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DHS Subcommittee Advises Against RFID
Some government observers, however, say the report's potential effect may be limited. "The impact of the report is more public relations value against the use of RFID in applications related to tracking individuals, like e-passports or I-94 forms," says Douglas Farry, a managing director of McKenna, Long & Aldridge, a nationwide law firm focused on the intersection of public policy and technology. "There is no statutory or mandatory authority associated with these reports—it's just ammunition for those who might want Congress or the DHS itself to limit or prevent RFID from being used for [tracking individuals]."
"Whether it is RFID or any other kind of automatic identification system, the same privacy and security issues are at stake," he says, noting that they should all be addressed equally. The report's value, he adds, is that it "speaks to the need to have this kind of evaluation before large public announcements are made by government agencies that they are rolling out certain programs."
The report notes, however, that it is the use of radio frequencies to transmit data that makes RFID different than other technologies, such as bar codes or contact-based chips. This use of RF, the report maintains, is why the utility and appropriateness of RFID in identity documents should be examined and questioned.
Emerging Applications Subcommittee member James Harper says, "The draft report is already having an impact in that it's forcing a conversation between two parties that have not talked to each other enough: the RFID industry and privacy community." He adds that the "bad press" RFID is receiving—largely due to perceptions that it will become a tool for Big Brother to track citizen's every move—is diminishing the technology's important value in the supply chain and for other applications outside of identity documents. What's more, he maintains, if users of E-ZPass and other RFID-enabled electronic toll-collection systems had to stop and check each transponder to make sure it belonged to the driver using it, that would negate the technology's main benefit. Because identity documents must be checked by an agent and tied to its carrier, the speed in data transfer that RFID enables is thus diminished.
The DHS has already completed tests of RFID-enabled passports and plans to begin issuing them to citizens later this year (see DHS Completes E-Passport Test at SFO). The US-VISIT program is also using RFID in forms it issues to visitors with nonimmigrant visas (see DHS Testing Tags for US-VISIT Program).
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"Whether it is RFID or any other kind of automatic identification system, the same privacy and security issues are at stake," he says, noting that they should all be addressed equally. The report's value, he adds, is that it "speaks to the need to have this kind of evaluation before large public announcements are made by government agencies that they are rolling out certain programs."
The report notes, however, that it is the use of radio frequencies to transmit data that makes RFID different than other technologies, such as bar codes or contact-based chips. This use of RF, the report maintains, is why the utility and appropriateness of RFID in identity documents should be examined and questioned.
Emerging Applications Subcommittee member James Harper says, "The draft report is already having an impact in that it's forcing a conversation between two parties that have not talked to each other enough: the RFID industry and privacy community." He adds that the "bad press" RFID is receiving—largely due to perceptions that it will become a tool for Big Brother to track citizen's every move—is diminishing the technology's important value in the supply chain and for other applications outside of identity documents. What's more, he maintains, if users of E-ZPass and other RFID-enabled electronic toll-collection systems had to stop and check each transponder to make sure it belonged to the driver using it, that would negate the technology's main benefit. Because identity documents must be checked by an agent and tied to its carrier, the speed in data transfer that RFID enables is thus diminished.
The DHS has already completed tests of RFID-enabled passports and plans to begin issuing them to citizens later this year (see DHS Completes E-Passport Test at SFO). The US-VISIT program is also using RFID in forms it issues to visitors with nonimmigrant visas (see DHS Testing Tags for US-VISIT Program).
