Humans and Emerging RFID Systems: Evaluating Data Protection Law on the User Scenario Basis

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology offers a lot of promises. To redeem them, RFID applications have to respect privacy and they need to be supported by the legal system. The article evaluates how the current EU directives on data protection support emerging applications that are based on RFID tags. The evaluation is based on user scenarios that illustrate human needs in relation to technologies and applications. The article continues earlier analyses and uses more realistic and state-of-the-art applications and scenarios. We conclude by pointing out further research needs in the field of RFID and data protection. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com] IntroductIon Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an important technology to enable the Internet of Things, ubiquitous computing (ubicomp), ambient intelligence (AmI), and other promising future platforms. In short, the main components of RFID technology are a tag and a reader. The tag has an electronic circuit storing data and an antenna to communicate using radio waves. The reader also has an antenna, and electronics to translate the incoming data to be processed by a computer. A reader may thus send a radio signal requesting tags to identify themselves, and tags reply by sending the information that is stored in them. The simplest and the most inexpensive RFID tags are called passive tags. They do not have any internal power supply. Enough power for the tag