RFID: Verbraucherängste und verbraucherschutz

Abstract

RFID introduction is a hotly debated public policy issue. The technology enables physical environments to become more interactive and supportive by tagging each item with a chip that wirelessly communicates with a service-enriched backend infrastructure. Based on a number of user studies at Humboldt-Universität and at the Auto-ID Center, this article presents the major fears associated with RFID introduction. We show to what extent these fears are justified and derive a number of system requirements for giving users more control over an RFID-enabled IT infrastructure. After presenting several recent technical proposals for privacy protection, we focus on the question of controlled access to RFID tags. We conclude with a proposal for an easy-to-use private password model.