Tiny tracking devices raise big privacy questions

How do you feel about the use of this technology? Do you feel that this would compromise your privacy? I feel that once you buy a product, it's yours and it's nobody else's business where it goes. The only possible exception to this rule could possibly be "dangerous goods" or something that could be altered and used as a weapon. Not sure about that yet.

Tiny tracking devices raise big privacy questions as watchdog begins study

at 18:52 on June 23, 2005, EST.
JIM BRONSKILL

OTTAWA (CP) - Concerns about potential abuse of personal information have prompted Canada's privacy watchdog to launch a study of tiny tracking tags turning up in everything from clothing to key chains.

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is looking into the use of radio frequency identification tags, known as RFIDs, by retailers and other enterprises across the country.

Each tag contains a miniature antenna that beams a unique ID code to an electronic reader. The information can then be transferred by the reader into a computerized database.

Small enough to be embedded in the lining of a sweater or the back of a book, the devices help companies efficiently track inventory.

But privacy advocates fear RFIDs could also be used to monitor consumers' buying habits or even their movements.

"We've been tracking the deployment of RFIDs for a couple of months now," Stoddart said in an interview.

"We're trying to get a portrait of how fast RFIDs are being used in Canada in retail sectors and by whom."

Just 14 per cent of businesses surveyed last year by consulting firm Deloitte said they were using RFID technology. However, almost half indicated a strong likelihood of doing so.

Deloitte said the most common planned use was in the stockpiling and unloading of goods at distribution centres.

Stoddart wants to ensure "appropriate safeguards" are in place if Canadian companies begin using the devices to build customer profiles.

Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian also flagged the issue in her annual report this week.

"When RFID technology finds its way into consumer goods, privacy concerns can quickly escalate," the report said.

For instance, Cavoukian pointed out, an RFID tag on a product could be linked to the purchaser at the time of sale if the person plunked down a credit or loyalty card.

Such data linkage could help develop a consumer profile of a shopper who bought a tag-bearing sweater using a loyalty card and later used the same card at the hardware store to pick up some tag-bearing supplies, the report said.

"Even when used as intended, the information could reveal not just which products a consumer purchases, and how often those products are used, but even where a particular product - and by extension the consumer - travels, unknowingly encountering RFID readers along the way every time he wears that sweater."

Cavoukian noted that RFID-using organizations could sell or trade this information with others, often unbeknownst to the shopper.

Her report said possible future uses of the devices include tracking of luggage entrusted to airlines, pharmaceutical tagging to reduce counterfeiting and fraud, and installation in products with safety implications, such as tires, to help speed up recalls.

A poll released this week by Stoddart's office revealed that only about one-third of Canadians surveyed had even heard of RFID tags.

Cavoukian's report said it is essential that fair information practices be applied to RFID use.

Among her recommendations:

-Consumers should always be advised if there is an RFID tag, and its location, on a product.

-Disclosure of what personal information, if any, is matched with the purchased product or service through data linkage, when and why.

-Clear statements of purpose for the collection or linkage of personal information.

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