Summary on Køien, G.M., 2007, “RFID and Privacy” and Michael, K. & Masters, A., 2005, “Applications of Human Transponder Implants in Mobile Commerce"

In Geir M. Køien’s article, “RFID and Privacy”, he explained that RFID is an acronym for Radio Frequency Identification, which is a tiny chip, sometimes thinner than paper and have two main types, which are Passive RFID tags and Active RFID devices. He went on to explain the differences between these types, with the largest difference being its operation method; The Active RFID Devices have their own internal power supply, while the Passive RFID tags don’t. He then presented a number of examples where RFID chips were already in use today. He explained the two main development areas, which were in cost and functionality. The RFID device has always come with its string of controversies, with the main one being privacy. Here, Køien explains how this can be an issue, especially with Active FRID Devices which are more prone to illicit eavesdropping. He also listed various privacy threats associated to the RFID device, such as location and identity threats and breadcrumb threats. He stresses the risk of mistaken identification with extensive use of these devices. To end, he used a fairly specific example of the implementation of these devices in the Department of Homeland Security in the US, which is a highly controversial matter.

This next article which provides a more in-depth look into RFID devices is by Katina Michael and Amelia Masters, entitled “Applications of Human Transponder Implants in Mobile Commerce”. This article focuses on how RFID devices could be used as transponder implants in humans. They explain the various medical benefits that could be reaped as well as the prevention of fraud by merely injecting this transponder in a specific part of the body. In this article, they focused on three main usability context analysis themes, the three C’s, which were control, convenience and care. First, they discussed the issue of control, which consisted of three main sub-contexts, mainly security, management and social controls. This is when an implantee could control a subject implanted with the RFID transponder in various ways. One interesting example they pointed out was how these devices can be used to monitor the movements of certain parolees, which allowed them to serve their sentence from home, and in turn saving a significant amount of money spent on jail time. In certain cases, the use of these RFID transponders could also increase convenience in everyday life, and “is divided into three main sub-contexts- assistance, financial services and interactivity” (Michael and Masters, 2005). And lastly, they highlighted how these devices contributed to the improvement of the subject’s well-being, namely care, and can be classified into three main sub-contexts, which are medical, biomedical and therapeutic.

In my opinion, these two articles show a good balance of the benefits as well as the drawbacks of implanting a RFID microchip into a human being. The content of the two articles has a high level of relevance to the roundtable discussion, as the two articles noticeably contrast the good and the bad of RFID implantation on humans. Each pro and con of the RFID implantation is also elaborated in detail, which can be used in the roundtable discussion to further convince the audience.

Mobile Commerce – the ability to conduct commerce using a mobile device

RFID transponder – a special kind of radio transmitter and receiver. The abbreviation “RFID” stands for ‘Radio Frequency Identification’

Infer - to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence.

Mission critical - any factor which is crucial to the successful completion of an entire project

Ubiquitous – present, appearing, or found everywhere


References:

Køien, G.M. (2007, February). RFID and Privacy. Telektronikk, 77-83. Retrieved February 28 from http://www.telenor.com/telektronikk/volumes/index.php?page=ing&id1=72&id2=196&id3=968&select=05-09

Michael, K., Masters, A. (2005). Applications of Human Transponder Implants in Mobile Commerce. Retrieved March 1 from http://ro.uow.edu.au/infopapers/384/