ENGR101/HUM 200: Technology and Society

November 10, 2005

Agenda

• Discussion of change to syllabus schedule– Next unit exam on Tuesday 11/22

• Review of mid-quarter evaluation

• Go over Data Collection assignment

• Exam results

• Lecture: “Would you chip your pet? Would you chip your child? Would you chip yourself?”

Mid-quarter Evaluation

• Readings– Triage!

• Review session– Goals of review sessions

Introduction to RFID

• Method of identification

• Tag and Reader– Tag holds information– Reader draws information from the tag

• Low cost, small size

• Tracking device (stuff, people)

RFID

• Radio Frequency Identification

• Passive tags (retail uses)

• Active tags

• Broadcast/read range varies

• Read only or read/write

• Accuracy varies– Depends on other tags in area, material being

tagged, speed of reading, etc.

RFID Systems

• Tradeoffs:– Price– Size– Performance– Storage

Tradeoffs???!?

Supply Chain Use of RFID

• What is a supply chain? Getting stuff from Point A to Point B– Really, though, it goes from point A to point B to point

C to point D and then to point E to F to G to H to….

• RFID vs. barcodes– Barcodes rely on people to do the scanning– RFID offers possibility for further optimization

• Can identify the actual can of coke– Expiration dates, stolen or lost goods

Possible Privacy Concerns for Retail Use

• Retailers tracking consumers’ purchases from one store to another

• RFID tag scanning is invisible, so consumers might not know they have bought tagged goods

• Tags may not (purposely or not) be deactivated

• Potential misuse of collected data

Analogues

• Loyalty cards– Frequent flyer programs– Hotel loyalty programs– Grocery store discount cards

• E-Z Pass

• OnStar

• Tivo

• What would make you feel better? – Ability to “kill” the tag yourself upon purchase

• What would make you feel worse?– “Smart medicine cabinet”

• If cell phones already surveil, what’s the big deal?– Who benefits from RFID? Consumer or

business? • Why should I make the tradeoff in the first place?

Make it Better?

• Naming!– “He who names it and frames it, claims it”

(Ted Koppel)

• Point-Counterpoint of Koppel and Roberti– Concerns about defining the pluses and

minuses– Who defines when and how the tech works?– PR!

Would You Chip Your Pet?

• Cost: $50

• HomeAgain!

• In 20 years, over 30 million animals have been tagged

• Tagging cattle since the 1980s, livestock since the 1940s– Cattle, salmon, housepets

Of Course I’d Chip My Pet!

• Every month, 6000 lost pets are in the US are reunited with their owners!

(It’s all in how you frame the story)

Would You Chip Your Child?

• It’s a dangerous world– Vulnerability, risk

• What constitutes a right to privacy?– What is privacy, anyway?– I’m not doing anything wrong, why should I

care if you know where I am? If I do care, then it must be because I am doing something wrong

Brittan Elementary School

• Kindergartners through 8th grade given id badges– Subset tracked live in test run

• Tracking that students get on and off the school bus

• Badge with photo, grade level, and name. And RFID tag

• Readers installed at classroom doors and bathrooms

• To ease taking attendance

Tracking Kids for Attendance

• What makes a tradeoff worth it?

• “A technology in search of a solution”

• “Our children should never have been tagged like pieces of inventory or cattle”

Would You Chip Yourself?

• Cost: $150

• Size: Grain of rice

• Time: 20 minutes

• Process: syringe, no stiches

• VeriChip– Nightclubs in Barcelona

My Health is Priceless!

• Health vs. privacy

– Approved by the FDA in October 2004 for human use in the US (medical records)

Ongoing US Passport Debate

• Embed biometrics or RFID tags in US Passports– Pros: security, efficiency, counterfeit

protection– Cons: invisibility of scanners, privacy

concerns, autonomy over releasing personal data, targeting Americans abroad (skimming)

What Are You Willing to Trade for a Chip?

• What privacy would you sacrifice?

• What autonomy would you sacrifice?

• What control would you sacrifice?

• How can technologies be developed to accommodate the concerns of privacy experts and the rights of individual citizens?

Next Week

• Monday: Prof. Boriello– RFID background

• Tuesday: Emma Rose– Prototyping (crucial info for Make It Better

assignment!)• Wednesday: Prof. Boriello

– Social issues and RFID• Thursday: Sunny Consalvo (Intel Research

Center)– Privacy issues

• Friday: Make It Better group meetings