RFID Privacy Concerns: A Conceptual Analysis in the Healthcare Sector

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless technology that utilizes radio waves to automatically capture data for identifying and tracking objects and/or people. As the use of RFID has grown, so has the chorus of privacy invasions against this identity-aware technology. With the planned deployment and use of RFID in healthcare, there are concerns regarding the social, technological and regulatory complexity of the RFID technology vis-à-vis the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In this paper we use the principles of Fair Information Practice (FIP) as a guideline to examine the design of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs). The outcome shows that PETs fail to incorporate the FIP principles and the importance of examining the social aspect of this ubiquitous technology from a sociotechnical perspective. The socio-technical perspective, with its emphasis on the examination of complex relations among social and technical interactions of RFID, can provide a useful insight to assess the societal impact and changes to individual behavior that may arise from privacy concerns. We believe that, using the groundwork laid down in this study, future research along these directions could contribute significantly to addressing privacy concerns expressed about RFID in the context of healthcare

Framework of Smart Mobile Rfid Networks

Basically RFID (radio-frequency identification) is a wireless communication technology within the L1 (Layer 1, the physical layer of the OSI 7-layer Reference Model) and L2 scopes between RFID tag and reader. The RFID reader reads the code in the RFID tag and interprets it by communicating with the IS(information services)  server via a proper communication network. This is the typical architecture defined by EPC (electronic product Code)global. RFID networks need to provide value added services in order to give better visibility to inventory movement across supply chain or closed loop applications like Asset tracking or Work In Progress tracking. The RFID reader can be stationary or mobile. A mobile RFID reader affords more applications than the stationary one. Mobile RFID is a newly emerging technology which uses the mobile phone as an RFID reader with a wireless technology and provides new valuable services to the user by integrating RFID and ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure with mobile communication and wireless internet. The mobile RFID enables business to provide new services to mobile customers by securing services and transactions from the end-user to a company's existing e-commerce and IT systems. In this paper, I describe about the core components of mobile RFID, advantages and its applications in scenario of smart networks. Although there are several types of mobile RFID readers in the market, I focused on mobile RFID technology that has several positive features including security, network architecture, operation scenario, and code resolution mechanism. Keywords: EPC network, RFID, Mobile RFID, Smart RFID networ

RFID: A 7 Point Plan to Ensure Privacy

This paper gives an overview of consumer fears associated with the introduction of RFID technology. It analyses the motivation and technical viability of these fears and derives suggestions for privacyfriendly technology design. The analysis shows that all consumer fears currently debated are essentially justified, because from a technical perspective they can all be implemented in the short- or mid-term. A 7-point plan of technological measures is presented that should be taken into consideration and developed further by standardization bodies, researchers and governments in order to impede potential abuses of the technology in the long term

Personal Privacy Protection within Pervasive RFID Environments

Recent advancements in location tracking technologies have increased the threat to an individual\u27s personal privacy. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology allows for the identification and potentially continuous tracking of an object or individual, without obtaining the individual\u27s consent or even awareness that the tracking is taking place. Although many positive applications for RFID technology exist, for example in the commercial sector and law enforcement, the potential for abuse in the collection and use of personal information through this technology also exists. Location data linked to other types of personal information allows not only the detection of past spatial travel and activity patterns, but also inferences regarding past and future behavior and preferences. Legislative and technological solutions to deal with the increased privacy threat raised by this and similar tracking technologies have been proposed. Such approaches in isolation have significant limitations. This thesis hypothesizes that an approach may be developed with high potential for sufficiently protecting individual privacy in the use of RFID technologies while also strongly supporting marketplace uses of such tags. The research develops and investigates the limits of approaches that might be us,ed to protect privacy in pervasive RFID surveillance environments. The conclusion is ultimately reached that an approach facilitating individual control over the linking of unique RFID tag ID numbers to personal identity implemented though a combination of legal controls and technological capabilities would be a highly desirable option in balancing the interests of both the commercial sector and the information privacy interests of individuals. The specific model developed is responsive to the core ethical principle of autonomy of the individual and as such is also intended to be more responsive to the needs of individual consumers. The technological approach proposed integrated with enabling privacy legislation and private contract law to enable interactive alteration of privacy preferences should result in marketplace solutions acceptable to both potential commercial users and those being tracked

