BRANDING UNBOUND

Dairy Queen, Sheetz Sandwiches Offer RFID-Based Mobile Payment, But Will It 'Stick'?

A growing number of brands are offering RFID-based stickers and skins for cell phones so customers can pay for goods at the wave of their handset.

Dairy Queen uses such stickers to enable customers to redeem coupons, while Sheetz sandwiches uses a solution called a GO-Tag, that's linked to a pre-paid account.

But is this really a mobile solution, or just contactless payment? What really is the value add?

And why couldn't such stickers, and new wraps like those from Mobile Payment Skins, be applied to just about anything - your wallet, your car keys or even your forehead?

The Sheetz solution, at least, appears to be able to be applied to many different items, which can be used wherever Visa payWave is accepted. And for locations that don't accept contactless payments, the GO-Tag system appears to include a separate magnetic-strip Visa prepaid card.

While this model sounds good, but I hope we're not really looking at a situation where there's a different sticker for every individual retailer.

One case in point: In Southern California, a test of FastTrak badges (the badges placed on cars to pay for toll roads) found that people ordered more food at drive throughs when people could pay by FastTrak. Best of all, any retailer could enable transactions through this badge, which millions of californians use every day.

Key fobs is another model that seems to work well. Yes, the phone is convenient - we almost always have them with us. But the one thing we never leave home without, obviously, is our car/house keys, though many will argue for the mobile phone's pre-iminence.  More importantly, whatever the delivery model, it should standardized and work for all retailers, not just individual stores, if we really want it  to stick. 

Read more, here. 

And to learn more about the Burger King study, as well as many other forms of mobile commerce, pick up a copy of BRANDING UNBOUND the book today.

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California Bans Forced RFID Tagging; Forces Of Evil Lose A Battle

Katherine Albrecht must be sighing with relief just now. The Anti-Christ has been dealt an early blow.

Albrecht, one of the hands behind "Spy Chips," has been advocating the ban of RFID for some time. California has agreed with her view enough to join North Dakota in banning forced RFID implantation.

I'm not sure if this is a solution in search of a problem - other than the short while students at a school in Sutter California needed to wear RFID-enabled badgets - I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being forced to use an RFID chip, much less one implanted in their bodies - but it's a good preventative step.

"RFID technology is not in and of itself the issue. RFID is a minor miracle, with all sorts of good uses," Sen. Joe Simitian, a Palo Alto Democrat, said in a statement cited by Info Week. "But we shouldn't condone forced 'tagging' of humans. It's the ultimate invasion of privacy."

The VeriChip is an RFID for human implantation for medical reasons, and is purely optional. According to the pub, Simitian's proposals have drawn support from the American Civil Liberties Union, Gun Owners of California, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Citizens Against Government Waste, California State Parent Teacher Association, Republican Liberty Caucus, and the National Organization for Women. For her part, Albrecht is part of religious opposition to anything that could enable the Anti-Christ to track human beings through the "mark of the beast" foretold in the book of Revelation.

Overall, I'm not for forced anything, especially something that can track me. But that doesn't mean we won't all willingly subscribe to being tracked by Fast Pass and Easy Pass badgets, credit cards and any number of RFID-like technologies.

And I also hope the ban is for any kind of electronic tracking device or implement implanted into the body. RFID is no doubt a starter technology that will be replaced by more powerful solutions.

For more on the ban, click here.

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RFID Vendors Tell US Congress RFID-Based ID Cards Raise Security Risks

On the heels of my post on a European government study outlining the privacy riskks of RFID, industry vendors here in the US are telling Congress the same thing when it comes to new ID cards being proposed by the Department of Homeland Security.

"We have a situation where the government is issuing [identity] cards to themselves that are more secure than what they are about to issue to the citizens. There is something significantly wrong with the situation," said Neville Pattinson, vice president of government affairs and standards at Gemalto, a digital security company based in Amsterdam, in statements cited by RFID Journal.

Apparently the standard the DHS is currently looking at will be completely unencrypted and easily cloned.

The cards were conceived as a cheaper alternative to US passports for citizens who make frequent land border crossings.

Congress is mandating a delay of 18 months because of the "insecure technology choices."

Let's hope so.

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Government Task Force Exposes RFID Privacy Risks

Even as ABI Research reports today that RFID is moving beyond supply chain management, The European Parliament's technology assessment task force has just completed a study on the considerable threats to privacy posed by radio frequency identification technology.

