by Adi Tedjasaputra

Smart Card vendors have realized that some negative perception against RFID technology is not good for them, especially when they are after various large contracts from governments around the world, supplying their Contactless Smart Card Chips for biometric passports and ID cards.

When a defensive approach to distinguish RFID from Contactless Smart Card does not seem to be enough, some Smart Card vendors have decided to invest in a Secure ID Coalition for promoting the smart card technology to achieve enhanced security for ID management systems while maintaining user privacy.

(update 31 May 2007: After the release of this article in 2006, the Smart Card Alliance has removed the article titled "RFID and Contactless Smart Card Technology: Comparing and Contrasting Applications and Capabilities" previously available on their website and also linked in this article . The new version of similar article titled RF-Enabled Applications and Technology: Comparing and Contrasting RFID and RF-Enabled Smart Cards is now available on their website instead.)

Their initiatives to avoid negative perception against smart card deserve an attention. However, there is also a need to set the record straight. Contactless Smart Card technology used for biometric passports and ID cards is RFID.

Contactless Smart Card Chip used in most biometric passports and ID cards is a passive 13.56 MHz RFID transponder incorporating a microcontroller conforming to ISO/IEC 14443 standard that allows for a read range of up to 10 cm, with a memory capacity of at least 32 Kilobytes and data transfer rate of 106 kbps or greater.

Some might argue that contactless smart card biometric passport and ID card applications require a higher degree protection for information privacy due to the sensitive information, compared to most RFID tags that only carry some product identification number. Nonetheless, the fact that they are all used for unique identification by means of radio waves implies that they are RFID.

There are various applications that use different types of RFID technology. It is understandable if the word RFID could trigger some allergic reactions in some people, given many hypes, devastating RFID image. For different reasons, some technology vendors are reluctant to use the word RFID for describing their products and services, eventhough what they actually sell is RFID. It is part of the current challenges and concerns faced by the RFID technology. There is a need to embrace and tackle the RFID challenges and concerns, but before assessing the challenges and concerns, it is essential to have a better understanding of RFID technology in the first place.


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Labels: card, privacy, rfid, security, tag, technology

 

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