more on Ethics and Tracking Devices

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Brad Templeton <brad () templetons com>
Organization: http://www.templetons.com/brad
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 00:18:50 -0700
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Ethics and Tracking Devices


Don't know if I mailed you this before.

We often see people say that there is no need for the tags post-sale,
and as such they can be permanently disabled post-sale, and that some
stores may even decide to do this as a matter of course.

However, it is not necessary to imagine Orwellian merchandisers to
see problems from RFIDs.

Customers will not want them disabled.  For many, having a working
RFID in all their portables -- eyeglasses, watches, wallets, cell
phones, and of course, car keys, will be highly desireable to most
consumers.   Never ask "where did I leave my keys?" again.

And not just these items.  Instantly inventory your closets, everything
in your house.   Immediately note any clothes out of fashion, do automatic
gift to Sally Army with automatic receipt.  Find where you put that shoe,
that sweater, that book, that camera.

How can we resist?  We won't.  We'll walk down the street covered in
RFID tags.  Some of them will be overt -- they will be our keys, our
car and our door recognizing our approach and opening for us.  Others
will just be there in the sweater or wallet or glasses.

If they are the ordinary retail RFIDs planned, they will be available
for ID by anybody, and they do indeed become the infrastructure to
easily build Minority Report/1984 style scanning.

People will not disable them.  Stores will not disable them.  People
will clamour for them.  Will any small child be allowed outside without
many RFIDs on their person, so that, if lost, the parents can query all
scanners to see where the child has passed by?  Even scanners the child
passed before the child was reported missing?

There is alas, only one answer, and that is more expensive RFIDs.  These
are RFIDs that can be told to only respond to a reader which transmits
a specific code.  A reader that only I have, so that I can find my glasses,
and my door can recognize my watch, but nobody else can.   And this
must apply to not just the specialized RFIDs but also to the ordinary
one in my coat and boots.

To add complexity, the RFIDs must be set to respond at first to general
scanners (in the retail store) and then, upon sale, this function must
be disabled, and response only to the customer's scanner turned on.

This is hard, not doable I as I understand it with current price goals
and technology.  It's not enough to only respond to a reader that only
knows your code.  Anybody who can listen to you scanning one of your
devices (ie. listen to your car talking to your watch) can know its code
unless you use more complex "rolling code" systems that follow a
sequence unpredictable to outsiders.

So don't listen when they tell you these things can be disabled.
Technically yes, but that's not relevant as it turns out.


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