Comment: A time to welcome RFID chips

Posted on 8 Sep 2006 at 12:32

The recipe for an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) article in the popular
press is simple: latch on to the newest application for the chips, add a
generous helping of scaremongering, stir up the privacy lobby and you've got yourself the perfect news story. The upshot is that people resist the technology, fearing a time when the only escape is to don a frequency-blocking tin-foil hat.

But even in the face of such negative publicity, some companies are slowly rolling out RFID technology to the mutual benefit of customers and businesses. So could it be time to embrace the benefits of RFID and start asking what more it could do for us?

It's easy to find a thousand reasons not to, and that's largely because those promoting its use have done such a bad job. Take the Netherlands' efforts to promote the technology as a personal data repository in passports, for example.

Producers of a Dutch TV programme, working in unison with a local security firm, took just two hours to crack the encryption on a prototype passport. They were able to intercept the data communication between the passport and an RFID reader, and gained access to the photograph, fingerprint data and other personal information it held. That was enough to sow even more seeds of doubt among privacy activists in the US, where RFID passports are due to become available in the next few months.

But it isn't just the technology that's troubled RFID opponents, it's the implementation too. Tesco made a catastrophic PR blunder three years ago when it started trialling the chips in one store. One of its bright ideas was to surreptitiously take photographs of shoppers who picked up RFID-tagged Gillette razor blades. An odd choice of product to choose while testing a system to keep shoplifters at bay, you might think, but apparently razor blades' size-versus-value ratio makes them a top target for the light fingered - a key reason why many smaller shops keep them behind the counter next to the bottles of whisky. The supermarket chain insisted that the photos were only kept for a short period and weren't to be used for monitoring, but the damage was done: the privacy lobby escalated the experiment into a severe breach of shoppers' human rights.

These small-scale yet high-profile howlers have contributed to conceal RFID's greater good. I'd be as uncomfortable as the next man if there was any risk that the data on my future RFID-enabled passport could get 'skimmed' by a scammer. But a secure product allowing me to be given the fast track through airport security certainly appeals.

And the benefits to industry, which - let's be honest - will be more important to RFID developers than my convenience, are even greater. Supermarkets have been among the first to latch on to the potential.

Wal-Mart is starting to require its suppliers to install the chips in goods for stock-tracking purposes, while Tesco's Korean cousin - Samsung Tesco - has apparently won the approval of shoppers to keep an eye on their movements in store. The chain has slipped the chips into shopping trolleys in a bid to understand customers' movements around stores, and to pinpoint consistently crowded areas to help them plan the prime spot for different types of products. There are also far simpler security applications, such as exterior office doors locking when an RFID-tagged laptop is carried nearby.

Much opposition to RFID stems from confusion over the technology. So, if you're not convinced, now is the time to highlight any objections and allay your fears. The European Commission is hosting an online public consultation - at www.rfidconsultation.eu - in a bid to understand people's concerns over RFID.