This is a follow up to my earlier post on consumer privacy and RFID.
Today best practice guidelines for RFID privacy will be released at a Las Vegas trade show. The guidelines were developed by a group of business and consumer advocates. Participants that are expected to endorse the guidelines include P&G, IBM, Microsoft, VISA, and the National Consumers League.
Among other things, the guidelines say that consumers should be
notified when goods have radio tags, which can be invisibly buried in
labels, packaging or the goods themselves. The guidelines also say that
it should be clear to consumers how to disable disposable forms of the
tags and that it should be easy to do so once items with such tags have
been purchased. Businesses are called on to notify consumers about how
information gathered from the tags will be used.
Only a small fraction of retailers (7% of 89 companies surveyed) and consumer product manufacturers (11% of 120) delayed or scaled back their RFID investments due to privacy concerns (Forrester Research).
The National Retail Federation is not planning to endorse the guidelines which do not address govenment use of RFID and employee privacy for business-to-business transactions.
Guidelines for Radio Tags Aim to Protect Buyer Privacy
The New York Times
By BARNABY J. FEDER
Published: May 1, 2006
During her time at Glenbrook, Erin focused on client engagements in business payments, cross-border transactions, bill payment, and the intersection of corporate finance, banking, and ERP/accounting. She has nearly twenty years of experience leading increasingly complex payment initiatives for corporate clients and advising financial institutions and payment technologists on the development of their payment capabilities.
Erin is also the founder of Forte Financial, a consulting firm focused on corporate finance efficiency, technology, and process improvement. She is a past president of the Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco and also a two-term past president of the San Francisco Treasury Management Association. Erin is no longer with Glenbrook, but contributed greatly during her time at the firm.