IBM has developed RFID chips that can be separated from the anten...
IBM has developed RFID chips that can be separated from the antenna needed to transfer data stored on the chip, it said at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany. The “decapitated” chips would let customers control reading of the information stored…
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on the chip -- a feature demanded by data protection officials in various European countries as a safeguard against reading of the RFID tags without users’ consent or knowledge. IBM said it doesn’t produce chips itself but offers server solutions for RFID systems, and said companies could respond to data protection concerns by using the chips. The antennas of the proposed new RFID tags can be manipulated by cutting off the link between chip and antenna on the tag, by completely snapping the antenna at a perforated line or by taking away a foil that attaches it to the chip. Information on the chip wouldn’t be erased and could be reread through new antennas if it had to be restored, such as to prove there was still a warranty on the product. IBM has patent applications, but a company representative said it was prepared to give them up if EPCGlobal, the RFID industry standardization organization, accepts the proposals. Compared to the kill-command proposed by EPCGlobal to solve the privacy question, the proposals would make customer control more visible, they said. The price of the tags wouldn’t be higher than of ordinary tags and the chip information doesn’t have to be destroyed. The technology will be in use for expensive goods in 5 years, said IBM. The company this month opened a 15,000 square meter RFID test center in Dublin.