8 DEC, 2003 - 1440 CST
What follows is an excerpt from Vol 15 Issue 34 of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation's EFFector Newsletter.
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* Privacy Groups Campaign to Control RFID Tracking Technology
A tracking technology called radio frequency identification (RFID) is
poised to
become an invisible and ubiquitous part of our daily lives - unless we
act to
ensure that its use is controlled. The focus of increasing concern
among
privacy advocates, RFID tags are tiny electronic computer chips used to
pinpoint
the physical location of whatever item the tags are embedded in.
While this may
seem like a convenient way to track items, it's also a convenient way to
do
something less benign: track people and their activities through
their
belongings.
The U.S. Department of Defense and retail giant Wal-Mart have each
recently
announced that they will require their suppliers to use RFID
technology. In
response, EFF has joined several other privacy groups in issuing a
position
statement warning the public of the threat that RFID use poses to our
privacy.
In the coalition position statement, EFF calls for a voluntary moratorium
among
manufacturers and retailers for item-level RFID tagging pending
further
assessment of its use. In addition, we recommend that the
development of RFID
technology be guided by a set of Principles of Fair Information Practice,
and
that some of its potential uses be flatly prohibited.
EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien has also criticized the use of RFIDs
at a
recent legislative hearing called by State of California Senator Debra
Bowen
(D-Redondo Beach). Tien testified that governmental entities in
California,
such as CalTrans and the City of Santa Clara Public Library, have already
begun
to use RFIDs despite the fact that the California constitution
explicitly
recognizes and protects an individual's right to privacy.
"How long will it be before the California DMV decides to embed
RFIDs or other
tracking technologies in our driver's licenses?" asked Tien.
"The state has an
obligation and an opportunity right now to step in to protect our
privacy."
Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products:
<http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/RFID/rfid_position_statement.php>
EFF RFID archive:
<http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/RFID/>
Agenda for the Energy, Utilities and Communications Subcommittee on
New
Technologies Hearing, "Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Technology - Where Is It Headed?":
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID=57>
(California State Senate)
"DOD Announces Radio Frequency Identification Policy":
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID=58>
(U.S. Department of Defense)
"Wal-Mart Details RFID Requirement":
<http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/642/1/1/>
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While this may not have direct impact on the RFID petitions
currently
before the FCC, it's certainly a basic privacy issue that could be
used
to get this bit of technology suppressed, or at least tightly
regulated,
in the civilian portion of our economy.
73 - Dick, W9GIG