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RFID And It's Bad Wrap
By Neil Jones of eMobileScan
An Introduction to the Real Threat to Privacy
Radio Frequency Identification technology has ever so often been highlighted for all the wrong reasons. Majority of the “sensational news” circling around RFID is associated with its so-called ‘threat’ to individual privacy and security. The book “Spychips” further aggravates the situation by instilling anti-RFID sentiments amongst the potential consumers. In the following pages we will try to analyze whether RFID is the real threat to consumer privacy?
What is RFID technology?
Before getting into the pros and cons of the RFID technology and whether individual security is threatened or not, we must gather a basic knowledge about the technology. A Basic History of RFID:
Radio Frequency Identification technology is not a recent concept. It was prevalent since World War II. During the war it enabled the Allied forces to identify their own planes and distinguish them from the ones that the Germans owned. This helped in avoiding “friendly fire” incidents. During this period it was used intensely and then was forgotten until recently it was brought to light by group of companies. These companies realized the worth of the RFID technology and capitalized on it to save billions of dollars in their supply chain operations.
In present times, the RFID technology is increasing in strength and acceptability, and it is used in several fields apart from supply chain management. These days it is used in fields as varied as manufacturing pharmaceuticals to food tracking to baggage handling to document management and many more.
Theoretically speaking the function of an RFID is similar to a barcode (a set pattern of thick and thin vertical black lines). Barcodes, which are found on everything ranging from cereal packets to airline tickets, are used to identify an object automatically via a barcode scanner. The concept behind this is very simple. Assign a code number to every object and then manually identify each object and match it with a database. This process, if carried out manually, will take up a lot of time and will also be an exhausting task. So some innovative mind came up with the idea of assigning a unique set of vertical lines for these code numbers so that they can be easily scanned by a machine and matched with the database. Since these vertical lines looked like bars and represented a code number the name “barcode” was assigned to them. The scanner machine scans the barcode and sends the scanned code number for decoding to the computer. After the computer decodes the barcode it identifies the object as, let’s say, a bottle of shampoo and then gives out the details (like the price) for it.
This technology is prevalent in our day-to-day life and we go through it whether we are buying goods at the supermarket or boarding planes.
RFID works on the same concept as does the barcode. Here the vertical lines of the barcodes are replaced by a data chip (containing a unique code number) and an antenna. This data chip is scanned and identified. This in short is a smarter form of the barcode. Thus, the bottle of shampoo will now have an RFID tag which when held in front of the scanner will read and transfer the “code number” of the product to the computer wirelessly. The computer will decode it and search up the database for relevant details. Finally, it will identify the object as a bottle of shampoo and display its details.
Now the question arises, what is the major difference between barcodes and RFID tags? Well, actually a lot! To begin with, unlike barcodes the RFID tags need not be physically visible. It can be placed anywhere on the object; the scanner only needs to be in proximity with the tag to read it, it is not necessary that it should be physically visible. Secondly, if barcodes get easily damaged through stains they become unreadable. RFID tags are much more durable. Thirdly, it is not possible to read two barcodes simultaneously; but several RFID tags can be read simultaneously. Another unique aspect is that a single RFID tag can contain millions of possible serial numbers, this facilitates in providing a unique serial number for every individual item. There are several other advantages of RFID tags and they are way more useful compared to barcodes.
Issues Related to Privacy and Security:
We all know that little knowledge can be very dangerous. This is what happened with the RFID technology and its privacy related issues. The uninformed public saw it as some sinister new technology that giant corporations used to gather personal data about their consumers. Some time back, these giant corporations, especially the ones that were selling consumer goods, were all praise for this new RFID technology. They claimed that this technology allowed them to analyze market trends and predict customer buying patterns and behavior. By this the companies meant that they were monitoring customer behavior on an average scale. For example, by monitoring the buying pattern of the consumers the companies could make out that the Bentonville customers, in comparison to those in Manhattan, were buying lesser razor blades, on weekdays. Nowhere was it mentioned that they were monitoring buying habits of INDIVIDUAL customers. The entire message was misinterpreted wherein all the confusion started.
To further aggravate the situation, the Enron and Worldcom fiascos pushed the public to believe the worst – that the giant corporations were monitoring them with these hi-tech RFID chips. All this is so ridiculous!
