The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on the use of RFID tags in libraries around the country, such as the University of Nevada and University of Connecticut. The article is pretty clear about outlining a) what one *could* do with RFID tags and b) what is being done now. Readers can base their fear or lack thereof on either a or b.
UNLV says the only information stored in their tags is bar code information, and also argues that RFID readers are not standardized between companies. Yet Lee Tien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out, “A government building could have an RFID reader set up at a doorway. A person could walk in with a library book in a bag and sign in at a security gate. The bar code on an RFID tag could be picked up and connected to an identity.” The article also points out that RFID readers will likely become standardized in the future.
Although this may sound dreadfully bad…
Colleagues of mine in my graduate library science program and I actually did do some brain-storming as to how one would pull of the RFID interception talked about in the Chronicle of Higher Education. For what we had worked out, we found we could set something up using commerical off-the-shelf (“COTS”) equipment for Radio Shack and other such places.
Said exercise scared us. We all wound up quite a bit leery of RFID technology afterwards. It seems to create just as many problems as it solves.
Tin Foil Hat Time
“A government building could have an RFID reader set up at a doorway. A person could walk in with a library book in a bag and sign in at a security gate. The bar code on an RFID tag could be picked up and connected to an identity.”
Yeah, this person has a book or something that pops up a string of 13 numbers or so… which means exactly….. what?
They could get a lot more info by looking at the cover.
No government or individual has open access to any particular library’s automation system.
A non issue.
Re:Tin Foil Hat Time
It is weird to focus on these scenarios (heck, I wish enough people carried around library books to make them useful for tracking people!) when there are so many legitimate concerns with RFID.
Once RFID tags are in your Driver’s license, that will be more of an issue.
Twilight Zone .wav file of the Twilight Zone theme song and play it will you read the story. With the sound effects it reads better.
Find the
Re:Tin Foil Hat Time
Including the Library of Congress? A government institution?
Mind you, to get a match that way assumes that each book’s 13 digit ID code would be unique to that title; the way Dewey numbers or the ISBN is.
At any rate, it’s not just about what can be done today, but where such erosions will lead in the future. Consider that the Grand Canyon is the result of mere water wearing it’s way through solid rock over the course of 100 million years. Civil liberties are not nearly as endurable as solid rock.
Re:Tin Foil Hat Time
Including the Library of Congress? A government institution?
I don’t have access to their circ records (and they don’t tend to circ, or let their ILLs circ for that matter), do you?
Mind you, to get a match that way assumes that each book’s 13 digit ID code would be unique to that title; the way Dewey numbers or the ISBN is.
It’s not. Barcode assignment by libraries has no pattern, it is sequential but any barcode can be assigned to any book and changed or replaced at any time. The number only has meaning when connected to a particular library’s circ system. And I am not gonna let any ole extra from Threat Matrix peek.