intelligent machines and the networked world – rfid: identification through radio waves
RFID technology is expected to gradually replace barcodes on consumer products. The system offers useful applications for business, industry, and everyday life. However, it also raises privacy concerns.
RFID, or radio frequency identification, is a technology used to identify objects, goods, and living things with the help of radio waves. A special RFID transponder or tag, which includes a tiny computer chip and miniature antenna, is attached to the target object. Data on the chip may include the tag’s serial number as well as other information, such as the item number of a product or the access code for a building.
An RFID tag transmits its data whenever it receives a signal from a special reading device. Most tags operate without their own power sources, receiving the energy they need from the reader’s signal. A computer system or network with a database is a necessary component of an RFID system. The database may store detailed information, for example the price, expiration date, and location of items in the warehouse or store, in addition to the product code and serial number.
RFID reader devices may be stationary, portable, permanant. or subject to alteration. The tags may take the form of adhesive “smart labels,” or transponders in a card-sized format may be used as customer loyalty cards, tickets, or entry passes. Sturdier transponders are used, for example, to track industrial parts during the manufacturing process. Transponders with a wide reception range, equipped with their own batteries, are attached to shipping containers.
RFID tags are also noteworthy for the amount of data they can hold. More expensive tags can offer security measures to prevent unauthorized users from reading or changing the data. Some transponders function as sensors. Their response signals may vary depending on their position or temperature RFID sensors can be used to monitor the temperature of frozen foods, for example, or to report wirelessly on a truck’s tire pressure. RFID tags also make it harder to counterfeit products.
They can be embedded in passports or other documents, hindering fraud. RFID transponders in ID cards or keys can help control access to a building or vehicle. Similarly, they can monitor the time spent by a worker in a workplace.
RFID Privacy Rights
Because RFID tags can be surreptitiously attached and read, some people are concerned about the possibility that unauthorized persons may use them to monitor others or interfere with the right to anonymity To safeguard privacy rights, numerous demands have been made.
For example, consumers should be fully informed about RFID systems in use and must be allowed to destroy any product tags after purchase; furthermore, unauthorized tag reading and access to sensitive databases must be prohibited and information must only be used for its intended purpose