News

Posted On: 04/14/2005

RFID and Privacy: AIM Releases Draft Policy

AIM Global (Warrendale, Pa.), the trade association recognized as the worldwide authority on automatic identification and mobility, recently participated in the Congressional Internet Caucus RFID Demonstration in Washington, DC with the purpose of educating U.S. government officials about the issues surrounding RFID and privacy.

Although RFID has gained a great deal of media attention within the retail supply chain community, there are many other types of RFID systems that can provide benefits, including:

• Improve homeland security;
• Increase the integrity of pharmaceutical and food supply chains; and
• Enhance the efficiencies of manufacturing logistics.

AIM's RFID Experts Group (REG) developed a draft policy statement on privacy issues for presentation to a U.S. Congressional Caucus looking into privacy concerns. This draft policy recognized individuals' rights and outlined ways in which RFID technology can be used while helping ensure individuals' privacy. This document was presented to the U.S. Congressional Internet Caucus on March 9, 2005.

Register for and download the full draft statement at: https://www.aimglobal.org/estore/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=306
As an extension of the draft policy, the REG also submitted comments on a draft European Union (EU) document on privacy concerns. The REG offered its advice on technical solutions to privacy concerns and offered its suggestions on how data should be handled in company databases. The comments were submitted to the EU in a recent communiqué entitled “Comments on EC Working Document 10107/05/EN WP 105,” through AIM's European, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) regional center in Brussels, Belgium.

The REG noted that RFID manufacturers can only offer technical solutions to consumer privacy issues but, as recent events have demonstrated, security of corporate databases containing personally-identifiable data must also be secure.

For copies of these documents, please contact the association at (724) 934-4470 x108.