By Daniel R. Matlis
On the May 9th issue of Information Week, Mitch Wagner provides some simple and elegant solutions on his article entitled “A Simple Fix For RFID Privacy”
In a previous article Levi Strauss proposal to use RFID tags on their Jeans was condemned by privacy advocates. He states “I’m not sure what the heck they’re worried about. I mean, how can you be concerned about privacy protection for information that’s already written on people’s butts?”
Although people may not be concerned about RFID tags in Levi’s Jeans, they ought to be concerned about RFID tags on prescription drugs.
The Food and drug administration (FDA) has issued a report recommending the widespread use of RFID technology throughout the pharmaceutical industry by 2007. The goal is to stem the tide of counterfeit drugs currently available though the internet.
RFID will play a key role in securing our nations drug supply. I can see a day were RFID tags will be the electronic equivalents of tamper proof seals, allowing consumers to rapidly identify counterfeit and fraudulent drugs.
However, there are significant privacy issues that must be addressed.
Would you want anyone with a rogue RFID reader finding out which prescription drugs you are taking?
I certainly would not.