As part of my consulting business, I provide RFID briefings for companies, special interest groups and investors. These briefings have evolved over the past three years but there's always a need for a basic slide defining RFID and listings it's benefits. Here's how I've been summing it up recently:
“RFID combines the best features of barcodes and magnetic stripes from credit cards, and improves on both.”
Generally, I still think this is true, but two additional comments are important.
First, RFID tags can present a big disadvantage when they are attached to people - their garments, ID cards, money, keys and other possessions. These tags can be read without the owner's permission and without their knowledge. Tags attached to - or owned - by people should have some sort of 'opt out' capability. With garments and other products that are purchased, the is a simple solution. The tags should be clearly identified and consumers should be able to remove them. Manufacturers and vendors should certify that products are tag-free when these tags are removed.
With ID cards, loyalty cards and money, I don't know of any elegant solution yet. I don't think these items should be tagged until we find a solution that protects consumer privacy and allows consumers to opt out. If enterprises and governments continue to move forward with tagging these items before a solution is found, this will only legitimize silly solutions like jammers and blocker tags.
Now the second comment. To fully understand that RFID has big advantages over barcodes and magnetic stripes, you have to look at tags that are much more powerful than ePC Class 1. Today, ISO-standardized tags are available for under US$1.00 that include significant read/write memory and light weight security and authentication. For under US$5.00, you can get heavy weight encryption and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). When these features along with environmental sensors and back end data infrastructure are included, the revolutionary advantages of RFID can be better seen.
These are the early days for RFID. It is crucial to solve consumer privacy issues before trying (and inevitably failing) to force adoption. Also, understanding the full capabilities that will emerge over the next 3 - 5 years will expand the attractiveness of deployment with a wide variety of benefits.
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