"Imagine a world of no more privacy."
That is the first sentence of and apprehension that motivates Spychips, an exploration of the history, technology and perceived dangers of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags. RFID tags are silicon computer chips with a unique identification number and a flat metallic antenna attached. The antenna allows the chip to communicate with RFID readers via radio waves. The chips, some as small as a grain of sand, can be imbedded in anything from products, the packages they come in, credit or frequent shopper cards, or even human skin. The radio waves allow the tag to be read from a distance through whatever it is in without the knowledge of the person possessing it.
Authors Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre are among the principal U.S. critics of RFID tags, which they call “spychips.” They are the leaders of an organization called CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) and their book both explores "spychips" and serves as a call to arms of the dangers they believe the devices present to personal privacy.
Promoters of RFID technology say it is a breakthrough for tracking products. For example, with an RFID reader at a checkout counter, merchants can know immediately and exactly what their inventory and sales look like. RFID tags differ from the ubiquitous UPC symbol because every 16-ounce can of a particular beverage has the same UPC code. With RFID, however, a unique number is assigned each and every individual can.
While it seems innocuous enough, Albrecht and McIntyre say the plans and efforts of the RFID industry and government to date reveal the true threat of the technology. For example, IBM filed a patent application in 2001 for the "identification and tracking of persons using RFID-tagged items" by collecting RFID numbers at cash registers and storing them in a database. When the purchaser of an item returns, their "exact identity" can be determined from any tags they have with or on them and the tags can be "used to monitor the movements of the person through the store or other areas."
Of course, this would only be used for the consumer's benefit, right? Not so, argue Albrecht and McIntyre. Among other things, they quote an article by an RFID policy advisor indicating the spychips could be used for "digital redlining." By using information gained from such things as RFID-tagged loyalty cards, merchants could provide enhanced service and pricing to its best customers. That information would also enable the store to provide "marginal service and high prices designed to drive the unattractive consumer somewhere else."
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