RFID: tracking the future
24-03-2006
by Maxim Kelly

Near-invisible radio chips expand opportunities for businesses, but raise concerns for individual privacy.

In the futuristic sci-fi movie Minority Report, actor Tom Cruise's cover is blown when he passes a fashion store computer that recognises his jeans. The computer processes broadcasts from a chip embedded in his clothes and responds with targeted advertising.

The chip is no science fiction. Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) are pinhead-sized beacons that can transmit, for example, your suit size to a tailor's notebook, or a pet's owner to a policeman. Although tiny, these micro-transponders store and communicate complex data and are powered by the very radio waves they receive.

Thirty-three years after American grocers adopted the barcode, global industry groups as diverse as retail, pharmaceutical, military, and IT now see RFID as an ideal track-and-trace technology. It allows real-time unit monitoring from manufacture to delivery, deployment, point-of-sale, and beyond.

Low-frequency RFIDs are used every day in Irish car immobilisers, employee ID fobs, and motorway tollbooths. They are even used to identify the racehorse you bet on and trace the beef you eat. New high-frequency chips will be able to transmit more information farther.

Ireland is a frontier for this inventive technology. In February, IBM opened a new centre at its Mulhuddart campus in Dublin, under its five-year, USD250 million investment plan, to house its specialised RFID research and design team.

Several home-grown companies are also pioneering niche RFID technology applications. Tower Interactive is an Irish company designing web-based "middleware" for RFID application integration. Tower is currently modifying Apple Computer's automated order and invoice system for its global warehousing network, and, closer to home, a project to embed chips in paintings for Dublin's Apollo art gallery.

In addition, Irish supply chain solution firm GS1 has developed an innovative track and trace technology to improve patient safety. A pilot programme for haemophilia sufferers at St James' Hospital, Dublin, tracks temperature-sensitive blood-products from manufacture to prescription, and patient self-administration.

GS1 director Jim Bracken said the generic technology for the pilot was cheaper than many proprietary RFID solutions and should become a global supply chain standard.

Worldwide, the RFID sector is currently worth USD2.7 billion and industry journals expect revenues to grow to USD7 billion by 2008. Around 600 million RFID tags were sold in 2005 with 1.3 billion sales predicted this year. Each chip costs approximately USD 0.22 .

IBM chief technology officer Colm Shorten predicts RFIDs will become ubiquitous by 2012. "Initially the hype was RFIDs are the answers to all our prayers… but there are still issues with basic physics, for example, how to transmit signals through metals or liquids," said Shorten.

"It is also important to understand that process control problems can arise with RFIDs as with anything else. RFID chips provide companies with reams of data, but if they have poor integration between legacy IT systems, this needs to be optimised so only relevant information reaches the enterprise level," he added.

Robert Jones is managing director of Clonmel-based RFID specialists VisionID. He believes bar-coding is "old business" for supply chain management and explained that several RFID experiments are underway in Ireland.

"The retail industry is pushing RFID in Britain and Europe but it's high-value sectors with traceability requirements such as medical, pharmaceutical, and electronics who are currently looking to Ireland," said Jones.

German retailer Metro, a forerunner in RFID technology, last week claimed USD10 million operating cost savings since introducing RFID stock-control twelve months ago. According to media reports, customers love RFID-enabled "smart trolleys", which automatically price their contents, and "smart dressing rooms" that advise on garment combinations.

This is all wonderfully convenient, but the spectre of targeted personal ads appearing as one strolls through Tescos, a la Minority Report, does not thrill liberty groups.

Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) launched a boycott of Gillette in August 2003 after a British newspaper revealed that RFID-rigged Gillette "smart shelves" in Tescos were secretly monitoring customers. Sensors triggered a hidden cameras to photograph consumers when they picked up Mach3 razors. This system presumed all Gillette customers were shoplifters until they had a second secret mug shot taken when paying for the razors at checkout.

A Tesco Ireland spokeswoman said management are closely monitoring an RFID trial in Britain before considering it here.

UCD law lecturer and Digital Rights Ireland chairman TJ McIntyre agrees that RFID has great potential for business logistics, but fears speculative use of the technology. "If tags on goods were not disabled when purchasers leave a shop then you could end up with people being tracked," he said.

According to McIntyre, RFIDs could be legitimately used as evidence in criminal trials, but law enforcement agencies may not disclose the scope of their surveillance.

Passport tagging is another concern. "If the Irish government continues with plans to embed RFIDs in passports then people's privacy may be jeopardised by remote scanning – especially if they include biometric information," McIntyre said.

Further down the line, the European Central Bank may embed RFIDs in large denomination euro notes. Ostensibly to combat counterfeiters, this would also enable banks to count bundles of cash instantly. Theoretically, such a move would also allow governments to track the passage of notes between individuals. Cash is the last truly anonymous way to buy and sell. With RFID tags, that anonymity would be gone. Don't all rush to wrap tinfoil around your wallets at once.