Micro RFID chips raise some privacy concerns
John P. Gamboa, Contributing Columnist
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Science & Technology
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Science fiction movies and books often portray the future as a world in which every individual has been tattooed with a barcode and can be easily traced by anyone at any time. However bleak this image is, recent advancements in radio frequency identification have shown us pieces of this bleak world and a possible utopia.
RFID is a technology that uses small microchips to transmit stored data through the use of radio frequencies.
A common RFID application is the FasTrak electronic toll-payment system used by Caltrans on highways around California. The FasTrak badge is a type of RFID transponder that uses radio signals to send credit card information to the radio terminal at a toll station.
While this sort of technology has been in use in California since the early 1990s, the most recent application of this technology has shown promise for the future, as well as some questionable features. Some retailers use RFID to track the whereabouts of products in stores and to have the ability to see if a certain product has been stocked improperly.
Many people fear that as RFID technology gets cheaper and easier to use it will be misused at the public's expense. Groups of privacy advocates fear a sort of Orwellian future with every individual being implanted with an RFID chip to eliminate the need for money and forms of identification, thus making us lose our individuality because they would branded like cattle.
Such startling uses have been put into practice already. Several nightclubs in Europe have implanted RFID chips in their VIP members to make it easier for them to gain access to exclusive places. While this application is quite odd, the fear of the government using RFID to track Americans is a greater fear. The government could possibly know the whereabouts of all its citizens at any given time if a nationwide application to RFID was used.
On Valentine's Day, Japanese chip maker Hitachi unveiled a new advancement in RFID technology to further any speculation of the possible misuses. Hitachi showed the world the creation of RFID powder. Hitachi developed what it calls mu-chips or .05 mm by .05 mm RFID chips, which are smaller than a grain of rice.
RFID is a technology that uses small microchips to transmit stored data through the use of radio frequencies.
A common RFID application is the FasTrak electronic toll-payment system used by Caltrans on highways around California. The FasTrak badge is a type of RFID transponder that uses radio signals to send credit card information to the radio terminal at a toll station.
While this sort of technology has been in use in California since the early 1990s, the most recent application of this technology has shown promise for the future, as well as some questionable features. Some retailers use RFID to track the whereabouts of products in stores and to have the ability to see if a certain product has been stocked improperly.
Many people fear that as RFID technology gets cheaper and easier to use it will be misused at the public's expense. Groups of privacy advocates fear a sort of Orwellian future with every individual being implanted with an RFID chip to eliminate the need for money and forms of identification, thus making us lose our individuality because they would branded like cattle.
Such startling uses have been put into practice already. Several nightclubs in Europe have implanted RFID chips in their VIP members to make it easier for them to gain access to exclusive places. While this application is quite odd, the fear of the government using RFID to track Americans is a greater fear. The government could possibly know the whereabouts of all its citizens at any given time if a nationwide application to RFID was used.
On Valentine's Day, Japanese chip maker Hitachi unveiled a new advancement in RFID technology to further any speculation of the possible misuses. Hitachi showed the world the creation of RFID powder. Hitachi developed what it calls mu-chips or .05 mm by .05 mm RFID chips, which are smaller than a grain of rice.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Byron
posted 2/27/07 @ 9:04 AM PST
There is a concern that RFID tags embedded in credit cards
may make the presence of such cards detectable by anyone with an RFID reader.
To answer that concern, we have an easy way to make RFID
tagged cards normally invisible, but active when you want them to be. (Continued…)
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