Privacy, Civil Liberties Groups Sign RFID Position Paper

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November 18, 2003 (5:31 PM EST)

Privacy, Civil Liberties Groups Sign RFID Position Paper

More than two dozen consumer, privacy and civil liberties groups have endorsed a position statement on the development and use of radio-frequency technology to track goods from the factory floor to store shelves.

Among the 30 organization signing the paper were the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy International, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Katherine Albrecht, director of the Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, said Tuesday in a statement.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags contain computer chips that store information that can be fed into the computer systems of manufacturers, distributors and retailers as a product moves through the supply chain. Privacy groups are particularly concerned with placing tags on products purchased by consumers, claiming they could be used to gather information on buyers without their consent.

"Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an item-tagging technology with profound societal implications," the position statement says. "Used improperly, RFID has the potential to jeopardize consumer privacy, reduce or eliminate purchasing anonymity, and threaten civil liberties."

Proponents claim current RFID technology is not capable of such abuses, and say the tags are being used today to track pallets and cases at the warehouse level. Consumer goods makers also say they are sensitive to customers' privacy rights.

Nevertheless, consumer groups have called for federal legislation to govern the use of the technology and protect consumers.