According to Computer World, the study, titled "RFID and Identity Management in Everyday Life," finds that plans to embed RFID technology in customer loyalty cards, such as those used by Metro Group's Future Store project, could result in the disclosure of personal data of shoppers, or be used to track customer movements in a store.

Add that to things like public transport cards, the biometric passport, new micro-payment systems, and possible threats proliferate.

In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I look at Metro's Future Store, and discuss many of the privacy concerns represented by RFID and other technologies.

Some in the industry have called for a "kill switch" that consumers can use to turn off RFID tags on in-store items. I go call for "Activation switches" that make the default off, and leave it to the consumer to decide if he or she wants to turn on a tag.

More troubling are transport cards and passports, and even the FastPass and other toll booth systems used here in the US and abroad.

We are becoming a transparent society. But that shouldn't mean an intrusive one.

Read the Computer World piece, here.

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RFID Causing More Privacy Concerns

It seems like it's been a while since I last posted about all the controversies around RFID chips and the whole "SpyChips" hoopla. But now, Business 2.0 is raising the whole issue again.

More recently, I've talked about how Mini USA is using RFID in billboards to that recognize, and call out to, Mini drivers - by name - as they pass by. And there was the thing about an RFID-enabled refrigerator that'll send you an SMS when you're running low on milk and cookies.

In fact, it was as far back as December that I posted about the privacy issues supposedly generated by Nike's iPod Sports Kit - the RFID-based transmitter in which could, conceivably, be used by someone to track you while you run.

Last July, privacy advocates led by SpyChips authors Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre called for an RFID bill of rights for consumers - including laws that limit the use of RFID to applications that never touch the consumer without the consumer's consent. Which, really, should be the minimum threshold for any consumer electronic service, anyway.

But it's that whole tracking thing that Business 2.0 is what focusing on in a piece this month. Apparently, it costs about $20 bucks to put together a reader, which means those 3 billion credit cards Visa, MasterCard and American Express are trying to convert to RFID could be open to hacking. And the security software in both US and UK passports with RFID have already been hacked, according to the pub.

I haven't yet heard concerns around newer technologies like HP's Memory Spot, which could do some of the same things.

As I point out in BRANDING UNBOUND the book, if we can overcome - truly solve - all these privacy issues, technologies like RFID and Memory Spots and all their future permutations could one day move beyond mere inventory management to result in consumer product innovations such as frozen foods that tell the microwave oven how to cook them to perfection; clothes that tell the washing machine how to handle them; or medicines that warn users of dangerous interactions; and coffee that tells the machine how to brew up the best cup based on the amount and type of bean used.

But all of these possibilities will be pointless - if people feel like they can be used to track what you buy, where you buy it, and what you're doing with it - and where.

Read the Business 2.0 piece, here. And for a more in-depth look at the pros and cons of this and other potentially amazing technologies and their impact on the consumer marketplace, pick up a copy of BRANDING UNBOUND the book today.

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RFID: Billboards That Know Mini Drivers By Name

Is it creepy? Cool? Or both?

Mini USA is rolling out what it calls "talking billboards" - digital signs that scan for RFID tags in the key fobs of Mini drivers. "Mary, moving at the speed of justice," says one billboard, when Mary the lawyer drives past. "Mike, the special of the day is speed," the sign says to Mike the chef.

It's all part of a test campaign in New York, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco, according to today's New York Times.

Turns out Mini and its agency, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, mailed out invitations to 4,500 of the 150,000 Mini owners in the country, asking for personal information. Many of them enthusiastically signed up for signs that, in addition to tying messages to professions, affirm drivers' favorite things about their cars ("Turns are made to be carved.") or up-sell them on new features ("You've earned your spoiler.")

But aside from the up-selling, what's the point of spending oodles of cash saying hello to people who've already bought the product?

"Building evangelists is the holy grail of marketing for a number of industries," Michael Megalli, a partner with marketing firm Group 1066, tells the Journal. "This is interesting because the marketing is integrated into the product."

So is that RFID. Not that there's any useful information that can be hacked. It appears Mini used forms filled out by the drivers and just matched it to the key fob.

Which means it fits most folks' idea of "opt-in" advertising.

Still, as readers of BRANDING UNBOUND the book and blog know, the whole affair's going to create a mini controversy among certain privacy advocates.

Personally, I think the campaign sounds fine. Though I wish those billboards would offer all of us something we could use. Like traffic conditions up ahead. 

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Smart Refrigerator Uses RFID, SMS To Keep You Filling It

Samsung wants your fridge to SMS you.

