Philips adds 'off switch' to RFID tags

In response to privacy concerns over the use of radio frequency identity (RFID) technology, Philips will include a "kill command" in its chips

Christoph Duverne, vice president of marketing and sales at Philips Semiconductors' Identification group, said in engineering journal EETimes that the company will offer an option that allows its radio tags to be disabled when its use is no longer required.

Duverne said Philips is sensitive to privacy concerns stemming from the use of RFID technology, although he feels such worries are often misguided.

"This is not GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. The RFID tags alone can only store product information, not personal information," he was quoted as saying.

The use of radio tags, considered by many to be the future for inventory tracking, has sparked some consumer fury, while those in favour laud its superiority over bar codes.

With RFID chips, firms can have precise information about stock levels and inventory movement with the wave of a reader wand.

However, consumers fear the tags can also be used to monitor their whereabouts. In addition, RFID makes it technically possible for marketers to obtain invaluable information on a host of consumer preferences, ranging from the clothes they like to the food they prefer.

Earlier this year, US-based privacy group Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering lashed out at Benetton and called for a worldwide boycott soon after plans to use RFID tags were announced by the clothing maker.

Benetton has since clarified that the firm is merely evaluating radio tags, and has not firmed up plans for commercial deployment.

In a related announcement, Philips said a German supermarket chain has adopted its radio frequency tracking technology.

Metro Group opened a supermarket last Monday in Rheinberg, a city in Western Germany, to showcase emerging retail technologies. The shop uses Philips' RFID-enabled i.code chips.

In a report by the Associated Press, Metro said it will disable the tags after checkout. However, the tags are now being used mostly to replace bar codes on boxes and pallets - at $1 a tag, they cost too much to be used on lower-priced items.

Metro said it will wait till the price per tag comes down to about three US cents before considering using them on all items, said the report.

When that happens, customers will be able to scan in the items into a reader-equipped shopping cart, then pay the displayed total at the checkout.

Winston Chai writes for CNETAsia