Thursday, May 11, 2006

Can Privacy Protection Move RFID Ahead?

What's holding RFID back these days? Many believe that it's cost or a strategic business foundation. However, many opponents play the privacy card. The security and privacy of data is considered a major obstacle for many RFID efforts, but security is a top concern for many - including Intellareturn and now IBM through their new protective measures.

Consumer privacy protection needs a solid plan, especially for the proliferation of item-level RFID tagging. IBM recently created "an RFID tag with a disabling feature that limits — but doesn’t kill — a wireless chip's ability to broadcast item information," called the Clipped Tag.

Allowing customers to disable an RFID tag on items they purchase without eliminating the tag's ability to expedite product returns or recalls is key and validates many of the pateted solutions that Intellareturn has been advocating for years.

While EPCglobal created a "kill command" for the Gen2 protocol, tags can’t be revived and used afterwards ... and requires retailers to manage passwords for every item. This new protection from IBM could be what's needed to push RFID beyond the pallet! Let's keep an eye on this one ...

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