Ethics and Tracking Devices

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
Reply-To: ncochrane () theage fairfax com au
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 15:35:27 +1000
To: "Dave Farber (E-mail)" <dave () farber net>
Subject: Ethics and Tracking Devices

Hi Dave

Those companies pushing radio frequency identifiers (RFIDs) have been dealt
a body blow with the exposure of their unethical and unscrupulous tactics.
Controversial plans to insinuate RFID tags in everything we buy and use were
laid bare by non-existent security at the RFID industry site, Auto-ID
Center, damaging the industry's argument that we can trust them to respect
our privacy.

A few weeks ago I spoke to Cheryl Shearer, IBM's worldwide director of
e-business to smart machines, part of the pervasive systems group. She
fudged around the topic that RFIDs were being used to invade privacy. She
emphasised that they are mostly used to track devices through the supply
chain, and as such would never likely come into contact with citizens.

Despite painting a graphic scenario for her about how the devices could be
used to track us, such as the scene in Minority Report where public display
terminals reveal Tom Cruise's habits, she said there was no need for IBM to
demand its clients use the devices ethically or in accordance with the law.
That was not IBM's role, or the role of industry giants such as Philips, she
said.

She said it was not IBM's role to mandate a code of conduct for the use of
its devices.

"That’s a matter for an industry body," Shearer said "(W)hat possible use
could this data be?

"It may be for reasons for merchandising, that you want absolutely to know
the demographic of the customer that bought the thing. I'm pushed to
understand the value post-sale.

"That needs to be addressed by either voluntary or enforced codes of conduct
or in country legislation. Some of the consumer groups such as Caspian in US
are already in discussions with the RFID groups. It's always possible there
could be an unscrupulous group but it is possible to permanently disable a
tag. When we do the system integration if the customer is in agreement we
would do that."

MORE:
http://bilskirnir.blogspot.com/2003_07_01_bilskirnir_archive.html#1057640870
71094062

-
Nathan Cochrane
Deputy IT Editor
:Next:
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.next.theage.com.au



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