RFID Tagging: Final Report

1. RFID Tagging: Final Report Stephanie Allen, Gina Calcaterra, Michael Gray, Rahul Nair, Sumit Pahwa, Edward Robertson MGT 6772

2. Outline • Technology Review • Active and Passive • Legal Issues on Privacy • Successes and Failures • Review of existing RFID implementations • Consumer Concerns • Business Case • Big Picture and the Future of RFID

3. Technology Review - I • Active RFID • Tags have internal power source • Larger computational capability and memory • Sensors can be added on board • Long range • Several thousand can be read by a single reader • More expensive (several dollars to >$200) • Life cycle limited by power source

4. Technology Review - II • Passive RFID • Tags powered by transmitted reader energy • Short range • Limited multi-read capability • Very small onboard cache (~128 kb) • Virtually infinite lifetime • High powered reader is needed • Very low cost (~20 cents)

5. Active Vs Passive RFID

6. Uses of Active RFID • External Powered • MARTA buses • Rental cars • Self-powered (battery/solar) • Shipping containers • Future Federal mandates for cargo • Storage containers • Naval aircraft engines

7. Uses of Passive RFID • Inventory • Supply chain optimization • Near real-time stocking information • Retail • “No-wait” checkout • Alternative to credit cards • Personal • Smart appliances • Georgia Tech “Aware Home” http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/ahri/

8. Privacy vs. Location: Case I • Case I: While RFID is still under control of retailer or wholesaler. • Easy Case. All reasonable consumers know that as they pass through the security gates that they are being scanned for stolen merchandise.

9. Case II: RFID in Waste or Recycling Receptacle. • More complicated. • “having deposited their garbage in an area particularly suited for public inspection and, in a manner of speaking, public consumption, for the express purpose of having strangers take it, respondents could have had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the inculpatory items that they discarded." (486 U.S. 35 1988).

10. Case III: Everything in Between • Clearly murkiest case. • As of yet there is no clear precedent on this issue and a lack of parallels in the precedent that does exist. • Legal Academics: Four prong “Box Test”

11. “Box Test” • The four prongs are: • the Political Prong • the Moral Prong • the Teleological Prong • the Deontological Prong

12. Political Prong • Impact on social institutions? • How might the recognition of such a right affect a judicial system? • What would the consequences be for the social and judicially endorsed principle of personal privacy?

13. Moral Prong • Is it "fair" to hold the use or possession of RFID containing product to constitute a waiver of privacy? • Is it fair to require that, as the price of enjoying the benefits of a context-aware sensing application in one's home, one must forgo a right to privacy that one would otherwise have?

14. Teleological Prong • How will the goal of maintaining the status of the home as the central case of privacy be furthered by distinguishing the privacy interests in the RFID tag data depending upon the room from which it originated?

15. Deontological Prong • For the purposes of the mutual access/joint control rule, does the presence of the RFID transceiver constitute shared access and control over an individual's bedroom?

16. Legal Conclusions • No legal liability for passive RFID devices. • Test is an Academic Solution to an Academic problem. • Experts confident passive RFID is physically incapable of breaching 10 foot parameter. • However, analysis may unfold and emerge in context of active RFID.

17. Push-Pull • Push • Retail – employee training costs, dubious value • Item-level tracking – software/hardware difficulties • Privacy an issue • Pull • Supply chain – value is worth the expense • Privacy not an issue (the customer asked for it) • Some correlation between Push & Failure, and Pull & Success

18. Where RFID is not successful • Item-Level Tracking in the Retail Industry • This shows no promise anytime in the near future • Pallet and Case Level tracking. • Cost is too high for most manufacturers • RFID tags are not at the 90% reliability rate • RFID manufacturers are working to correct known problems. • No Standardization

19. Problems for Prada • After two years Prada is re-evaluating their Epicenter concept. • Employees refuse to learn how to use the technology and claim the store is just too crowded to give the personal attention • The smart closets rarely recognized the RFID tags and when they do the systems crash • The hand-held readers are placed behind the counters to keep tourists from playing with them • Customers aren’t comfortable with the RFID tags

20. Solutions (Benetton?) • Education • Tesco has dedicated a section of their website to explaining RFID technology to their customers • Standards • Cooperation among RFID manufacturers and support technologies • Quality • Manufacturers need to work to improve known bugs such as the inability to read RFID tags through liquid and metal • Higher Volumes • Cost will decrease as volume increases

21. Where is RFID proving to be successful? • Development of RFID Smart tags that allow consumers to do multiple actions and save time • Animal microchipping • Containing the spread of disease • Tracking SARS contacts

22. Why is RFID successful in these cases? • When the perceived benefit outweighs the cost of losing privacy, consumers are willing to bow down. • Payoffs of saving time and versatile uses for the consumer outweigh the privacy concerns (ex. Octopus card) • Privacy of the consumer is not directly threatened (animal microchipping) • Cases in which RFID has the potential to contain disease (tagging SARS contacts)

23. Solutions to Consumer Concerns • Kill tags at checkout • The “Faraday Cage” approach • Active Jamming • “Smart” RFID tags But the most promising solution being explored right now.....

24. Blocker Tags • Universal vs. Selective • Low implementation cost • Prototype released in February by RSA Laboratories and MIT • Advantageous over the “Kill Tag” approach, useful aspects of RFID for consumers are retained • Current concern: Are these solutions biased towards the technology elite?

25. RFID business case - I • Build a solid team • Not just an IT problem • Involve customers and suppliers • Educate team and management • Identify opportunities • Identify all possible applications • Evaluate benefits • Visibility, customer satisfaction, process disruption, core-competency

26. RFID business case - II • Identify and analyze candidate deployments • Run the business (RTB) costs • Grow the business (GTB) costs • Transform the business (TTB) costs • Examine financial impact • Create the blueprint • Consider partnering a consulting/technology firm • Find the bottom line

27. The Big Picture • Examine RFID in its entirety • Do not play “follow the leader” • Standards will change/be set • Costs of tags and readers will change • Tag capabilities will change • Revisit/revaluate decisions periodically Failure can affect relationships and/or brand image

28. The Future of RFID • Active RFID is a success today, and will continue to be in the future • Passive RFID is coming in a big way • Customer-driven in retail & personal use • Educate consumers • Resolve privacy issues, both real and perceived • Focus on what adds value for the customer first • Cost-driven in business use • Improvements to tracking hardware/software

29. Questions?

30. The Lunatic Fringe • Population tracking • Involuntary tagging for “national security” purposes (similar to livestock tagging) • Tracking cash transactions • Euros have RFID • U.S. dollars have “metal strip” • “Mark of the Beast” • Biblical references in the book of Revelation