FTC to study RFID as use becomes more widespread
The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced plans to host a workshop next month that will study how the growing use of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) may impact consumer security and privacy.Expected to attend the free workshop are industry representatives, government officials and consumer advocates from the United States and Europe.
Participants will discuss the increased use of RFID technology in credit card purchases and transit systems and by retailers to tag merchandise.
The workshop comes at a time when RFID-related security research is intensifying. For example, at the recent Black Hat conference, researcher Nate Lawson detailed ways in which automatic toll-paying systems could be compromised.
And three MIT students were banned from presenting at the Defcon conference, where they planned to show how Boston's subway fare collection system could be exploited to get free rides.
The free workshop is scheduled for Sept. 23 at the FTC Conference Center in Washington, D.C. There will also be a live webcast of the event.
For more information, visit ftc.gov.
