Federal Trade Commission Holds RFID Workshop

Simon Langford, director of EPC strategies at Wal-Mart Stores, offered an overview of the retailer's ongoing RFID initiatives, both in warehouses and in stores. He described the benefits RFID deployment brings to Wal-Mart and its customers, now and in the future, including reducing out-of-stocks so customers don't need to make return trips to a store because they can't get what they want, facilitating product recalls, eliminating counterfeit goods and speeding up checkout lines. He then described Wal-Mart's policy regarding RFID and privacy.

"When you look at the privacy principles of the FTC, that's a great foundation," Langford said. "Certainly at Wal-Mart...we take customers' privacy very seriously. In a very first pilot, back in 2004, the very first things we looked at was, How can we be open and transparent and communicate with our customers in that local market internationally? So we took the extra step for the very first time of inviting press into the back room of our stores, to show them what the technology was, how it works and what are we using it for. So they were then able to communicate that on TV and in the press to our consumers, and help that message and that transparency."

The challenge, Langford explained, is to finding a method for applying FTC's principles to EPC technology. "By informing our customers that we use the technology, by printing the logo on the tag on the product," he said, "the customer has the choice to remove that label from the packaging. Because today, the vast majority of RFID tags, EPC tags, are on packaging, so the customer can simply remove that post-purchase and throw that away. Where a consumer has applicable concern, [the RFID tag] is actually embedded in the product. And offering them a choice that they're able to go to a customer service area and have that tag disabled post-purchase."

"Think about a customer," he continued. "She's shopping with two or three children; her whole goal is to buy the products she wants and get back on with her life with the children as quickly as possible, not to have to slow down to unload that shopping cart. So I think, as we've heard, policy makers and industry action groups, retailers are fairly well aligned.... In conclusion, I think it's really about education—open and transparent with our customers."

Other presenters at the FTC workshop included Tom Karygiannis, a senior researcher with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who discussed the need for companies to assess privacy and security risks with regard to their specific applications, and then develop ways to mitigate those risks; Susan Grant, director of consumer protection with the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy organization; and Ari Juels, chief scientist and director of IT security company RSA Laboratories.

The FTC forum was held this week in conjunction with an RFID symposium sponsored by the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue, the European-American Business Council, and EPCglobal, with the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission.

The FTC intends to continue accepting written comments or original research from interested parties until Oct. 23. Comments should refer to "Transatlantic RFID Workshop—Comment, Project No. P059106." To file electronically, follow the instructions and fill out the form here. Paper comments should include this reference, both in text and on the envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-135 (Annex R), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.