Item-Level RFID and Consumer Privacy

SPYCHIPS: Item-Level RFID and Consumer Privacy

Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)

www.spychips.com

Copyright © Katherine Albrecht 2007 All rights reserved

RFID Tag:A tiny chip connected to an antenna

Hitachi’s 0.3 mm mu chip RFID tags in use at Extra “Future Store” in Rheinberg, Germany

Copyright © Katherine Albrecht 2007

RFID Reader:Sends a signal to a tag, reads the response


EPC: Unique identifiers for all objects worldwide

“…the EPC network [is] a new global standard for immediate, automatic identification of any item in the supply chain of any company, in any industry, in the world.”

- EPCglobal


THREAT #1

Hidden tags


Hidden Tags (But isn’t a 6” tag hard to hide?)

Alien/RAFSEC “C” tag


6” Alien/RAFSEC “C” tag inside a box

Not if it’s sandwiched in cardboard


Embedded in Shoes


Hidden in fabric labels(Checkpoint prototype)


RFID tag in Checkpoint label


Tags are appearing in credit cards


THREAT #2

Ubiquitousreaders


Texas Instruments advises retailers to scan customers’ loyalty cards right through their purse or walletSource: http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/solutions/pos/loyalty.shtml

Doorway readers planned


“Conductive threads interwoven with the fabric…[could create an RFID tag that is] flexible and pliant, thereby lending itself to taking on and conforming to the [item’s] shape.”

“The placement of [the RFID tag] in [the] shoe may be particularly advantageous where the [RFID] interrogator is located in a floor.”

● Philips Electronics US Patent # 6677917

"Fabric antenna for tags"

Shoe tags and floor readers


Anywhere in the environment

"We will not force the bracelets onto people and the cameras will be unobtrusive, so they will not feel like they are being watched."


THREAT #3

Abuse by

"The Authorized Parties"


“Previous purchase records of persons who shop at a store are collected by POS terminals and stored in a transaction database. When a person carrying or wearing items having RFID tags enters the store or other designated area, a RFID tag scanner scans the RFID tags on that person and reads the RFID tag information [to] determine the exact identity of the person... Then, as that person moves around the store, different RFID tag scanners located throughout the store can pick up radio signals from the RFID tags...and the movement of that person is tracked based on these detections.”

-IBM patent application 20020165758 “Tracking and Identification of persons using RFID-tagged items”

IBM describes its patented “Person Tracking Unit”


In addition to stores, RFID tracking “can be applied to other locations having roaming areas, such as shopping malls, airports, train stations, bus stations, elevators, trains, airplanes, restrooms, sports arenas, libraries, theaters, museums, etc.”

-IBM patent application 20020165758

Libraries

Elevators

Public restrooms

IBM suggests tracking people in public spaces


The tracking information can be used in any application where it is useful. For example, if the person is carrying a baby bottle, a store advertisement system may be configured to advertise diapers.

-IBM patent application 20020165758

…and silent scanning for marketing purposes


“By combining captured pre-consumer [RFID tag] information with post-consumption information, the entire life cycle of an item may be tracked. This information may be useful to…retailers, manufacturers, distributors and the like….The collected and processed data may be helpful to track consumer purchase [and] use patterns.”

- US Patent Application # 20040129781 Assigned to BellSouth “System and method for utilizing RF tags to collect data concerning post-consumer resources”

Garbage Scanning


“Instead of having to redesign the entire store… a store manager simply…places wireless sensor motes on the different shelves to track customers….RFID-enabled loyalty cards are distr ibuted to customers [that] carry a unique customer identif ier that l inks to a customer entry in a database…. As a customer passes by a wireless sensor mote, the customer is automatically tracked .”

- Detecon white paper, April 2006 “Wireless RFID Networks for Real-Time Customer Relationship”

In-store tracking remains a top

priority


RFID tag hidden in Metro loyalty card


One of several examples:

Gillette hidtags in

its product packaging


and used them to take a mug shot of every customer


Rheinberg, Germany February 28, 2004

European consumers want protections

© Katherine Albrecht 2006. Duplication or presentation without permission is prohibited.

WWW.SPYCHIPS.COM

Dr. Katherine Albrecht, Founder and DirectorCASPIAN Consumer Privacy(Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)

www.spychips.com

(877) 287-5854 [email protected]


Read Range 915 MHz Tags

“The first product to come from the collaboration will be a handheld device that reads Matrics' passive EPC tags…The unit will be able to read passive tags from up to 33 feet (10 meters) away”

33 feet unspecifiedPassiveMatrics/Savi

Read range “depends on reader configuration and tag enclosure.30 W EIRP (USA site licensed):> 20m4 W EIRP (USA unlicensed): 6-8m500 mW ERP (Europe): 1-2m”

66 feet USA licensed

20-26 feetUSA unlicensed

3 – 7 feet EU

915 MHz PassiveiPico

“The maximum freespace read range of these emulator tags is 5 meters, consistent with the performance of other known UHF passive tags.”

17 feet915 MHzPassiveAlien

“Telenexus has developed a reader and antenna for the 915 MHz long-range RFID system...with a read range of over 15 feet. The tag is a low-cost passive transponder.”

15 feet915 MHz PassiveTelenexus

“Read range up to 3.5m (11.48 ft) using unlicensed 915 MHz reader with one antenna; read range up to 7m (22.96 ft) with two antennas"

11 feet 915 MHz PassiveTransponder Technologies Intellitag 500

CommentsRead RangeFrequency

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Item-Level RFID and Consumer Privacy

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