Trilight Zone

[tricore]

The European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media has been studying RFID and its implications for society. In a recent speech, Viviane Reding, a member of the commission, gave a preliminary report on findings to an audience that included many members of the European Parliament.

"The overriding message that comes out of the consultation is that citizens have concerns over privacy issues," she states. No surprise there. A certain amount of concern over privacy is healthy, and media reports on RFID generally are about privacy problems rather than the benefits of the technology. Most ordinary people probably don't appreciate that devices like an ExxonMobil Speedpass are RFID.

Reding continues, "The large majority are willing to be convinced that RFID can bring benefits but they want to be reassured that it will not compromise their privacy. This is the deal that we have to strike if we want RFID to be accepted and widely taken up. This is the deal I am looking to make."

It's not hard to see problems developing with rules that are set up to protect privacy, even in edge cases. For instance, when Reding says that "clear labelling of tags or the option to disable or destroy them electronically will be an important part of our protective armour," one has to wonder about some applications that are supposed to be inconspicuous or perhaps hardened, such as in medical devices and anti-theft devices. But fortunately, Reding also recognizes counter arguments that some privacy concerns are overstated while others are mitigated by technological benefit. The answer to this is that transparency and openness can allow companies and individuals to decide how comfortable they are with the application.

Reding is right that the revolutionary potential of RFID technologies is difficult to grasp, and the changes might not all be desirable. There is a valid role for governments in protecting privacy and ensuring openness of the technologies so that we can all make reasonable choices, to the extent that choices remain.