RFID Applications in E-Healthcare - E-Healthcare Systems and Wireless Communications - page 80

Privacy Threats within the
Tag-Reader System

to couple RFID technology with motion sensors
to monitor movement of arms and ammunition at
military depots and send out alarms if they were
moved without authorization.
Researchers also foresee that robots could be
equipped with RFID tags to enable them to do a
number of odd jobs like sorting through garbage
to locate items containing toxic materials.
As the RFID technology evolves and becomes
cheaper and more robust, it is likely that more
companies will be interested in this technology
and many new applications will be developed to
solve common and unique problems.

These threats are directly related to RFID and they
focus on the privacy implications of the tag-reader
system and the person can be easily tracked by
surveying the movement of the items for which
the tag data is known (Lieshout et al, 2007, p.124).

Privacy Threats at the Backend
of the RFID System

These threats are related to the use of data collected
by means of an RFID system where the data dis-
seminated by the tag-reader system may be col-
lected somewhere outside the RFID system like in
a database and are not uniquely determined by the
RFID system, but due to RFID, these threats may
be aggravated and have very specific dimensions.

Barriers against Adoption of RFID

Although scores of application have been imple-
mented in the field of RFID, the widespread
diffusion and maximum exploitation of this
promising technology can be possible only when
it overcomes the concerns (technical/privacy/se-
curity) that overshadow it at present. Researchers
believe that the limitations of the Radio Frequency
Identification technology will soon be overcome
and many specialists are already working towards
conquering these issues.

• Using data to aggregate personal in-

formation: With the help of data mining
techniques, it is possible to find correla-
tions between hitherto separated objects
and subjects, like for instance when two
individuals have similar travel plans and
spends time together during travels, it is
assumed that they somehow might be re-
lated to each other. Such information can
be enriched by verifying it with other col-
lected information from other sources and
the data can then be analyzed to deduct
social links between persons. Although
deducting social networks can help intelli-
gence agencies in tracking criminals, it still
remains a big privacy threat (Lieshout et
al., 2007, pp.124-125).

Privacy Aspects of RFID

RFID is a means of identification of products,
persons or services. In most cases, the RFID
tags are related to products, however a person
is correlated to the product by means of a token
or an index and then the identified information
becomes personal information (information/data
that enables identification of a person). Privacy
is viewed as an asset of RFID technology that
needs to be taken onboard and requires careful
consideration. In an RFID system, two direct
privacy threats are identified: one in relation to
the tag-reader system and the other in relation to
the information that is disseminated outside the
tag-reader system.

• Using data for purposes other than orig-

inally specified: Another threat is the use
of collected data for purposes other than
specified. RFID data may be collected for
a specific use, but may be used for another
purpose with the wrong intentions which