For individuals, RFID hurts more than it helps
I’m listening to a recorded copy of Talk of the Nation on the subject of RFID tags. If you don’t know, RFID tags are tiny little radio transmitters whose information can be read from a distance. This sort of thing has existed for a while, but now that it’s really small and really cheap it’s ubiquitous implementation is being predicted. It has serious privacy implications and if it’s a new topic for you then I suggest reading the RFID Wikipedia entry and the ACLU’s position on RFID.
The guest expert on the show is full of canned and optimistic answers. For example a librarian called in and was concerned about the use of the tags within books for barcode replacement and theft deterrent purposes. The guest outright dismissed the concerns, saying that the chances of people having a reader were low and that libraries are doing it to reduce costs, so it’s okay. The reply was so ill considered that when he was thanked the caller replied with a sarcastic and drawn out “Ohhh…kay.”
Security by obscurity? Not a problem because of current technological roadblocks? The reason we need to talk about the privacy concerns is precisely because the most concerning technology hasn’t yet fully materialized. If we wait until everyone can get a $30 general purpose RFID reader, or until the tags can broadcast a long distance, then it’s too late. The rate of technological progress and its inverse to the cost of purchase mean that the more we snooze on this, looking only at the benefits, the higher chance that we’ll end up in a world where everything is tracked and privacy is a quaint and unrealistic ideal.
It’s already happening, as just this week the FDA approved implanted RFID tags for medial use within hospital patients. While the health care industry obviously has a data management problem I think there are unexplored and less concerning ways to solve it. Other proposed uses of this technology are downright trivial. On the show they talk about smart clothing that will allow your washing machine to alert you about its care instructions or milk being able to tell the refrigerator that it’s expired. These are comically minor problems in our lives, and are served just fine by the existing method of printing information on the tag or container.
This sort of ridiculous complication is pure techno-fanaticism mixed with irresponsibility. It reminds me of the mindset used when a new species is introduced into a non-native area to control the population of another species. It solves the original problem in a band-aid manner while introducing a whole new set of issues.
Already people are talking about how RFID concerns can be covered up instead of addressing them. They say you could get a RFID blocking handbags to keep any items in that you don’t want broadcasting their data. Come on — opt out solutions are privacy nightmares and protect only the fringe groups in the know.
We need to have some more serious discourse about this technology and implement legislative as well as technological solutions. There’s no doubt that RFID offers time and cost saving benefits, so I doubt the market is going to slow its implementation or sort out the privacy concerns on its own.
Comments
Posted by: andrea on November 17, 2004 12:39 PM
Posted by: James Mata on November 29, 2004 8:33 PM
Posted by: Steve Houser on December 9, 2004 9:34 AM