[spectre] (fwd) European Commission's RFID public consultation

[Andreas Broeckmann]

[it would be great if some of the critical artistic research that is 
being done in this field would be fed back into the political debate; 
-ab]



Hi all,

just a short note to tell you that the European Commission is holding a
public RFID consultation on its website after previous Workshops on the
issue in May and June.

So who ever feels like commenting on RFID policy is welcome to do so under:
http://www.rfidconsultation.eu/
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=RFID

Greetings,
Christine


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The Information Society and Media Directorate General is consulting
stakeholders on their opinions on development and deployment of Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, and on possible ways to
stimulate its use while mitigating its potential negative impacts on
privacy and health.
A public debate on RFID was launched on 9 March 2006 by Mrs Viviane
Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, at the
CeBIT fair in Hannover. "Developments around RFID, Commissioner Viviane
Reding said, open the door to a new wave of productivity gains across a
wide range of sectors. Remember that productivity is the engine of
economic growth and job creation. (...) We must also make some decisions
of principle on the security and privacy issues associated with
widespead government and commercial use of RFID technology. The time for
action is now. (...) I will not see the liberty of citizens and their
fundamental rights being compromised".
Between March and June 2006 five workshops took place in Brussels to
discuss and build consensus on the main issues, challenges and
opportunities related to the use of RFID. These workshops addressed the
research and technological development requirements and options, the
growing use of RFID in commercial and governmental applications, the
legal and societal issues related to security and privacy protection,
the standardisation, interoperability and governance issues, and the
current and future frequency spectrum requirements.
The present consultation seeks feedback from all stakeholders involved
in the development and deployment of RFID technology as well as from
consumer and civil liberty organisations that feel concerned by the
potential societal implications of RFID use in situations where personal
data processing is involved.
Should you wish, you are invited before replying to read the supporting
background document called "Your voice on RFID" which provides a summary
of the views and conclusions that emerged from the workshops and which
may provide useful guidance on the concepts and vocabulary relevant to
the field.
The creation of a conducive and stable policy environment for the
implementation and use of RFID calls for a wide consensus among experts
on certain complex technical issues such as standards and
interoperability, the read range designed into a particular RFID system,
frequency allocation, privacy and security, counterfeiting prevention,
and the integration of RFID with other technologies. It is imperative to
understand the technology, its full potential and the related business
requirements in order to appreciate its policy implications. Please note
that peculiar issues related to RFID technology such as, for example,
its possible health effects or the governance of identities across the
associated decentralised and distributed databases, can be addressed by
respondents, should they have an opinion and wish to express it, in
question 38. But besides getting the knowledgeable opinion from the key
stakeholders in the field, the European Commission is also keen to
consult all interested citizens on issues that are primarily a matter of
personal opinion and choice. In this respect, compulsory questions are
mainly intended to elicit the general public's views with respect to not
purely technical problems whereas optional questions are primarily set
to collect the views from RFID specialists.
On the basis of the replies, the European Commission intends to prepare
a Communication to European Parliament and Council, which will cover all
the aspects referred to in the questionnaire.
The consultation will be open until 17 September 2006.
If you wish to consult the information available on the workshops and
the roadmap concerning the consultation initiative on RFID, and/or to
submit further comments or evidence, outside this consultation, please
feel free to do so at: http://www.rfidconsultation.eu
Thank you for your valuable contribution.
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