I’d intended to use this issue to kick off a discussion on identity and anonymity and explore why anonymity might be useful, if there could be truly anonymous transactions online, the context of anonymity, and so on. We will get to that real soon, but while I was researching anonymity a press release crossed my inbox that was, literally, breathtaking. And it would be to anyone who has followed the discussions of privacy, security and even anonymity over the past year or two.
The press release came from NCR and touted “RFID for branch banking”. The document opens with: “NCR Corporation…demonstrated how radio frequency identification (RFID) can be used to make branch banking a more personalized experience.”
Now you may remember the brouhaha that developed when the U.S. government announced RFID-enhanced passports last year (see this newsletter). The outcry over security and safety was strong enough to lead the government to change the design so that the RFID chip couldn’t be read without it directly contacting a reader. But NCR evidently learned nothing from that flap.
Far from requiring contact, the company proposes: “the RFID Branch Portal, an archway equipped with RFID readers that scan information from RFID microchips embedded in a bank card, cell phone or PDA.” Maybe even passports or other chip-embedded devices!
By using this portal: “a customer’s information could be sent electronically to the branch counter staff, branch manager or loans officer, alerting them that a special customer has just entered the branch.” Special? Why, yes. The press release goes on: “For example, information from the RFID-enabled bank card could allow counter staff to address the customer by name or provide ‘no-lineup’ service to special customers. Other examples might involve a branch manager using the alert signaled by the RFID card to remind customers that their term deposit is maturing shortly, and to give them an opportunity to discuss various reinvestment options during their in-branch visit. Or perhaps a customer’s pending car loan application has just been approved. The customer could be invited to complete the paperwork, on the spot.”
Of course, the technology could also help anyone interested in learning who were the “special customers” at a bank – the ones with high balances who might prove better candidates for robbery or kidnapping – or identity theft!
Now there may be some benighted folks out there who would consider this a modern, technological return to old-fashioned personal banking. Me, I just think it’s creepy.
Next week we’ll take up the anonymity issue.
Copyright © 2006 IDG Communications, Inc.