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 Provocations
Michael
LaBossiere
Number
Seventeen: RFID and Privacy
Technological
advances generally promise great things while also threatening to
create problems. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is no exception
to this general rule. An RFID system is similar in some ways to
a bar code system in that it consists of a scanner that reads an
information source. The main difference is that an RFID scanner
scans information from tags containing circuits instead of from
printed bars.
While
there are many current and potential uses for RFID tags, the one
that is currently generating the most controversy is the employment
of RFID tags in tracking merchandise. On the face of it, this use
of RFID tags seems perfectly harmless - they would be used to make
inventory control more efficient. For example, as soon as tagged
merchandise arrived in a store an automatic system could detect
the tags and log the information into the store database, all without
a single box being opened. Despite the apparently benign nature
of the tags, plans by both Wal-Mart and Benetton to test such systems
were put on hold because of a negative public response to the tags.
The
negative response was fueled in part by the fact there are many
moral concerns about the use of RFID tags. One concern is that the
efficiency of the RFID systems will result in increased unemployment
- fewer people will be needed to handle merchandise. While this
is certainly a serious matter, it is not a problem specific to RFID
systems. After all, people have been losing jobs to technology since
there have been jobs.
A
second concern and one fairly specific to RFID systems is that,
in addition to tracking merchandise, RFID tags can be used to gather
information about customers and even track them.
If
customer buys an item with a credit or debit card, then the item
will be linked with that card (and, in most cases, to the purchaser).
While companies will no doubt claim that this information will enable
them to better serve the customer, privacy advocates are rather
worried about the potential for abuse - simply imagine the increase
in email spam and telemarketing once companies know exactly what
you buy.
Of
even greater concern is the fact that such purchases will create
a “data trail.” While such data trails exist today, RFID
tags create the potential for a marked increase in the amount of
data available. For example, if a couple were going through a divorce,
the wife could learn, perhaps via a private detective accessing
RFID data, that the unfaithful husband’s recent “naughty”
lingerie purchase took place when he claimed to be at work and that
while it is not in her size, it would nicely fit that person he
is “just friends” with.
What
is perhaps of the greatest concern to privacy advocates is that
fact that the RFID tags in our possessions (such as mobile phones)
could enable other people to track us-perhaps not quite as dramatically
as in movies like Enemy of the State or Minority Report
but with a reasonable degree of effectiveness nonetheless. This
would enable organization, such as governments, and even individuals
to learn where and when a person has been through the use of suitably
powerful RFID readers. For example, the detective hired by the above
mentioned wife might acquire RFID data showing that the husband
and his “friend” were in the same hotel room at the same
time while he was allegedly at the dentists.
One
reasonably reply to the concerns about data trails and tracking
is that only people who are committing misdeeds (such as having
affairs, breaking the law, or plotting terrorism) have anything
to worry about. Do we, it should be asked, have a moral right to
conceal our misdeeds? It would seem rather odd, perhaps even a contradiction,
to claim a moral right to conceal one’s wrongdoings.
An
equally reasonable response to this reply is that even people who
are not doing misdeeds still have a right to worry. Simply considering
the track record of governments, even democratic ones such as in
the United States and the United Kingdom, would give any citizen
grounds for concerns. For example, one has but to do a little research
into the Patriot Act’s application in America to realize that
there are very serious grounds for concern. And, of course, there
are equally serious concerns that companies and individuals would
misuse such information to the detriment of others. After all, as
the Iron Law of Technological Misuse states: any technology that
can be misused will be misused.
One
last worry is that one can easily imagine enterprising criminals
using RFID readers to scan potential victims, luggage, or buildings
for things worth stealing.
Given
these concerns, the implementation of any such RFID systems is a
matter that should be given serious thought.
Provocations
will next be updated mid March 2004
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