American Libraries |
||
Site Navigation
Left Sidebar ItemsOnline Features
Follow American Libraries news stories, videos, and blog posts on Twitter.
|
||
California Bill Would Bar RFID Chips from Library CardsA bill that cleared the California Senate’s Judiciary Committee on April 26 would prohibit the inclusion of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in all state-issued identity documents, including library cards. The Identity Information Protection Act of 2005 would also ban the practice of skimming— the surreptitious use of an electronic reading device to collect RFID data from an unsuspecting person carrying an object with an embedded chip.The bill, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, is being considered as the U.S. State Department is gearing up to begin embedding RFID tags containing digitized photos into all U.S. passports. At its 2005 Midwinter Meeting, the American Library Association passed a resolution on RFID privacy principles that opposed the recording of personal information in the tags, while remaining open to the tags containing nonidentifiable transaction data, such as those being installed in the Berkeley (Calif.) Public Library collection. Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) introduced SB 682 in February after officials of the Brittan Elementary School in Sutter, California, tried to launch a plan to implant RFID tags into the photo ID cards of every student. Officials backed down after outraged parents protested and the plan made unflattering national headlines. “If you’ve got a discussion going on that reaches from neighborhood elementary schools to the U.S. Department of State, that suggests that it’s time to confront the position and try to put some thoughtful, rational policy in place,” Simitian said in the April 29 online Wired News. The bill allows exceptions, such as in the use of inmate identity cards and devices worn by hospitalized children who are younger than 4 years old. Allowing that “RFID in itself is not a bad thing,” Nicole Ozer of the ACLU of Northern California told Wired, “Right now, there’s no mechanism, no control over the state deciding to adopt RFID without having staff think about why they need the technology.” Posted April 29, 2005. |
Right Sidebar
|
|
