'Stop RFID'

TechWeb reports that many consumer, privacy and civil liberties groups - including the EFF and Privacy International - have endorsed a position statement on the development and use of RFID.

In this position statement, they identify the following threats to privacy and civil liberties:

Hidden placement of tags

The creation of a global item registration system in which every physical object is identified and linked to its purchaser or owner at the point of sale or transfer

Massive data aggregation, which could be linked with personal identifying data

Hidden readers

Individual tracking and profiling, without transparency or consent

And recommend the following minimum guidelines:

Openness, or transparency... Labeling must be clearly displayed and easily understood.

RFID users must give notice of the purposes for which tags and readers are used.

The collection of information should be limited to that which is necessary for the purpose at hand.

Accountability. RFID users should be legally responsible for complying with the principles.

There must be security and integrity in transmission, databases, and system access. These should be verified by outside, third-party, publicly disclosed assessment.

Finally, they suggest the prohibition of these practices:

Merchants must be prohibited from forcing or coercing customers into accepting live or dormant RFID tags in the products they buy.

There should be no prohibition on individuals to detect RFID tags and readers and disable tags on items in their possession.

RFID must not be used to track individuals absent informed and written consent of the data subject.

RFID should never be employed in a fashion to eliminate or reduce anonymity. For instance, RFID should not be incorporated into currency.

Found via RFID Privacy Happenings

Posted at 01:59 PM in Identities for things | Permalink

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