On RFID: The next step to The Internet of Things
Viviane RedingCommissioner for Information Society and Media |
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At the beginning of this year, the cumulative number of RFID tags sold exceeded 4 billion – one-quarter of that number had been sold in 2006 alone and about fift y percent over the past three years, showing the rapid growth of the market. The world-wide market for RFIDs is expected to increase by a factor of 6 over the next 10 years. These technologies are starting to be everywhere, touching all aspects of human life. It is time to start take serious public interest issues in respect of RFID use, such as privacy, information security, safety, and environmental sustainability.
Today RFID tags are standalone devices that can uniquely identify any object. Tomorrow these «electronic barcodes» will be networked through databases and communication infrastructures, such as the Internet. This will cause a quantum leap in the delivery of innovative services, bringing structural changes to many industries and markets. This leap forward heralds a new phase of the Information Society – the «Internet of Things» in which the web will not only link computers but potentially every object created by mankind.
I strongly believe that innovation is key to societal and economic development. But to bring ideas to reality we must extend our vision and work to progress in the right direction for society and citizens.
The RFID Conference under the German Presidency in June called for: «close cooperation with the Commission and the EU Member States (to) develop a common strategy for the broad implementation of RFID and for the outline of an Internet of Things.» This is a tremendous challenge. By the year 2020 there will be one billion computers, 5 billion users of mobile communication systems, ten billion appliances, one hundred billion sensors, and one billion billion electronic tags, most of them Internet-enabled. Getting it right means a huge economic potential. Getting it wrong would be catastrophic.
The public consultation which I launched last year revealed serious concerns that RFIDs endanger privacy through the collection of information directly or indirectly linked to individuals. Such data on passports or medical records or commercial transactions could be used to trace people’s movements or to profile people’s behaviour.
Policy makers have to respond to public concerns. So in March 2007, a Commission Communication proposed the basis for a stable and pro-innovation environment for RFID that also safeguards privacy, information security, health, and environmental issues.
This is an important moment. We will be judged by how well we stand by our citizens by providing safeguards for personal data, by how well we stand by our public and private organisations in managing the risks of RFID information, and how well we support industry to launch new services and markets.
It was stated in the Communication that the Commission would issue a Recommendation on the implementation of privacy and information security principles in RFID enabled applications. This Recommendation will be adopted in early 2008 and will give clear guidance on how the existing acquis should be applied to RFIDs.
In the coming months, we must decide on our approach at an international level.
Different countries on different tracks would provide low levels of protection and lead to increased market fragmentation. This is why at the outset of the consultation process I have advocated strongly to establish and nurture an international dialogue on all policy dimensions of RFID. The conclusions of the last EU-US Summit, and more specifically the creation of the Transatlantic Economic Council and its «lighthouse» priority projects, off ers us all an opportunity to make decisive progress on the global RFID agenda. We are also exploring the possibility to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with other countries, in particular in Asia.
The right approach is cooperation on R&D and on safe, secure, privacy-friendly and sustainable applications. Policy makers and industrialists must also work harder to explain not just the risks but also the benefits of RFID. We have to raise the level of the debate so that the public can make informed choices.
Let me conclude by underlining the significance of this conference in Lisbon, through which the Portuguese Presidency has contributed to an important European priority: boosting awareness of the RFID across the Member States. Integrated national approaches, speed of implementation and critical mass are all necessary for the successful launch of new RFID applications. Countries acting alone will deliver neither benefits, nor growth nor security.
Cooperation and interoperable solutions are essential and are the work of all of us.