Privacy & Profits
Consumer concerns about privacy invasion could undermine RFID deployments. By following established best practices, companies can protect consumer privacy, avoid bad publicity and enhance customer loyalty.
By Mark Roberti
June 1, 2005—The ability to collect, analyze and share digital information at very little cost has been a boon for businesses seeking to understand both their own internal operations and the behavior of their customers. But it's also given rise to fear among consumers of large, anonymous corporations trading on their personal secrets for profit, of skilled computer hackers stealing their identity, and of spyware tracking every Web site they visit and every e-mail they type.
And now, along comes radio frequency identification, a technology that can be hidden in products, and which privacy advocates say is akin to digital fingerprints that could be used to track consumers' every purchase—indeed, their every movement—without their knowledge or consent. It's no wonder 65 percent of the more than 7,000 U.S. consumers surveyed by online researcher Artafact and market intelligence company BIGresearch were concerned about the technology.
The big concern about RFID tags is that the unique serial numbers they contain could be tied to the individuals who purchase tagged products, and as readers proliferate, these unique numbers could be scanned without people's knowledge. Consumers would be leaving digital fingerprints everywhere they went, which could be used by governments bent on controlling those who opposed their policies, or by companies that wanted to build up large databases of information on the movement and purchasing habits of customers.
June 1, 2005—The ability to collect, analyze and share digital information at very little cost has been a boon for businesses seeking to understand both their own internal operations and the behavior of their customers. But it's also given rise to fear among consumers of large, anonymous corporations trading on their personal secrets for profit, of skilled computer hackers stealing their identity, and of spyware tracking every Web site they visit and every e-mail they type.
And now, along comes radio frequency identification, a technology that can be hidden in products, and which privacy advocates say is akin to digital fingerprints that could be used to track consumers' every purchase—indeed, their every movement—without their knowledge or consent. It's no wonder 65 percent of the more than 7,000 U.S. consumers surveyed by online researcher Artafact and market intelligence company BIGresearch were concerned about the technology.
|
The big concern about RFID tags is that the unique serial numbers they contain could be tied to the individuals who purchase tagged products, and as readers proliferate, these unique numbers could be scanned without people's knowledge. Consumers would be leaving digital fingerprints everywhere they went, which could be used by governments bent on controlling those who opposed their policies, or by companies that wanted to build up large databases of information on the movement and purchasing habits of customers.
To continue reading this article, please log in or choose a purchase option.
Option 1: Become a Premium Member.
| One-year subscription, unlimited access to Premium Content: $189 |
Option 2: Purchase this article.
| Pages: 4 | Word Count: 2,650 | Purchase Price: $19.99 |
