8 DEC, 2003 - 1440 CST What follows is an excerpt from Vol 15 Issue 34 of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's EFFector Newsletter. -------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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/> -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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