RFID: A Selective Bibliography
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Carol A. Roehrenbeck
Associate Dean for Information Services
RFID technology or radio frequency identification is a promising technology that relies on small electronic chips embedded in tags. The tags "listen" for a radio signal sent by a scanner or reader. Data stored on the chips are transmitted wirelessly and read by the scanner. While many people think of this as new technology, it has actually been around since World War II. Recently, however, it has gained in recognition by the public with its use in a variety of everyday items. Some experts say it will be more popular than cell phones in the future.
Today there are many popular examples of this technology. RFID tags are implanted in pets to help identify the owners when the animals are lost and added in clothing in retail stores to track items sold. The tags are also used to track livestock, to pay for gas, and to pay tolls. You may have used them to check out a book as many libraries, including the Seattle and Princeton public libraries, have stared to add them to items in their collections. Recently, a major credit card company announced that it was using the chips. Immediately thereafter a drug chain and a fast food chain announced that you could pay for their products by waving these RFID credit cards at a reader. You no longer need to sign a receipt when you buy your Big Mac. One RFID vendor received government approval to offer RFID chips that can be implanted in humans to store medical information to be read in case of an emergency. Finally, but by no means the last application of this technology, the State Department published the final regulations requiring all passports to carry these tags beginning in 2006.
RFID technology has many powerful benefits and uses but it also raises many issues. Some of the questions and concerns about RFID relate to interception, manipulation, privacy, security, theft of information and the potential to read the tags without the tag holder's knowledge. An informed policy is the best way to address these concerns, mitigate unintended consequences and reduce inappropriate use.
Below is a selective bibliography that includes materials that explain the technology and discuss the uses in general and in libraries in particular.
Bibliography
San Francisco Public Library, Radio Frequency Identification(RFID)Bibliography, Updated March 30, 2004. http://www.sfpl.org/news/releases/rfidbiblio.htm
Books
Katherine Albrecht, Spychips: how government and major corporations are tracking your every move (Nelson Current, 2005).
Balkovich, Edward, 9 to 5: do you know if your boss know where you are? : case studies of radio frequency identification usage in the workplace (Rand Corp., 2005).
Richard Boss, RFID technology for libraries (American Library Association, 2003).
Simon L. Garfinkel and Beth Rosenberg, RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy, (Addison-Wesley Professional, July 2005).
Articles
Lori Bowen Ayre, , Position Paper: RFID and Libraries, The Galecia Group, August 19, 2004. http://www.galecia.com/included/docs/position_rfid_permission.pdf
ALA, Resolution on Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) Technology and Privacy Principles. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementspolicies.htm#privacy
Richard, W.Boss, "RFID Technology", Public Library Association (PLA) Tech Notes. http://www.ala.org/ala/pla/plapubs/technotes/rfidtechnology.htm
Jerry Brito, Relax Don't Do It: Why Rfid Privacy Concerns are Exaggerated and Legislation is Premature, UCLA J. L. Tech. 5 (2004).
Bureau of National Affairs, BNA's Web Watch Radio Frequency Identification. http://www.bna.com/webwatch/rfid.htm
Eric Chabrow, and Larry Greenemeier, Real ID' Faces Reality, Information Week. http://www.rfidinsights.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=163102234
John C.Dvorak, RFID: Tagged, You're It! PCMAG.Com. Http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=154915,00.asp
John M. Eden, When Big Brother Privatizes: Commercial Surveillance, the Privacy Act of 1974, and the Future of RFID, 2005 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 20.
Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Privacy risks of radio frequency identification "tagging" of library books: Comments to the San Francisco Library Commission." October 1, 2003. http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/RFID/20031002_sfpl_comments.php
EPCglobal Inc. Home Page. http://www.epcglobalinc.org
*Simon L. Garfinkel, RFID Privacy: An Overview of Problems and Proposed Solutions. Permission to reproduce pending.
Simon L.Garfinkel, The Trouble with RFID, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040216/garfinkel
GAO, Report: Radio Frequency Identification Technology in the Federal Government. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05551.pdf
N. Good, J. Han, E. Miles, D. Molnar, D. Mulligan, L. Quilter, J. Urban, and D. Wagner, Radio Frequency Id and Privacy with Information Goods. (Short Paper) in WPES 2004. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~dmolnar/papers/papers.html
INFORMATION SECURITY: Radio Frequency Identification Technology in the Federal Government, GAO Highlights. http://www.gaogov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-551
Japan Gets Digital Ticket System, RFID J., (Aug. 21, 2002). http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleprint/57/-1/1/
Oleg Kobelev, Big Brother on a Tiny Chip: Ushering in the Age of Global Surveillance Through the Use of Radio Frequency Identification Technology and the Need for Legislative Response, 6 N.C. J.L. & Tech. 325 (Spring, 2005).
A. Juels, D. Molnar, and D. Wagner, Security and Privacy Issues in E-Passports. IEEE SecureComm 2005. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~dmolnar/papers/papers.html
*David Molnar and David Wagner, Privacy and Security in Library RFID Issues, Practices and Architectures. CCS'04, October 25-29, 2004, Washington, D.C. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~dmolnar/library.pdf
*Peter, G. Neumann, DHS-Relevant RFID-Related Risks. http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann/dhs-rfid.pdf
National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council, RFID: Government Decision Makers Guide to RFID. http://www.ec3.org
RDIF Update. http://www.rfidupdate.com/
RFID Journal, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Technology News & Features. http://www.fridjournal.com
The ROI of Privacy Invasion, RFID Connections, January 2004. http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/resources/articles/jan04/0401-roispy.htm
Karen, G.Schneider, RFID and Libraries: Both Sides of the Chip, California Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ifissues/rfidbothsideschip.pdf
Kim, Zetter, RFID: to Tag or Not to Tag. Wired News http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68271,00.html?tw=st
Kim Zetter, School RFID Plan Gets an F, Wired News. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,66554,00.html?tw=wn_story_mailer
Regulations
Electronic Passport, 70 Fed. Reg. 61553-61555(Oct. 25, 2005) (to be codified at 22 C.F.R. pt. 51). http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-21284.htm
Hearings
RFID Technology: What the Future Holds for Commerce, Security, and the Consumer: Hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, 108th Cong. 2nd Sess. (July 14, 2004).RFID Technology: What the Future Holds for Commerce, Security, and the Consumer: Hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, 108th Cong. 2nd Sess. (July 14, 2004).
Regulations
Electronic Passport, 70 Fed. Reg. 61553-61555(Oct. 25, 2005) (to be codified at 22 C.F.R. pt. 51). http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-21284.htm
Videorecording
RFID in libraries (Library Video Network, 2004).
*Articles recommended by Lee Tien, Esq., Electronic Frontier Foundation and speaker.