EU shows common sense...so far
Undersecretary for Technology Administration, Robert Cresanti recently returned from a trip to the EU, where he met with RFID industry officials. At the Conference in Hannover, he praised European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding -- his EU counterpart -- for giving the industry more time to grow and mature before imposing regulations. He also talked about the need for interoperability internationally.
It is comforting to know that there are groups in the EU that understand the RFID industry and acknowledge that it is going to take time for the industry to iron out its kinks. It is clear that RFID technology is developing rapidly and it is too early to regulate; it would appear that we need some of those cool heads to work with consumer groups in this country so that common ground can be made on the issue of regulation.
Article sourced from National Journal's Tech Daily
U.S. Official Gets Look At Tracking Tags In Europe
by Heather Greenfield
Commerce Department Technology Undersecretary Robert Cresanti is back from a conference in Europe, where he got a glimpse of the latest radio-frequency identification devices in action and had a chance to voice U.S. concerns about government regulations and the need for compatible devices across borders.
The United States already uses RFID -- the tiny computer chips read by scanners at various distances -- to manage inventory at stores and for cars to pay tolls. The next step, tagging specific items like clothes or medicine bottles, which raises privacy concerns for some, is now being tested in Germany.
Cresanti visited Metro, a European version of the Wal-Mart retailer, and saw how it offers customers at a store in Rheinberg, Germany, products imbedded with RFID tags to help with purchases.
Ties with the tiny computer chips can be scanned to help pick matching shirts. Meat can be scanned for wine recommendations that even give directions to the aisle and row where the bottle is. On the way out, shoppers with privacy concerns can bring their carts past a magnet to erase the information on the RFID tags. Cresanti said some did and some chose to skip that part.
At the CeBIT digital technology show in Hannover, Germany, which Cresanti attended, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding announced that the European Commission will delay regulating RFID -- at least for another year.
Reding said the technology is taking off quickly and it is too early to regulate, but she stressed that consumers should be able to deactivate the tags and that changes may need to be made to Europe's current privacy laws to encompass RFID.
Cresanti praised the commission's decision and said it signals that RFID development would not be hindered in Europe. "By Commissioner Reding only regulating as a last resort, she's providing a chance for industry to do the right thing," Cresanti said.
He predicted two significant developments in the EU approach to RFID. The first will be the creation of a "council of business leaders and policy folks to come up with rules and education programs to make sure consumers understand what faces them when item-level tagging gets here." The second will be giving consumers the chance to "opt out" of the potential for the tags to be read by scanners later.
Cresanti has had discussions with Reding on the need to make RFID compatible between the United States, the European Union and other government, saying that it would be expensive and technologically challenging to have to tag items multiple times to be read by devices with different standards.
"You could be putting out standard RFID tags and readers can't read them across borders," Cresanti said. "Then you have real problems."
Both Cresanti and Reding will travel to Asia in a few weeks to discuss RFID standards with China, South Korea and Japan.
