RFID “Privacy? You have none – get over it”

by Robert Paarlberg

Remember when barcodes first appeared in grocery stores and how amazed you were? Well hold on to your chair! Soon a computer will read your wallet – cash, credit cards, and debit cards – as you arrive. Then as you leave, the computer will read everything you have in your shopping cart and ask you how you want to pay. A technology called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) makes this possible. Some mistakenly call it a replacement for bar-coding; it is more – much more. “In the near future, every single object will be connected to the Internet through a wireless and unique identifier.” – Dirk Heyman, Sun Microsystems.

The components of RFID are a chip, an antenna and a reader. On the chip is recorded an electronic product code (EPC). The EPC is comprised of 4 sets of numbers; version number of the code; company (Royster-Clark), the product (Super Rainbow 3-12-24), and the serial number. The 96-bit EPC provides for approximately 291,584,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (whatever this number is called) unique identifiers.

The antenna allows the chip to send the EPC numbers to a reader. Like an alarm clock, the reader wakes up the chip and provides the power to transmit.

Today chips are manufactured by cutting them with a diamond saw which yields about 15,000 microchips from an 8 inch wafer. Cutting edge technology (no pun intended) uses wet etching by laying down a thin line of acid that eats through the wafer. This wet etching technique will yield 250,000 chips out of an 8 inch wafer – and lower cost dramatically.

What about ag? We expect RFID chips to be on pallets of chemicals and seed initially. The next steps will affix them to individual containers and equipment. The final evolution will have them suspended in liquid and dry bulk material. This will let us walk across a field and read its application history. Imagine being able to resolve application disputes by reading what was applied, when, by whom, and what equipment was used.

Last month we introduced you to the world of RFID and its implications. For those of you that have the same memory I do, let me recap. Generally, RFID is a computer chip that stores and transmits data to electronic readers. It can be as small as a speck of dust, but usually is postage stamp size.

The technology has some challenges including signal strength, interference, and price. The range of these transmitters runs from a few inches to up to 90 feet. They do have an advantage over barcodes in that they can be read through a variety of substances such as snow, fog, ice, soil, crusted grime, and other visually and environmentally challenging conditions. Compare that with the problem of scanning a frost covered barcode on a package of broccoli, and you will understand the excitement surrounding RFID.

Certain types of RFID tags also have issues with water and metal. A signal that is garbled or lost could make the EPC (Electronic Product Code) information useless. Getting an accurate reading of every 3^rd rail car that passes by is not acceptable reporting. Cost remains an issue as well. Current opinion says that the illusive 5 cent chip doesn’t exist. It will happen. It will even go below 1 cent. But that will only happen when economies of scale kick in. For RFID, that number approaches one trillion.

There are some major players with a lot of muscle pushing RFID. Wal-Mart has mandated that their suppliers use RFID tags by January 1, 2005. Gillette had placed a preliminary order for 500,000,000 tags earlier this year. Those are the kind of commitments that will push RFID into the mainstream.

Unlike the technical problems, privacy is more of a cultural issue. CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) feels that the reason Gillette has cancelled their order for 500,000,000 RFID tags is due to their fear of consumer backlash. Gillette was intending to put the RFID on the package which allows the specific item to be tracked after it leaves the store. Wal-Mart’s mandate was at the case and pallet level which would stop tracking as the product was placed on the store shelf.

CASPIAN founder, Katherine Albrecht, describes RFID as “tiny tracking devices the size of a grain of dust, [that] can be used to secretly identify you and the things you’re carrying–right through your clothes, wallet, backpack, or purse”. While my first reaction is to count Albrecht as a zealot, the deeper you dig, the more substance you find.

The reason Albrecht makes sense is that unlike barcode, this technology allows someone to read the exact item you have along with everything else you are carrying. So an RFID reader, on the street, could read your car as it passes by and know the make and model of your car, what brand and style of clothes you have on, the bottled water you are drinking, your age, your sex and your available balance on your credit cards – all at sub-second speed.

Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, has been attributed with the quote “Privacy? You have none – get over it”. Maybe not Scott, maybe the consumers will win this time. We in ag need to be aware of these consumer issues also.

Bob Paarlberg, a frequent contributor, is working with isResearch on their ‘Website Overnight’ product and can be reached at rpaarlberg@isresearch.com.