HID, Indala parent company ASSA ABLOY ITG releases pioneering “privacy principles”
01 November, 2005
category: Contactless, Library
One of the leading suppliers of security technology, ASSA ABLOY Identification Technology Group (ITG) has taken a proactive step to protect the privacy of a worldwide community of RFID end users. In September the company published its “corporate principles and practices” regarding RFID and privacy.
Assa Abloy ITG includes HID, Indala, OMNIKEY, Sokymat, Access ID, ACG, Synercard, Buga, and other leading organizations. President of HID and co-CEO of ITG, Denis Heber, said “we recognize that as our technology and the uses for it grow, the issue of privacy protection will become increasingly important for our customers and society at large.”
President of Indala, Marc Freundlich, suggested that the principles might extend beyond the ITG companies calling them, “substantial and meaningful steps we hope will become the industry standard.”
The following is a copy of the ITG Privacy Principles (numbers were added to aid in the reading of the document):
ITG supports the following business principles and practices in respect to its Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products and services, in all cases consistent with applicable laws. ITG encourages buyers of our products and services to support the following fair information practices:
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We support industry best practices through self-regulation, certifications, and other methods for protecting the security of personally identifiable information and other private data, and we believe that these practices should be auditable and enforceable.
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We support the implementation of security for personally identifiable user information with protection that is proportional to threats to that data.
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We recommend that any personal data stored on our products be subject to review by the user upon request. Personally identifiable information associated with a unique identifier on our products should be subject to reasonable fair information practices.
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We do not intend for our products to be used for sharing any personally identifiable information, whether collected on or linked to the tag with other parties, unless there is the clear consent of the user.
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We consider responsible use of our products to include only the collection of necessary personally identifiable information.
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We do not support the use of ITG products or services for the purpose of tracking any person without their knowledge and consent.
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We recommend that people be made aware of and consent to the use of an RFID tag on any product or personal effect, its purpose and use, including any data stored on that tag or any change in the intended purpose or use.
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Finally, ITG will provide upon request consumer education for users to make informed, intelligent decisions about the use of our products.
“RFID & Privacy in the Information Age” meeting planned
HID Corporation is sponsoring a “RFID & Privacy in the Information Age” forum on December 1, 2005 that brings the RFID industry together to discuss applications of the technology and how it relates to privacy policy issues. While details were still being worked out at the time this issue went to press, a company spokesperson said the goal was to invite RFID companies, government entities, legislators, end users and vendors to raise awareness about RFID technology and to discuss ways to ensure the continued responsible use of RFID in the public sector. The invitation-only summit is expected to be in held in Sacramento.