Est. 3min 07-10-2008 (updated: 15-10-2015 ) network_cables__ISP.jpg Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: Français | DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram European ministers in charge of information technology gathered in southern France yesterday (6 October) to debate privacy and security challenges related to the transition to a ‘Web of Things’ whereby consumer goods were able to ‘talk’ to one another. The EU ministerial meeting in Nice was the first to be fully dedicated to the Internet of the future and will feed into the conclusions of the next EU Telecoms Council at the end of November. France, the current holder of the rotating EU Presidency, wants to introduce new privacy rights for consumers. Among these is the establishment of the right to deactivate “radio frequency identification tags” (RFIDs), a kind of barcode which is making its way into consumer goods and objects. Smart tags are at the heart of the ‘Internet of Things’. They allow relevant and dynamic information about an object to be stored, such as tyre pressure during a car journey. By using radio frequencies, the information can be read at a distance by special devices. If the pressure is too low, a remote computer informs the driver. The problem is how the information is used. Unauthorised people might access the data and extract a profile of the user, which could then be used for commercial or even criminal purposes. Technological developments might also allow the localisation of an object, and therefore its owner, in space and time. New ‘Big Brother’? In Japan, the practice has already begun to spread. Japanese parents concerned about their children’s safety embed RFID tags in their bags or their clothes, and are automatically informed of their kids’ movements by text message. Faced with concerns about the emergence of a new, all-powerful Big Brother, EU authorities are calling for a more cautious approach. Hence the call for the right to deactivate tags: according to supporters of this approach, retailers should be compelled to inform customers about the potential presence of an RFID tag in a product and block the embedded chips if the customer requests it. Tracing products in the supply chain But industries in favour of the technology argue that the tags could also bring enormous benefits. For example, retrieving dangerous products from the market could be made faster and easier, as was proven recently by the scandal in China involving tainted baby milk. The environment could also benefit, proponents say. Today, companies can use RFID tags to trace products in their supply chains. Tomorrow, products could be traced beyond the point of sale and be recalled, repaired and finally recycled in the appropriate manner. As is often the case, the answer may well rest in between the two arguments. At the moment, deactivating a tag is a one-way process. It is afterwards usually impossible to activate it again. To avoid losing the potential benefits of a widespread Internet of Things, Europe is pushing for a new generation of tags, which would be switched on and off intermittently at the consumer’s behest. In this scenario, control of privacy would reside in the hands of the user, provided that citizens were correctly informed. Read more with Euractiv EU to pave way for deployment of smart tags The French EU Presidency will today (6 October) hold a high-level conference dedicated to building the so-called 'Internet of Things'. The meeting comes as the Commission prepares to present measures aimed at overcoming privacy concerns related to the use of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips that are expected to lead the technological revolution. PositionsSpeaking at the Nice ministerial meeting on Monday (6 October), Eric Besson, French State Secretary for the development of the digital economy, stated: "The future Internet will bring huge economic and social benefits, but it has to remain under citizens' control. We have to establish a right to deactivate tags." Bernard Benhamou, an Internet expert in the French Ministry of Research, added: "We need to be sure that the ultimate control of tags is in consumers' hands, otherwise we will create a massive 'Minority Report', a new Big Brother". However, he underlined that "currently it is not possible to deactivate tags. When they are deactivated, they are basically killed. We need to ensure that deactivation is not the end of a tag". EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding confirmed this line. Her services will publish in November a recommendation which will request the introduction of the so-called 'opt-in' principle at the point of sale of products with embedded RFID. In practice, consumers would be asked if they wanted to deactivate tags. The alternative, which is unlikely to be adopted although is favoured by operators, is the 'opt-out' concept. In this case, consumers would have to request the deactivation (EURACTIV 06/10/08). BEUC, the European consumer organisation, supports the opt-in approach but believes a recommendation is not enough. "These provisions should not take the form of a recommendation, but must be laid down in binding legislation," said Monique Goyens, BEUC's director. Ryo Imura of Hitachi, representing one of the main manufacturers of devices using RFID, underlined the advantages of always-on tags: "RFID is key for the traceability of products, also after their sale. RFID is not only for industries and for supply chains, but also for people. Consumers can know where what they buy come from and can be helped in the maintenance, the potential recovery and the recycling," he said at a conference taking place alongside the ministerial meeting. Chris Adcock from EPCglobal, a private standardising body, supported this line: "With tags in place the recent problems caused by toxic Mattel toys or Chinese milk, would not have had the same scale. Benefits for the fight against counterfeiting are also evident," he said. BackgroundThe 'Internet of Things' is a revolutionary concept which could hugely impact upon the daily lives of Europeans within a few years. It involves giving a digital identity to material objects in order to store relevant information about them. Its various applications range from anti-counterfeiting to health issues. For example, a counterfeit product would lack an authentic identification number and would immediately be recognised as fake. In the early years of the Internet, just a few computers were connected to one another. Today it is the same situation for objects. Only a small number are electronically linked, but progress is constant. It is made possible via intelligent tags based on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technologies which act as evolved barcodes. They are embedded in an increasing number of items. Figures used by the European Commission indicate that so far in 2008, around two billion tags are in use, with a predicted 300-fold increase within the next decade (see our Links Dossier). Timeline 27 Nov. 2008: EU Telecoms Council 3-8 March 2009: CeBIT fair in Hannover to focus on RFID and auto-identification technologies. Further ReadingEuropean Union French Presidency of the EU:Nice Conference on the Internet of Things(6-7 October 2008) [FR] European Commission:Memo on RFID(5 March 2008) European Commission:FAQs on RFID European Data Protection Supervisor:Opinion on RFID(23 April 2008) European Commission:Working document on the early challenges of the Internet of Things(Sept. 2008) EU Actors positions CompTIA:RFID skills certifications EICTA:Position paper on RFID(27 Sept. 2007) BEUC:Comments on RFID(22 Feb. 2008) OECD:RFID: A focus on information security and privacy(14 Jan. 2008)
