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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Survey of RFID; present and future issues., July 24, 2006
This review is from: RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy (Hardcover)
This is a compilation of papers from numerous organisations with diverse opinions on how this technology will develop. RFID presents opportunities for great improvement in business efficiencies for corporations and better service for customers and consumers. The flip side is that RFID has the potential to negatively impact individual privacy more than most technologies.
What sets this book apart is that it covers both sides of the argument. The chapters authors represent most perspectives on this emerging technology:
- RFID Hardware and Software Vendors
- Organisations that have deployed RFID
- Privacy Advocates
The cases for and against RFID are both well made. RFID can make shopping easier, stock processing more efficient, speed up payment and aid loss prevention. An excellent example of where privacy concerns are outweighed by convenience is highway tolls.
At the same time, security flaws will likely become evident and individuals, organizations and governments could misuse the very same technology. RFID has the potential to be more invasive than video surveillance.
Papers within the book cover include current real world illustrations and how the technology may develop. Most importantly, this is the most comprehensive survey to date. If anyone can suggest a better one, please do write a review and refernce.
This is not a "how to" book. It does not delve into the technology or provide a detailed methodology. Given the diversity of perspectives and content it couldn't be.
This book is a must read if you want to be informed on a key emerging technology. The issues and rewards of RFID will increase as the processing power of RFID chips increase. Increase in processing power is nearly a given.
In isolation the individual papers (chapters) are good. But this is a clear instance of the the sum being greater than the parts. For my two cents, this book will have a long and useful shelf life.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
speculative deployments, June 28, 2006
This review is from: RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy (Hardcover)
The chapters are written by different authors, concerning various aspects about RFID. The topics give an idea of the scope of RFID deployment. None of the chapters would be considered technical. You are not required to be an electrical engineer to follow any chapter.
One chapter talks about inserting RFID tags into livestock. In part to combat the age old problem of rustling, which still exists. The chapter has an engagingly termed section "World Livestock Roundup", which showcases RFID in livestock in several countries. The deployment is quite advanced. Already, the EU and New Zealand mandate it for all livestock, and have done so for over 5 years. Given the cost of a cow or sheep, the tags are quite affordable. This chapter is significant. Unlike virtually the rest of the book, it demonstrates RFID as already existing in a mature deployment, and not as blue sky musings.
Other chapters are more speculative. In part because when the tags might be associated with or carried by people, serious issues of privacy arise. Some deployments are described under the rubric of enhancing child safety. But the extension to adults is highly contentious. Even more so when one considers not the carrying of a tag, but the insertion of a tag into a person's skin. In the US, we can readily envisage deep discontent over this, from libertarians to the religious right.
It turns out that many of the suggested difficulties are not primarily technical. Rather, they exist in the business or social realm, and may be harder to solve.
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9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of good stuff about RFID, August 31, 2005
This review is from: RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy (Hardcover)
First, you should know that I'm the editor of this book.
Second, there seems to be some confusion in the way that the publisher has positioned the information that the book contains. Although the idea for this book came about because of the 2003 RFID Security & Privacy workshop that I chaired at MIT, only three of the chapters in this book are based on papers that were presented at the workshop. The rest of this book is all new material that was specially written for this project.
In RFID: Applications, Security and Privacy, I've tried to bring together voices from across the RFID debate. In one volume we have chapters from manufacturers, users, critics, policy wonks, and even philosophers of natural science. That is truly an impressive accomplishment.
Yes, this book does not contain nuts-and-bolts information about technical RFID protocols and APIs. That's because the world of RFID is vast and is in flux right now. I and the rest of the authors believe that what's really needed now is information that paints the entire landscape, rather than focusing on the specific technical abilities of, say, the GEN2 tags.
But more than a good book about policy issues, this book is really a fun read. There's the privacy nightmare chapter. There's the chapter written by the student who built a prox card cloner. There's the chapter about implantable RFID chips. It's just a lot of fun. I'm the editor, yes, but as I read the final proofs before it when to the printer, I kept saying to myself over and over, "this is a great book! My gosh, this is really a great book."
And it is.
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