Hi

Alok Jha, science correspondent

Friday February 6, 2004

The Guardian

The use of "spy chips" offers long-term benefits to consumers but the technology has to be introduced responsibly, says the National Consumer Council.
The tiny devices, officially known as radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, can be embedded in products and send signals to scanners, and have been hailed as a breakthrough by retailers. Civil liberty groups, however, say they give companies a dangerous tool that could be used to invade privacy.

The National Consumer Council (NCC), which called a summit of retailers, technology companies and consumer groups yesterday to discuss the technology, said potential benefits included increased security for bank notes; tagging patients in hospitals to help eliminate errors and assisting people with sight problems to navigate.

Susanne Lace, senior policy officer at the council, said the debate about the adoption and development of RFID technology was too polarised.

"We're concerned that consumers' views are not being taken into account," she said.

The technology uses tiny chips, which can be as small as a grain of dust, to communicate with detectors up to six metres (20ft) away. The chips can return a range of information from unique serial numbers to more complex product details.

Retailers say they could eventually replace barcodes. Conventional optical scanners require a barcode to be held a few centimetres from the scanner: with RFID, a scanner can simultaneously read multiple tags from a distance and at speed, allowing regular updating of stock information. Marks & Spencer is one of several stores testing the use of the tags.

But there are concerns they could be used as covert surveillance devices. Anyone with a detector could read any active chip in the vicinity, raising the possibility of embedded tags in clothing triggering customised adverts on nearby billboards, or allowing people to be tracked as they move.

Barry Hugill of the civil rights group Liberty said he was concerned about "function creep". "We want clear legal guidelines as to what information companies, government agencies, local authorities are allowed to glean [and] what they can do with it," he said.

Bongme

I don't want to be microciped