RFID

= RFID Radio Frequency Identification = toc

RFID is an acronym for Radio Frequency Identification. RFID tags are increasingly replacing barcodes as identification technology. They have several advantages, including no need to have direct line of sight contact with tag readers. They also don’t need to be positioned as exactly with both of these factors allowing far more rapid scanning.

RFID tags are actually small chips that communicate data wirelessly. Many or most are “passive”; they do not have a source of power to transmit information. A reader device powers them through power provided by its signal. The distance necessary for reading to occur depends on the size of chip and power of the reader.

Common usesmedia type="custom" key="11727672" align="right"
RFID chips are becoming widespread particularly in commercial applications, as the cost per chip decreases. They are used to substitute for barcodes, permitting quick checkout, and allow rapid inventory with portable scanners. Pets have had small RFID chips embedded under their skin for quick identification, and cattle are “chipped” both to prevent theft and to track their movement through the processing system up until slaughter. The chips injected into animals are about the size of a grain of rice.

A highly controversial use of RFID chips to track children, especially very young children at risk of kidnapping or simply wandering off. Some child tracking is already done through use of chips embedded in clothing, wristband or badges, although they only function over short distances. They have been used in some schools to verify that a child entered or left the school, and in the amusement park Legoland which uses a network of scanners to locate wandering children in the park for concerned parents.

Chips have already been embedded under the skin of humans for several purposes including medical alerts, automatic building access, security and positive identification. Although currently chips do not have the power and range to track people over distances, it is predicted that one day they could be used to locate individuals by longitude, latitude, altitude and direction. This raises many privacy rights concerns.

RFID use in librariesmedia type="youtube" key="xfxIIbpOH84" height="267" width="350" align="right"
Automated RFID systems are becoming common in libraries that can afford the systems. Books and other items are tagged with RFID chips or thin strips that can be embedded in book spines. With the use of automated checkout and check-in systems, including automated sorting into containers to go to different areas in the library, these systems can save both librarian and patron time. Shelf reading is greatly simplified as staff can move along the shelf with a portable reader that signals when out of place items are found. “Though RFID has been most commonly adopted by very high-circulation public libraries, even small to midsize libraries have seen payoffs.”

Advantages and Concerns
RFID technology has many advantages for libraries. The systems can greatly increase efficiency and free librarian time for more specialized work. They can improve service by returning materials to the shelves quickly and accurately. Inventory and weeding are faster and more efficient.

However there are concerns over the use of RFID, primarily privacy concerns. In the retail world a concern is that tracking of customers buying habits allows retailers to specifically target individuals with customized advertising and shopping suggestions. However the retail concerns have already happened with earlier technologies.

Tracking humans is probably of greatest concern to the general public although currently due to restricted reading range, it is of somewhat limited use. The technology is complex. For more detail and discussion read [|Security and Privacy in Two RFID Deployments, With New Methods For Private Authentication and RFID Pseudonyms]

The greatest concern for libraries and librarians is that RFID tags could be used to determine what a person is reading without their permission. Libraries, librarians and the ALA have long worked to protect their patrons confidentiality and privacy and it would be damaging to libraries reputations if RFID system enabled privacy invasion. Potentially a person or organization with interest in gathering reading information could position themselves with a fairly strong reading scanner within a range where they could access information stored on chips embedded in books that a particular user is carrying.

Another possibility is “hotlisting.” “In hotlisting, the adversary has a “hotlist” of books in advance that it wishes to recognize. To determine the bar codes associated with these books, the adversary might visit the library to read tags present on these books. Later, when the adversary reads an RFID tag, it can determine whether that tag corresponds to a book on the hotlist.” “.Hotlisting is problematic because it allows an adversary to gather information about an individual’s reading habits without a court order. For example, readers could be set up at security checkpoints in an airport, and individuals with hotlisted books set aside for special screening.”

To prevent this type of privacy abuse, it is essential that libraries determine what kinds of information is stored on RFID tags used or considered for their system. A few of the best practices listed by the ALA in [|RFID in Libraries: Privacy and Confidentiality Guidelines] include:


 * Protect the data on RFID tags by the most secure means available, including encryption.
 * Limit the bibliographic information stored on a tag to a unique identifier for the item (e.g., barcode number, record number, etc.). Use the security bit on the tag if it is applicable to your implementation.
 * Block the public from searching the catalog by whatever unique identifier is used on RFID tags to avoid linking a specific item to information about its content.