Washington State Governor Signs Anti-Skimming Law

By December 2008, Morris says he hopes to present three separate bills to the House for review in the 2009 session. The first would revisit the opt-in provision removed by the Senate this year. He says the opt-in measure failed to pass through the Senate in 2008 because of heavy lobbying by the technology industry, as well as the fact that the Senate members—many of whom were unfamiliar with the technology—had only 60 days to review the bill.

The second bill will address labeling, requiring notification on labels when products have RFID chips, and the third will address deactivation issues which would require retailers to deactivate an RFID chip before the consumer leaves the facility. Both of those provisions had been included in a previous version of the bill considered but were later removed by the Assembly. When it comes to deactivation, Morris says, he will work with the RFID industry to discuss what technology can and cannot be readily deactivated in stores. Working with the industry, Morris says, has always been part of his strategy. "This is to protect both the consumers and the industry," he says. "My intent from the beginning has been that if you don't have rules of deployment up front, someone [using RFID] will do something stupid and there will be a backlash."

Dan Mullen, president of automatic-identification trade association AIM Global, says he did not feel the legislation was necessary. Nonetheless, he was glad to see that the anti-skimming law is directed at criminal activity more than the RFID industry. When it comes to privacy issues, however, he says, "The question needs to be asked whether legislation is already there to protect consumers, and is there anything really unique about RFID to require further legislation."

Mullen does not agree with the need for an opt-in measure. "I don't think that's necessary at this point. We're looking at ways to use vendors' tools to create education and notification, and you'll see AIM Global doing more of that," he says. AIM Global has developed an RFID emblem that can be displayed near an RFID chip to help users locate the chip itself when attempting to capture a transmission with an RFID interrogator. He says his organization is now working to gain International Standards Organization (ISO) approval for a similar generic RFID emblem for the consumer market that could be used to alert consumers that an RFID chip is present. That emblem is being reviewed by an ISO technology committee, he says.

Morris argues that industry efforts to protect consumer rights are not enough and that there needs to be a law to ensure consumers privacy is protected both from those with criminal intent and those with a marketing agenda. "Industry says punish the criminal activity, not the technology. My question is, if you slip in a consumer chip without them knowing it, is that a crime, or not?"