RFID in the new UC Merced Library

In February, the first version of a bill regulating RFID in California, Senate Bill 682, was introduced. See LibraryLaw's previous posting. The key issues identified by the Assembly were: 

          1) Should the government issue identification documents (IDs) that can broadcast personal information without implementing security protections to limit both the ID's ability to broadcast information and what information might be broadcast?
             
          2) Should the government prohibit the use of "contactless integrated circuit" technology (RFID) in widely-used government documents, at least until the current safety measures have been implemented?

The first version of Senate Bill 682 would have prohibited any school, including universities, from issuing students cards that use a contactless integrated circuit or other device that broadcasts personal information or enables personal information to be read remotely.  It also prohibited public libraries from issuing RFID library cards.  The ban would have been in place for three years.

The most recent amendment of the bill, on July 7, deleted all references to the University of California, California State universities, and community colleges. And today's San Francisco Daily Journal reports that the new UC Merced campus library will issue library cards with RFID technology to allow self-checkout of books.

Opponents of RFID technology are worried that anyone with a reader can activate the personal information on a card with RFID, lessening personal privacy and increasing the opportunities for identity theft. Proponents are sure that technology can fix the problems that technology creates. Students at UC Merced will be the guinea pigs.

Comments

[Dimi Yo]

I think barcode is simple to forge.

[Mary]

I just talked with Karen who explains that when a library card does not have the chip, the user places the library card in the machine, which scans the barcode and attaches the barcode number (i.e. the patron ID) to the books' RFID tags in the library's circulation database.

[Mary]

Hi Karen - could you explain to blog readers how an RFID reader could pick up a barcode on a library card that doesn't have an RFID chip? Thanks - Mary (and see you on Wednesday!)

[Karen Coyle]

RFID in the library cards themselves is not needed for self-checkout. As a matter of fact, when I visited every RFID system vendor at the ALA exhibits at the recent meeting, not one of them was proposing a system with RFID tags in the library cards themselves. Instead, the systems read the barcode off of the patron card, which is actually easier, technically, than reading the barcode off of the books themselves. I assume that vendors aren't designing systems for RFID'd library cards because the latter are expensive, and most libraries are already using cards with barcodes. Merced is starting anew, so they may be able to justify the cost of the cards. Note that the cards at Merced are not just library cards but the students' ID cards, that will be used for a variety of functions.

OK, so practical bits aside, it is very common in the state of California to pass laws that pertain to everyone in the state EXCEPT state agencies. It's an example of untramelled self-interest, and it undermines the whole idea of law-making. Sheeeesh!

kc