The Debate Over RFID Technology
Some concerns about ’radio frequency identification’…
Swiping your credit card could soon be a thing of the past, but beware - you may be more vulnerable to credit card theives. A new technology, known as RFID or radio frequency identification, is touted for its speed and convenience. The small tags are used in the new Mobile Pass payment system and are showing up everywhere. “It’s the technology that will change American lives the most in the next ten years,” says Professor Dennis Adams of University of Houston’s Bauer College. The RFID industry, now approaching $4 billion a year in sales, is expected to grow at a 20 percent annually.
But a debate is raging over the merits and risks of this scanning technology. The transmission is passed innocently enough through the air, but some say it comes at a price. Your personal identification will be vulnerable to a thief who could lift the credit card information without ever touching the card. RFID data can be obtained by lifting the identifying number literally out of someone’s pocket with a remote scanner from a couple of feet away.
California lawmakers are already seeking legislative restrictions on government use of RFID technology. Five measures to restrict the scanning technology have bee nproposed by Sen. Joe Simitian, a Palo Alto Democrat:
- SB 28: Prohibits the state from embedding identifying chips in driver’s licenses
- SB 29: Bars K-12 schools from using radio frequency identification technology in identification cards
- SB 30: Requires special security for all state-issued identification, such as driver’s licenses and health care cards. Safeguards would include encryption and shields. Recipients would be notified about the RFID technology
- SB 31: Makes it illegal to surreptitiously read or record information from an identification card. Bars the disclosure of codes that enable scanners to pick up information from cards.
- SB 362: Prohibits companies and the government from compelling employees to accept under-the-skin implantation of identifying chips.
The new legislation would require the State, schools and other public agencies to impose special security measures before using RFID technology in items such as driver’s licenses, health cards and school identification. Arnold Schwarzenegger has sided with industry in the past and is uncommitted to Simitian’s measures. The Republican governor vetoed a bill limiting RFID last year, calling it “premature” and voicing concern that the measure could “unduly burden the numerous new applications” of the technology. Simitian calls his goals for tighter security “common sense.” “Why do we have locks on our doors? Because we have something of value inside,” he said.
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