Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

According to Wikipedia, radio frequency identification (RFID) is a method of remotely storing and retrieving data using devices called RFID tags/transponders. A RFID tag is a small object, such as an adhesive sticker, that can be attached to or incorporated into a product. RFID tags contain antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from a RFID transceiver.

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Articles and Reports:

Can RFID Invade Your Privacy? by Robert Malone, Forbes, December 7, 2006
RFID tags are now making their appearances as far afield as groceries and appliance stores, even passports. Some states are taking this incursion as a serious threat to privacy.

Army Locates Medical Files Using RFID by Bob Brewin, Federal Computer Week, July 31, 2006
The Defense Department has an ongoing project to provide electronic health records (EHRs) to 9.2 million active-duty and retired personnel, and the RFID pilot test at Ft. Hood is a bridge between paper records and an all-electronic system.

Insurers Study Implanting RFID Chips in Patients by ML Baker, eWeek, July 19, 2006
Hackensack University Medical Center and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey are recruiting volunteers with chronic conditions who are more likely to need care in hospital emergency rooms to have an RFID device implanted under the skin. Horizon will then assess whether the devices lower health care costs by reducing duplicate lab tests, drug interactions or misdiagnoses.

Use of Implanted Patient-Data Chips Stirs Debate on Medicine vs. Privacy by Rob Stein, Washington Post, March 15, 2006
Some doctors are welcoming the technology as an exciting innovation that will speed care and prevent errors. But the concept alarms privacy advocates. They worry the devices could make it easier for unauthorized snoops to invade medical records.

Large Healthcare Organizations are Embracing RFID, November 22, 2005
Large healthcare organizations are moving ahead faster and with bigger RFID deployments than the industry overall, according to a new study by BearingPoint, Inc., a leading global management and technology consulting firm, and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology. However, industry-wide spending on RFID is poised to dramatically increase beginning in 2007, driven by senior executives who view the technology as critical to helping achieve their organizations’ business goals, especially improved patient safety.

Study: Providers Not Passive about RFID, August 17, 2005, Mobile Health Data
A new study by Spyglass Consulting Group, Menlo Park, CA, found that fewer than 23% of radio frequency identification systems implemented by healthcare provider organizations use "passive technology." The "Healthcare Without Bonds: Trends in RFID" study found that many healthcare organizations instead are investing in active RFID technology. In an active RFID application, signals are continuously transmitted between transponders and transceivers, which can be installed much like the access points of a Wi-Fi network.

Chip Implants: Better Care or Privacy Scare? by Daniel DeNoon, WebMD Medical News, July 27, 2005
The core ethical issue is privacy concerns: the fear that you will be penalized if the wrong people -- your boss, your insurer, maybe police agencies -- get information about you. But it is not clear right now how the chip technology puts that in peril.

Technology Prevented Infant Abduction, VeriChip Says, South Florida Business Journal, July 18, 2005
VeriChip Corp. has said its infant protection system prevented a baby from being abducted from Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, NC. The subsidiary of Delray Beach-based Applied Digital said its "Hugs" radio frequency identification system went into alarm mode July 15, when someone removed the infant from the hospital's seventh-floor nursery.

Calif. RFID Bill Is Unconstitutional by Daniel W. Perry, RFID Journal, July 18, 2005
California Senate Bill 682, the Identity Information Protection Act of 2005, is one of the first state legislative proposals directed at regulating RFID. Several of its provisions are unconstitutional and likely to be invalidated by the courts.

Experts Say Public is Afraid of RFID by Dibya Sarkar, Federal Computer Week, July 14, 2005
Government and industry officials need to do a better job educating the public about the benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to allay privacy fears, a panel of experts said today at a forum sponsored by a high-tech trade association. The experts said officials must to a better job of securing data collected with RFID devices. They also must make privacy part of the process when developing emerging technologies or finding new uses.

An RFID Code of Conduct by Lisa J. Sotto, RFID Journal, May 30, 2005
Existing laws protect the privacy of patients' medical information. But an additional layer of protection is needed before RFID technology becomes accepted in the healthcare arena.