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San Francisco Board Adopts RFID TechnologySan Francisco Public Library commissioners approved a controversial plan May 6 to use microchip technology to track books and other materials. The tracking chips, known as radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs), have been criticized by privacy advocates as having the capacity to also track library patrons, their reading habits, and other personal information.Although the technology would not be fully implemented for another six years, the library is asking for $300,000 in the 2004–05 city budget to begin the process, the San Francisco Chronicle reported May 7. An additional $100,000 for startup comes from SFPL’s gift fund. City Librarian Susan Hildreth said the microchips would speed circulation procedures and cut down on repetitive stress injuries among staff, which have cost the library $265,000 in workers’ compensation claims over the past three years. “Part of the problem with the RFID chip is it remains active once a patron leaves the library,” American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Ann Brick said in the May 6 Chronicle, “and that leaves open the possibility that the chip can be used to track a person one way or the other.” David Molnar, a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley who has studied the devices, told the commission that a secure method for using them had not yet been developed. “Anyone can read these tags,” he said. “There is no way to stop it.” Commissioners pledged to work with the ACLU and other groups to ensure that the technology would be used cautiously. Public libraries in the Bay Area that already use RFID technology include Berkeley, Santa Clara, and San Mateo. Posted May 7, 2004. |
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