Interoperability and privacy

Unfortunately, one person's interoperability may be another's invasion of privacy. By making it possible for different systems to communicate with each other, some people fear that the data sharing that may result could produce a ‘Big Brother’ scenario in which it is all too easy for individuals to be identified, resulting in government snooping, identity theft and other undesirable outcomes.

Such a view has not – so far at least – been very widely held in the UK, or in Europe, although the European Union set up a working party and invited views on the subject in 2005 (European Commission, 2005; Commission of the European Communities, 2007); there was, however, little agreement about the extent of the problem in reality.

This is in marked contrast to the USA – or rather some parts of it – where the use of RFID has been very controversial. In San Francisco, implementation of RFID in libraries has been – and continues to be – the subject of great public debate, while in neighbouring Berkeley it appears to have played a role in the resignation of the chief librarian, Jackie Griffin, from her post (Bender, 2006): ‘There have been complaints and protests about the library's radio frequency identification devices, a system Griffin backed and the city spent at least $1.1 million buying and installing. Many library workers have complained about the so-called “spy chips,” alleging they compromise patron privacy and deter good customer service.’

RFID opponents

A number of organizations have been very active in trying to alert the public to what they see as the dangers of RFID use in terms of personal liberty, particularly in the post-9/11 scenario of the USA PATRIOT Act and other restrictions on privacy. One of those with the highest profile is CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) (www.nocards.org). As is evident from its name, CASPIAN's original concerns stemmed mainly from the use of RFID in the retail world. One of its main targets has been Wal-Mart, which has been at the forefront of RFID use in retail, having mandated its top 100 suppliers to use tags.