All Headline News (by way of textually), reports that South Korea's Samsung Electronics is developing a new refrigerator equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that detects when its contents are running low, and mobile technology that sends you a shopping list via text message.

One feature I like: The  refrigerator can offer recipe ideas based on what food you've got on hand.

As readers of BRANDING UNBOUND the book and blog know, this is just the beginning. Soon, we'll see consumer product innovations like Marie Calendars frozen dinners that tell the microwave how to cook it to perfection; Gucci blouses that warn the washing machine: "Don't wash me, I'm dry clean only;" and coffee makers that brew up the best pot of coffee based on the type and amount of bean used.

Now if Samsung could just invent a grocery store that knows when I'm running low and automatically delivers what I need. (See the book for an RFID-enabled grocer that alrleady comes close.)

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Attention Tokyo Shoppers: Delivering Ads By RFID

Stores in Tokyo are beaming coupons, menus and special offers to passers-by in a new test of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project, set to launch in the chi-chi Ginza district next month, sends send messages to special handheld readers and cell phones.

As readers of BRANDING UNBOUND the book and blog know, RFID "smart tags" can be placed on items and respond to pings from readers. The result may one day be Marie Calendar frozen dinners that tell the microwave oven how to cook them to perfection; Gucci blouses that tell the washing machine "Don't wash me, I'm dry clean only;" and coffee machines that brew up the best cup of coffee possible given the type of bean used.

It has also led to various controversies about its use.

In addition to broadcasting offers, the technology in the Tokyo test will enable shoppers to access maps and tourist information in five languages.

"There has been a lot of interest from Ginza's stores," project official Hiroaki Hajota tells the AP. "In the future, we hope the system will be able to target specific types of users with tailored information."

Personally, I like the prospects of solutions like QR Codes, which enable retailers to simply use displays to interest consumers, enabling them to point their camera phones and press any button to access special offers at their initiative, when and – most importantly - if they want.

Still, a noteworthy experiment.

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RFID: Much Ado About Nike (+iPod)

The privacy concerns over the Nike+iPod Sports Kit are sure getting a lot of press.

For those in the know, the kit consists of a wireless sensor that fits into the new Nike+ Air Zoom shoes, with a small receiver that plugs into an iPod Nano. The iPod will then allow you to track things like time, distance, pace and calories burned, according to CNET.

The issue: The transmitter, which is RFID based, could, potentially be used to track you, at least according to some people. In fact, a team of researchers at the University of Washington claim they've built a surveillance device, which cost about $250, and mashed it with Google Maps.

I’m not completely sure how it would work, since RFID tags require a very short distance to be “read” by an interrogator. But nonetheless, the issue points to the potential pitfalls of RFID and other location-awareness technologies. The whole SpyChips thing and whatnot.

Truth is, the dangers are far overblown at this point. But that’s not to say there isn’t cause for concern as location-awareness technologies advance.

The are no doubt some folks who’d like to rechristen RFID as “Run For Your Identity.”

Thanks to products like Nike+iPod, some folks may think it won't help.

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An RFID Bill of Rights?

Privacy advocates and RFID opponents are calling for a consumer RFID bill of rights – including laws that limit the use of RFID to applications that will never touch the consumer without the consumer’s consent - according to Reed Business Information.

Not surprisingly, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion And Numbering (CASPIAN) is behind the effort. The organization’s leaders, Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, the co-authors of SpyChips: How Major Corporations And Government Plan To Track Your Every Move With RFID, are urging state legislatures to pass laws that would require consumers to opt-in to RFID-enabled product innovations such as frozen foods that tell the microwave how to cook them to perfection, or measure consumer interaction with products while still in the store.

Wisconsin in particular has been, shall we say, proactive in this area. Last May, the state became the first to make it a crime to require an individual to be implanted with an RFID tag or microchip that could be used to track their movements. Never mind that no company or government authority has ever proposed such a thing.

But all the paranoia aside, CASPIAN’s got a point. In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I look at some of the amazing possibilities for RFID – and CASPIAN’s concerns over how it might be misused by corporations or governments to monitor purchase behavior and even movement. The industry has called for "kill switches," which allow consumers to disable tags before they leave the store. I actually think, and I believe CASPIAN agrees, that "activation switches" are more in order – meaning that it should be up to the consumer to turn on capabilities before they’re enabled.

If RFID at the product level (I’m not talking about inventory tracking here) is so compelling, consumers should want to turn the chips on. If it’s not, then the industry has bigger problems than privacy advocates.

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