Rfid Applications and Implications for Consumers

Radio Frequency IDentification:

Applications and Implications

for Consumers

A Workshop Report from the

Staff of the Federal Trade Commission

March 2005

Federal Trade Commission

DEBORAH PLATT MAJORAS, Chairman ORSON SWINDLE, Commissioner THOMAS B. LEARY, Commissioner PAMELA JONES HARBOUR, Commissioner JON LEIBOWITZ, Commissioner

This is a report of the staff of the Federal Trade Commission. The views expressed in this report are those of the staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Trade Commission or any individual Commissioner. The Commission has voted to authorize the staff to publish this report.

Contents

I. II. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The ABCs of RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Primary Components of RFID Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B. Passive v. Active Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. Radio Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D. Read/Write Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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III. RFID Today and Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

A. Current Uses of RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

B. RFID in the Supply Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

C. RFID Use in the Public Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

D. Emerging RFID Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

IV. Consumer Perceptions and Privacy Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

A. Consumer Survey Results . . . . ....