Soctech seminar, Fall 2006
Fall 2006: RFID Technology: SLN 11977 CSE 590 M, Monday 12:30-1:20, CSE 303
(Law students should register for the graded CSE 590 X - sln 11981, everything else is identical)
The past few years have seen a great deal of hype, both positive and negative, over the transformative potential of radio frequency identification technology (RFID). The goal of this seminar is to explore the broader legal and sociopolitical implications of RFID, entering into a discussion on privacy, security, and surveillance that has a solid technical and legal basis.
Seminar organization
The seminar will be discussion-driven, each period led by a small group of seminar participants and/or including invited guest experts. We are also going to produce a seminar position paper that summarizes our thoughts on RFID and on the material we've covered. Our intent is to create a coherent and tangible to leave the academic community at large. The document will be collaboratively authored and all seminar participants will be required to contribute. That said, we intend this to be relatively low-investment spread over the course of the quarter.
Course Topics:
Week 00 - Oct 02 - Course Introduction
Talk about the course basics and expectations.
Week 01 - Oct 09 - Basic Description
The Magic of RFID,
Wikipedia on RFID,
RFID News,
RFID Blog
Week 02 - Oct 16 - Beyond the Basics
Near Field Communication, Battery free sensing (WISP), Interactions and Apps,
RFID Ecosystem
Week 03 - Oct 23 - So What's the Big Deal?
Privacy and RFID
Week 04 - Oct 30
Week 05 - Nov 06
Week 06 - Nov 13
Week 07 - Nov 20
Week 08 - Nov 27
Week 09 - Dec 04
Administrative info
Course grading and credit-load policies: Subject to change, but variable credits are available to meet differing levels of participation:
- Sign up for 1 credit if you plan to attend, do the readings, participate in discussions, and contribute to the wiki.
- Sign up for 2 credits if you wish to lead/organize a discussion OR contribute extensively to the wiki OR help organize the panel.
- Sign up for 3 credits if you wish to lead/organize a discussion, contribute extensively to the wiki, and help organize the panel (Note: you must contact the course organizers in advance if you plan to take this course for 3 credits.)
Miscellaneous
Research:
Applications:
- Government:
- Passports (trial programs in a few countries, e.g. US)
- Commercial:
- supply-side tracking of inventory (e.g. walmart)
- gathering more detailed information about consumers (increasing information asymmetry between sellers/buyers)
- enabling buyers to gather more information about products (decreasing above information asymmetry)
Security concerns:
- hacking Dutch RFID passports
- RFID viruses (many say the claims are exaggerated)
Privacy & Surveillance concerns:
- article expressing concern about being tracked everywhere...
- Anti-RFID site
(Proposed) laws:
- Wisconsin law bans forcible implanting of RFID tag
- (old) proposed legislation in California that would attempt to protect consumer privacy
Potential speakers:
- Gaetano Borriello Hardware
- Chris Diorio Hardware
- Magda Balazinska Databases
- Roy Want
A few companies...
