IEEE Spectrum March, 2007 - 4

SPECTRAL LINES
Do-It-Yourself RFID

IEEE International Conference on RFID 2007
Gaylord Texan Resort, Grapevine, Texas
26-28 March 2007
IEEE RFID 2007 is the first in a series of annual conferences dedicated to the challenges presented by radio-frequency identification technologies. This year's conference will focus on wireless
identification and sensing systems; technical and policy-related
research; and the design, manufacture, deployment, and application of RFID systems and their supporting information systems
and application infrastructures. To register, go to http://www.
ieee-rfid.org/2007.

The editorial content of IEEE Spectrum magazine does not reflect official positions of the IEEE or its organizational units. Please address comments to Forum at n.hantman@ieee.org.

IEEE Spectrum | March 2007 | NA

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AMAl GRAAFSTRA

A few years ago when Amal Graafstra first began chronicling his
efforts to live in a key-free world by implanting radio-frequency
identification chips in his hands [see our cover story, "Hands
On"], his chip hacks generated lots of geeky Internet buzz. He
compiled a book of RFID tricks, like building yourself an RFIDenabled pet door (RFID Toys: 11 Cool Projects for Home, Office,
and Entertainment, Wiley, 2006). And then his girlfriend also
agreed to get implants-RFID ones, not the other controversial
kind-so they could share cars and homes and computers with
keyless, passwordless abandon. Could Valentine's Day RFID specials be far behind?
Graafstra's experiments in domestic chipping are entertaining, but they point to some of the larger issues that are
upon us as human RFID tagging becomes ubiquitous-first as
passports, drivers' licenses, and medical bracelets, and then
as implantable devices. What happens when people and their
activities can be tracked and inventoried in much the way that
Wal-Mart candy bars are today? Who's allowed to hack what
and know what about each one of us?
That topic, the ethics of implanting chips, is the subject
of "RFID Inside," by Kenneth R. Foster and Jan Jaeger, also
in this issue.
Some good things are obvious-how convenient to have your
medical records with you at all times, for example. But can you
protect the already shredded remnants of your personal privacy
from RFID?
Foster and Jaeger discuss the VeriChip, whose makers want
to chip broad classes of people-soldiers, high-security personnel, guest laborers, cancer patients, and so on. But, according to
Foster and Jaeger, the chip's security and its ability to authenticate that you are you can be compromised.
How quickly will widespread RFID tagging come to pass?
While the technology is still costly and interoperability
standards are still in limbo, the answer seems to be-soon.
When we asked the IEEE Fellows about RFID technology in
our survey published this past September ["Bursting Tech
Bubbles Before They Balloon"], it was the one single issue
on which there was the most agreement. Ninety-five percent
thought RFID tags and readers would be pervasive in 20 years.
Two-thirds of the Fellows said it would happen in the next
10 years.
So it seems pretty clear that these tiny chips, embedded
everywhere, will change our lives. Every move, interaction, and
transaction we make will potentially become data to be captured,
stored, and analyzed. But by whom and for what purpose?
Some of us probably think that it's up to others to work out
the privacy and policy issues. But we all need to think about
what's on the near horizon so we can use RFID technology as
we see fit-and not simply live with its consequences.
n

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum March, 2007