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| CRBJ Home > July 2006 | |||||
New technologies raise privacy concernsJenny Price
Businesses and some government agencies are keen on such technology for its potential to keep track of inventory and save money, but lawmakers around the country are raising privacy concerns and some are trying to curb or regulate its use. One area of technology that is attracting legislators' attention is biometrics, which allow consumers to pay for their goods with the touch of a finger. Cub Foods installed biometric payment systems in three Madison-area stores earlier this year, and the new system could save the grocer as much as 60 cents per transaction. Cub is the first retailer here to introduce the technology. Supermarket chains elsewhere also offer the payment option, and major retailers nationally, including Wal-Mart and Costco, are reportedly considering adopting a similar system. A report by analysts with New York firm Sanford Bernstein found biometric payment systems reduce fraud and identity theft, make the checkout process faster and significantly lower costs for retailers. The study projected a 20 percent reduction in processing costs for big-box discount stores over the next several years. But Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, worries the technology could have unintended consequences. He's considering introducing legislation to help safeguard personal information connected to fingerprints because of the potential for identity theft or other abuses. "The technology is evolving faster than the questions can be answered," he said. Last year, legislators in at least a dozen states proposed bills concerning privacy issues connected to radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology. RFID replaces bar codes, which require an active scan, with a chip containing an antenna. The RFID tag contains information about products that is transferred to and stored on a computer, allowing stores to instantly update their inventories. The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed legislation that would require products with RFID tags or similar tracking devices to carry warning labels, something privacy advocates are pushing for. The New Hampshire bill also outlines rules for the technology when it comes to tracking people. In California, the state Senate has approved a bill that would put on hold for three years the use of RFID technology in state-issued identification such as driver's licenses. Opponents of the legislation argue RFID technology is already present in daily life, such as cards used to enter a parking garage or speed passes used to buy gas. Wisconsin. Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, introduced a bill earlier this year that would prohibit any person from being forced to have a microchip implanted. But Wisconsin legislators have not waded into the fight over RFID tags on merchandise, despite the opening of a new laboratory on the UW-Madison campus dedicated to improving the technology. College of Engineering Dean Paul Peercy said the lab -- funded by donations from companies including 3M Co., Kraft Foods Inc. and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. -- focuses on the physics of attaching RFID tags to different products so they can be more easily tracked as they move from factory to warehouse to retailer to cash register. Peercy said so far the laboratory has not run up against any state or federal restrictions. "We're really interested in only working in the areas of supply-chain management," he said. "I don't think there's an issue (with privacy)." Peercy said the UW lab is trying to determine how to affix RFID tags to containers that cause electromagnetic interference, such as metal. "It becomes much more tricky as to how one makes sure that the tag is read reliably," he said. "There is a lot of research in engineering, high-frequency antenna design, and transmitter and readers design that needs to be done in this area." jenny.price@gmail.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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