“Kill Bill”

Louis Parks discusses the Veto of California RFID Bill:

At the end of September, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed California Bill SB768 which would have introduced limited requirements for security when RFID technology was deployed in a state government setting.

Many herald this as a win for RFID and its use since it eliminates a few potential barriers to deployment. Most of the RFID players and their related action groups lobbied for this veto but it may come back to bite the industry in the end (yes, both meanings).

The public is already skeptical of new technologies like RFID and they are becoming more sensitized to “Privacy” by our media daily. The industry's efforts to fight the need to implement security will also likely be interpreted by the public as not having their best interest at heart. Think of it as joining “big oil” or “Washington lobbyist” – I removed the word “bad” that we all subconsciously insert into those titles when we read them.

There are both technologies and methods that can be deployed today to address security and privacy. The RFID industry needs to start thinking about getting out ahead of this issue and showing they are going to address the public’s concerns or the next bill, written under the growing wind of privacy fears, may be far more punitive and not as easily killed.