Tune into RFID

Talk to someone about RFID and it won't be too long before someone says the 'P' word: privacy.
When we were just dealing with bar codes - and they're not going to go away in a hurry because they're tried, tested, and trusted - no one batted an eyelid about privacy. Mention RFID, and those Big Brother words are released from Pandora's box: tagging, monitoring, tracking, mistrust.

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.

The EU is thought to be close to coming out with a definitive statement on RFID privacy and some UK retailers and RFID advocates are understood to be unhappy with its likely positioning.

As I suggested yesterday, the EU has made a definitive move on RFID, with some 'soft law' guidelines being proposed on the back of a public consultation period ending on 25th April.

This is what the European Commission's critical proposal on deactivating RFID tags, Article 7, actually looks like. Not particularly easy to read, but the message is clear to the retailer. The EC, however, is promising a review within three years after it comes into force.

The discussion of RFID privacy will continue to roll for some time yet. The publication of the EC's privacy draft is another marker in how this technology will eventually be viewed: as a benefit in terms of tracking and tracing or as a nightmare in terms of privacy.

I was interested in a recent article in the International Herald Tribune which picked up on the debate on RFID privacy sparked by the EC's recent privacy guidelines and proposed public consultation, and mentioned the creation of a privacy 'seal of approval'.

The good news for those involved in the debate about RFID privacy is that, despite European interest in safeguarding consumers' interests, no decisions have yet been made with regard to regulation or self-regulation, though all the lobbyists are busy. At least, that is the reading of the runes from one expert I heard from recently.

It seems scarcely a day goes by without more proposed 'RFID-protection' legislation emerging. This time, it's come out of the US state of Washington.