Government [Korea] to tighten consumer privacy

[ConfuZed]

The government is drafting new guidelines that ban the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to collect and store information on consumer spending habits.

The Ministry of Information and Communication intends to announce the new guidelines tomorrow, during a public hearing to discuss the issue and ways to implement better privacy mechanisms.

RFID uses a microchip that sends radio waves containing product identification data to an electronic reader.

The technology is designed to improve efficiency in supply-chain management and inventory for companies in the manufacturing and retail sectors, while opening new market opportunities for electronic equipment and semiconductor industries.

Companies such as telecom operators and retailers are expected to be among the businesses most affected by the guidelines.

Electronic tags will be required to hung visibly from items and must be designed to be easily disabled by the consumer after the purchase...

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/05/24/200505240030.asp

[suffragette]

1. And U.S. goes in other direction

Good for Korea that they realize that many people are not comfortable with the privacy implications of of uncontrolled RFID use.

Target marketing via RFID to debut in Seattle
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;608893675;fp;16;fpid;0
Some cafes and retail stores in Seattle next week will begin individually marketing products and services to bypassers in Seattle using RFID (radio frequency identification) technology.

The first target group is visually and hearing-impaired individuals who can benefit from positioning and navigation applications added to the system.

Six wireless public areas, called activation fields, will go live next week throughout downtown Seattle and at the city's ferry terminal. Over a few months 15 more city areas will be added. Users carrying an active tag and entering the activation field are recognized as the tag is read, and then are presented with announcements.

Snip

Data about the customer can be mined and sold to the retailers, Donohue said. It can also be used to personalize marketing and map customer behavior.

This does sound like it has beneficial use to people with disabilities who choose to opt in and most of the article focused on that aspect. The paragraph about the data mining bothers me, both for the Minority Report like vision of using this technology and for possible ramifications once Real ID is implemented and RFID's are likely added to our driver's licenses and ID cards. Who will have the info and how will it be used?