Presenter: Bob Davis is a partner in Transformations,  a global leader in manufacturing and distributing solutions utilizing the latest in technology for manufacturing and distribution. Read Bob's Bio

Have you taken an RFID home with you? RFID chips, tiny tracking devices the
size of a speck of dust, can be used to secretly identify you and the things
you're carrying.  Data can be read right through clothes, wallet, backpack,
and purse.  

RFID is a consumer goods tracking system that couples radio frequency (RF)
identification technology with highly miniaturized wireless computers to
enable products to be identified and tracked at any point along the supply chain and beyond with profound implications for consumer privacy.

If you have "keyless" entry to your car, or use an Exxon Speedpass to buy gas, you're using RFID. If you live on the East or West coasts, you probably use FasTrak or EZPass to pay highway tolls from your car without stopping; both systems use RFID technology. The United States Department of Defense uses RFID for military supply chain for everything purchased by the U.S.
military -- from beans to bullets and from toothpaste to toilets to tanks.

RFID can be used on any physical item with unique information in an embedded
chip. The chip sends out an identification signal allowing it to communicate
with reader devices and other products embedded with similar chips. The
“smart tag” with RFID has a very small radio transmitter that is inactive
(like a bar code) until it receives a radio signal. When it does, it
broadcasts one piece of information.  It sends its serial number back to a
master radio, where it is recorded in a database to identify and track every
item.

RFID employs a numbering scheme called EPC (electronic product code). The
EPC will replace the UPC bar code currently used on products.  Unlike the
bar code, the EPC goes beyond identifying product categories . . . it
assigns a unique number to EVERY single item that rolls off a manufacturing
line.  Each pack of cigarettes, individual can of soda, light bulb or
package of razor blades produced will be uniquely identifiable through its
own EPC number.

Once assigned, this number is transmitted by a radio frequency ID tag (RFID)
in or on the product.  These tiny “smart tags” cost less than a penny each
and are as tiny as a grain of sand or a speck of dust. Reader devices are
used to pick up the signal transmitted by the RFID tag.

 
The plan is for a global network of millions of receivers along the entire chain . . . . .  in airports, seaports, highways, distribution centers, warehouses, retail stores, and in homes. . . . to allow for seamless, continuous identification and tracking of physical items as they move from one place to another.  Companies will then “database” the whereabouts of all their products at all times.

What will the future look like when every belonging is marked with a unique
number identifiable with the swipe of a scanner; when the refrigerator or
medicine cabinet keeps track of its contents; when the location of a car or
a cell phone is always pinpoint-able; and when signal-emitting microchips
storing personal information can be implanted beneath the skin or embedded
in inner organs?  

Will RFID technology be limited to supply chain management where companies
can keep track of the quantity of a product in stock?  Will personal privacy
be discarded as our every move is "tracked" into a database? What are the
implications (pro and con) of RFID?

Theft will be reduced because items will “report” when they are stolen.
Their smart tags will serve as a homing device of their exact location.
Government and law enforcement can use RFID technology to keep “tabs” on
citizens.  Police can use RFID to scan the contents of a car's trunk without
needing to open it or to know what is in your house without having to use a
search warrant.  Governments could embed RFID tags in the fibers of paper
currency to allow money to carry its own history by recording information
about where it has been; this would give governments and law enforcement
agencies a way to literally "follow the money" in every transaction. The
anonymity that cash affords in consumer transactions would be eliminated.

RFID technology in supermarkets will allow consumers to walk into a store,
select products whose packages are embedded with small RFID/ UPC codes, and
exit the store without ever going through a checkout line or signing their
name on a dotted line.   Shopping carts will automatically bill consumers'
accounts (cards will no longer be needed to link purchases to individuals);
refrigerators will report their contents to the supermarket for re-ordering;
and interactive televisions will select commercials based on the contents of
the home's refrigerator.

“Supermarket loyalty and frequent “shopper cards” linking consumers and
their purchases are currently used by marketers to log who buys what, when,
where, and how.  With RFID, marketers can monitor consumers' use of products
within their own homes. RFID tags coupled with indoor receivers installed in
shelves, floors, and doorways can provide ever-present data about consumer
behavior. Do consumers want this RFID technology tracking everything we own
as well as our usage patterns 24/7?

RFID health surveillance could be pill bottles in medicine cabinets tagged
with RFID devices to allow doctors to remotely monitor patient compliance
with prescriptions.  Can citizens escape  surveillance of manufacturers,
retailers, and marketers?  In an age of ubiquitous surveillance cameras,
government tracking systems, and biometrics, do citizens want their every
move tracked through packages of cream cheese, razor blades, and shampoo?
Can America put privacy protections in place before “Pandora’s Box” gets
pried opened? Considering the natural consequences of these proposed
applications, we must ask ourselves if the benefits outweigh the risks to
personal privacy.
 

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