DHS Sparks a New Debate by Criticizing RFID

Filed in archive Privacy and Security on May 21, 2006

A draft report issued by the Department of Homeland Security's Privacy Office has strongly criticized the privacy and security risks of using RFID devices for human identification. This report coincides the time when a continuous debate over the privacy and security issues surrounding RFID technology used for identifying people at airports and border crossings is taking place. The report states as to why the committee is not in favor of this technology for identifying and tracking human beings. The committee has recommended security and privacy safeguards while choosing RFID for identifying and tracking individuals.

The committee would be considering the report at the public advisory Committee meeting to be held in San Francisco on June 7. People interested in sending their comments can mail them at privacycommittee@dhs.gov or through postal mail or fax latest by May22 till 12 p.m. EST. The comments would be made public on the website of the Privacy Committee. The report can be accessed on the website of DHS.

This report is certainly going to vex DHS which uses or plans to use RFID in a number of applications but I hope this would turn out to be a constructive debate which in turn would benefit the technology itself.