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Technical Issues in Library RFID Privacy

Technical Issues in Library RFID Privacy. David Molnar UC-Berkeley Computer Science. What are we worried about?. RFID new technology Law of “unintended consequences” Read tags through backpacks, briefcases Can we track books? “track” = link sightings of same book

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Technical Issues in Library RFID Privacy

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  1. Technical Issues in Library RFID Privacy David Molnar UC-Berkeley Computer Science

  2. What are we worried about? • RFID new technology • Law of “unintended consequences” • Read tags through backpacks, briefcases • Can we track books? • “track” = link sightings of same book • Can we figure out what you’re reading? • Who “we” is depends • FBI, marketers, teenagers, college students, pick your favorite

  3. How RFID Works • Radio Frequency IDentification • Passive tags – no power source • Tag carries small amount of data • May be read-only or limited read/write • RFID reader powers tag, extracts data via radio Power Stored data

  4. Two Main Questions • How to read tags? • What is on the tag?

  5. How to read tags? • Need an RFID reader • Standardization not privacy issue in long term • Read range for 13.56Mhz tags low • Ubiquity of readers bigger problem! • Reader at door of every Starbucks? • Blocking tag signals, “kill”, not sufficient • “Security Bit” does not prevent tag read • Read passwords?

  6. What is on the tag? • Varies by vendor and library decision • Library bar code • Unique, static ID  can track book • Need library database to learn title/author • Unless see book later, learn bar code/title map • Some vendors suggest more info “The Lib~Chip stores data such as type of material, title, author, bar code and serial number, shelf location, last borrowed date, and last returned date.” – Libramation site

  7. “Encrypting” Tag Data • Several meanings to “encrypting” data • Proprietary encoding, not different per library • Buy reader from company or secondary market • Eventually reverse engineered • Encrypting bar code with per-library key • Does not currently exist • Non-library readers can’t understand data • Still leads to static data  can track book

  8. Bottom Line • Reading static ID is privacy risk • Risk will grow as readers become cheaper, more available, more common • Minimize data on tag • No title, no author, etc. on tag • Protect bibliographic database! • Privacy depends on choices in deployment

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