to which even lawmakers are going over the top to limit the use of scanning technology. According to the article, there are at least five measures being considered to restrict the Californian state government’s use of the technology. In theory, other states could follow California’s lead.
The debate over RFID and privacy will continue to simmer, and there is something of a distinction between government and corporate opportunities for abuse of RFID. Here, organisations considering using RFID will probably not fret unduly about the privacy implications of using the technology. If it delivers business benefits, and a return on investment, it’s worth using, provided individual data protection rights are preserved, not abused.
In any case, it’s still worth being aware of the P word: you never know when you're going to have to justify your data collection and retention.