The organizations were doing nothing remotely similar to it. Further, like any other technology the RFID had its own limitations and it was not feasible for it to perform such functions. But nobody was prepared to listen to rational explanations.
The situation took a turn for the worse when privacy rights activists claimed that corporations using RFID technology was “trampling on their rights to privacy”.
The reality was exact opposite of what was being projected. Implementation of the RFID met with success in very limited area of consumer goods packaging. Only the products where RFID was successfully implemented were retailed to the consumer with RFID tags instead of barcodes. The majority of the supply chain tagging was being conducted at the pallet level.
To add to it, the range within which these tags could be read is something around a few fractions of an inch to a few inches. The RFID tags that have a powerful long range were generally used for tracking shipping containers or other large objects. These long range tags could never be put on consumers that too on the sly.
Therefore, no one, let alone Pfizer, will come to know how many of those “power enhancing” pills you are taking every day, even though the bottle may have an RFID tag in it. Nevertheless, they would easily get to know that some consumer bought it from some pharmacy in some corner of the world. They would have known it even if RFID tags were not used, as they knew it when they resorted to barcodes to label it. No matter what they would never get to know who the end user is.
What is the Real Threat to Privacy?
RFID actually protects, it is other omnipresent technologies that are available freely which are the real threat to privacy. These are items which we use daily, like Mobile phone cameras and Google Street View.
Mobile phone cameras
With technology developing with each passing day the mobile phones have also developed. Cameras became a common feature in mobile phones a little more than five years ago. However the cameras in these handsets had low resolution and came at a high price; but not anymore. These days they are becoming cheaper and cheaper. Almost the vast majority carry at least a 2.0 megapixel resolution camera. Hence, it has become easier to monitor a person’s movement and take their photos and videos and use them to blackmail or even drag a person into deep trouble. Anyone can click a photo of yours if you are found doing some “funny” business you should not be doing. Or you may be photographed in a place you should not have been in.
So who is the danger man? - An RFID tag or your camera mobile phone. It is very clear from the above example who is threatening your privacy. An RFID tag won’t track you down if you are buying illegal pills at one corner of your town, but while you are buying them if someone snaps a picture of yours then you are done for.
Google Street View:
This is another privacy trespasser technology. Google Street View is a Google maps application that allows you to view a particular street as if you are viewing the ground itself. Google has taken the pain of installing cameras throughout the cities and towns in the United States (with the help of a hired agency of course), so that you can zoom into any particular street or any specific area and watch a continuous stream of photos or movies. These streams of movies and photos are sent back to the Google server form where it is displayed in the Google Street View application. You can easily zoom into a particular area and find yourself stepping out of a place you should not have visited in the first place.
Surveillance cameras
These are found everywhere these days. Airports, supermarkets, bus stations, ATM kiosks, restaurants, you name a place and it is present there. Though their main function is to maintain security, but they also invade into your privacy and it has become very difficult to avoid them. They are like hawks and they monitor each and every movement of yours. Who knows what happens to the vast amount of reels that get collected. No wonder you may feel like Big Brother (as in George Orwell’s 1984 classic novel) watching your every move.
Or like the famous number performed by the rock band, The Police, which goes like this “Every breath you take….Every move you make…Every step you take….I’ll be watching you”.
There is no evidence or record of what happens to the data collected through these surveillance cameras. Even though they often trespass your privacy and other rights no one ever gets to know what happens with all the data. At this time no privacy rights activist comes to the fore front to claim anything even though they do so in case of the innocent RFID tags.
Conclusion:
It is not that Camera phones or Google Street View is a major threat to privacy and should be banned. Various offices and even government organizations are making use of these new technologies and almost nobody is spared. But the point is that although various technologies are used to monitor your daily movements, they can be used appropriately or may be misused. It all depends on the user whether he wants to trample on someone’s privacy is totally up to him. But RFID is not the kind of technology that is not capable of, let alone violating privacy rights.
It is almost next to impossible that RFID technology can be used to infringe on an individual’s privacy in contrast to the other technologies mentioned above. Privacy won’t come under attack from RFID technology or other such “business or industrial type” technologies, but rather they will be threatened by the omnipresent “consumer oriented” technologies like mobile phone cameras and Google Street View; and the fact is that they are developing day by day and enhancing their functionality.
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This intel was contributed by ntjones
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May, 2012
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