Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Data Protection Legal Issues

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology uses radio waves to identify automatically, wirelessly, contact less and without visibility objects which, or people who have an RFID tag attached. It is being used in many sectors but raises data-protection concerns. The reasons for that are the worldwide unique identifier, the possibility of unnoticed remote reading, and the profiling through sporadic surveillance. For these reasons RFID-technology introduces new legal issues that have to be discussed: what is personal data, who is responsible for the data processing, whether the data-transmission is telecommunication, whether it presents a new way of direct marketing or if it constitutes an automatic decision.

In the early 1970s fears about loss of privacy and worries concerning data protection were focused on large, centrally held data-bases containing files about named or numbered individuals processed by huge computers situated in big rooms. As the Web, its attendant search engines and the inter-link ability of many databases in various networks have developed, the concept of “files” became trivial. Now the emerging RFID technology contributes to the realisation of the Ambient Intelligence Environment, where intelligent objects communicate with each other by exchanging information and taking decisions. That introduces us to the next step of the “Internet of the things”. Technology innovation and the impact of its usage stress a rethinking and re-examining of the traditional legal principles and legal instruments in the field of data protection.