Personal Privacy Protection within Pervasive RFID Environments

Recent advancements in location tracking technologies have increased the threat to an individual\u27s personal privacy. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology allows for the identification and potentially continuous tracking of an object or individual, without obtaining the individual\u27s consent or even awareness that the tracking is taking place. Although many positive applications for RFID technology exist, for example in the commercial sector and law enforcement, the potential for abuse in the collection and use of personal information through this technology also exists. Location data linked to other types of personal information allows not only the detection of past spatial travel and activity patterns, but also inferences regarding past and future behavior and preferences. Legislative and technological solutions to deal with the increased privacy threat raised by this and similar tracking technologies have been proposed. Such approaches in isolation have significant limitations. This thesis hypothesizes that an approach may be developed with high potential for sufficiently protecting individual privacy in the use of RFID technologies while also strongly supporting marketplace uses of such tags. The research develops and investigates the limits of approaches that might be us,ed to protect privacy in pervasive RFID surveillance environments. The conclusion is ultimately reached that an approach facilitating individual control over the linking of unique RFID tag ID numbers to personal identity implemented though a combination of legal controls and technological capabilities would be a highly desirable option in balancing the interests of both the commercial sector and the information privacy interests of individuals. The specific model developed is responsive to the core ethical principle of autonomy of the individual and as such is also intended to be more responsive to the needs of individual consumers. The technological approach proposed integrated with enabling privacy legislation and private contract law to enable interactive alteration of privacy preferences should result in marketplace solutions acceptable to both potential commercial users and those being tracked

ALGSICS - Combining physics and cryptography to enhance security and privacy in RFID systems

In this paper, we introduce several new mechanisms that are cheap to implement or integrate into RFID tags and that at the same time enhance their security and privacy properties. Our aim is to provide solutions that make use of existing (or expected) functionality on the tag or that are inherently cheap and thus, enhance the privacy friendliness of the technology "almost" for free. Our proposals, for example, make use of environmental information (presence of light temperature, humidity, etc.) to disable or enable the RFID tag. A second possibility that we explore is the use of delays in revealing a secret key used to later establish a secure communication channel. We also introduce the idea of a "sticky tag," which can be used to re-enable a disabled (or killed) tag whenever the user considers it to be safe. We discuss the security and describe usage scenarios for all solutions. Finally, we review previous works that use physical principles to provide security and privacy in RFID systems

Traceability -- A Literature Review

In light of recent food safety crises and international trade concerns associated with food or animal associated diseases, traceability has once again become important in the minds of public policymakers, business decision makers, consumers and special interest groups. This study reviews studies on traceability, government regulation and consumer behaviour, provide case studies of current traceability systems and a rough breakdown of various costs and benefits of traceability. This report aims to identify gaps that may currently exist in the literature on traceability in the domestic beef supply chain, as well as provide possible directions for future research into said issue. Three main conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, there is a lack of a common definition of traceability. Hence identifying similarities and differences across studies becomes difficult if not impossible. To this end, this study adopts CFIA’s definition of traceability. This definition has been adopted by numerous other agencies including the EU’s official definition of traceability however it may or may not be acceptable from the perspective of major Canadian beef and cattle trade partners. Second, the studies reviewed in this report address one or more of five key objectives; the impact of changing consumer behaviour on market participants, suppliers incentive to adopt or participate in traceability, impact of regulatory changes, supplier response to crisis and technical description of traceability systems. Drawing from the insights from the consumer studies, it seems as if consumers do not value traceability per se, traceability is a means for consumers to receive validation of another production or process attribute that they are interested in. Moreover, supply chain improvement, food safety control and accessing foreign market segments are strong incentives for primary producers and processors to participate in programs with traceability features. However the objectives addressed by the studies reviewed in this paper are not necessarily the objectives that are of most immediate relevance to decision makers about appropriate traceability standards to recommend, require, subsidize etc. In many cases the research objectives of previous work have been extremely narrow creating a body of literature that is incomplete in certain key areas. Third, case studies of existing traceability systems in Australia, the UK, Scotland, Brazil and Uruguay indicate that the pattern of development varies widely across sectors and regions. In summary, a traceability system by itself cannot provide value-added for all participants in the industry; it is merely a protocol for documenting and sharing information. Value is added to participants in the marketing chain through traceability in the form of reduced transactions costs in the case of a food safety incident and through the ability to shift liability. To ensure consumer benefit and have premiums returned to primary producers the type of information that consumers value is an important issue for future research. A successful program that peaks consumer interest and can enhance their eating experience can generate economic benefits to all sectors in the beef industry. International market access will increasingly require traceability in the marketing system in order to satisfy trade restrictions in the case of animal diseases and country of origin labelling, to name only a few examples. Designing appropriate traceability protocols industry wide is therefore becoming very important.traceability, institutions, Canada, consumer behaviour, producer behaviour, supply chain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Production Economics, D020, D100, D200, Q100,