B ROADBAND AND INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
U BIQUITOUS NETWORK SOCIETIES
The dawn of a new era?
I magine a future in which not only
people, but also things, are con-
nected and contactable. This is far
This is the vision of communications
“anywhere, anytime, by anyone and
anything”.
to how regulators, policy-makers,
operators, technologists, journalists
and individual citizens should respond
from science fiction — the day may It is often argued that the beginning to the challenges raised by the increas-
come when virtually every item (from of a new technological development ingly pervasive, ubiquitous nature of
remote controls to razors) will be is the right time to consider its effects, information and communication tech-
tracked using tiny radio transmitters, social and otherwise. New technolo- nologies (ICT).
or tagged with embedded hyperlinks. gies ought to be studied early in this The workshop was the fifteenth in
The term “ubiquitous computing” context, both in national and inter- the series of expert meetings con-
was coined in 1991 by the late com- ducted under the ITU’s New Initia-
puter scientist, Mark Weiser. He had tives Programme. Some 40 experts
this vision of a world in which tech- participated in the event, represent-
nologies “weave themselves into the ing a range of regulatory and policy-
fabric of everyday life until they are making agencies, mobile operators,
indistinguishable from it”. Early signs service providers, academic institu-
of how such pervasive technologies tions, futurologists, private firms, and
might impact society can already be others. Those present at the meet-
gleaned from the use of mobile ing participated in an individual capac-
phones today, widely celebrated for ity. Professor Robin Mansell, who
their “ubiquity” and pervasiveness. holds the Dixons Chair in New Me-
The notion of “ubiquitous commu- dia and the Internet at the London
nications” has been receiving increas- School of Economics and Political
ing attention over the last two or Science, chaired the meeting.*
Siemens
three years. No one can deny that
technology has already permeated * Three background papers were pre-
most aspects of human life. Mobile pared for discussion at the workshop:
The day may not be far off when “Ubiquitous Network Societies: Their
phones and the Internet—the biggest impact on the telecommunication indus-
it will be possible to control all
success stories our industry has ever try” written by Professor Elgar Fleisch,
home communications and auto-
seen—are only the beginning. The mation systems by using a single University of St-Gallen (Switzerland)
next stage in “always-on” communi- “Ubiquitous Network Societies: The case
wearable device that recognizes
cations seems to be the appearance of RFID” written by Lara Srivastava (SPU/
voice commands... ITU) “Privacy and Ubiquitous Network
of new ubiquitous technologies and
Societies written by Gordon Gow, Lon-
networks, such as radio frequency national forums. In this regard, the don School of Economics and Political
identification (RFID), that promise a workshop on “Ubiquitous Network Science. All workshop documents, in-
world of networked and intercon- Societies”, hosted by ITU in Geneva cluding country-specific case studies on
nected devices providing relevant from 6 to 8 April 2005, was an impor- Italy, Singapore, Japan and the Republic
content and information to users tant international forum to exchange of Korea are available at www.itu.int/
ubiquitous.
whose location is no longer restricted. information and provide guidance as
ITU News 4/2005 11
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RFID chips Japan defines the ubiquitous net-
made of plastic. work society as one in which there
These “intelligent is “anywhere and anytime access for
tags” should anyone and anything”. Since 2003,
eventually make the Ministry of Internal Affairs and
it possible Communication (MIC) has been
to differentiate working with industry and academia
between to stimulate the development of
individual ubiquitous networks in three areas:
Siemens product items next-generation networks, universal
communication, and safety and se-
curity. A Charter of the “Ubiquitous
Network Society” has been pro-
According to the workshop, posed to balance technology and
the term “ubiquitous network societal interests.
societies” captures the conver- Singapore has long been a leader
gence between a number of in the field of e-government and has
technological fields as well as pioneered the use of ubiquitous
their implications for the eco- technologies in fields such as traffic
Siemens
nomic, political and social aspects management and library automation.
of society. Key trigger points in RFID chips have been used in road
making this possible might in- pricing since 1998, and there is 100
clude RFID chips available at less than means the only technology develop- per cent penetration of vehicles in the
USD 0.05, mobile phones at USD ment of concern to ubiquitous net- country. Singapore’s current strategy
20 and computers at USD 200. work societies, at present the best de- is built around its aim to become the
However, the business case for veloped is RFID (both passive and “Next Generation I-Hub”, with the
implementing longer-term visions of active). Many other technologies, vision of creating a secure, ultra high-
ubiquitous network societies remains such as near field communications speed network to drive next-genera-
unproven. In addition to the difficul- (NFC), sensors and Zigbee are com- tion connectivity.
ties of reaching the price points at ing to market and will likely play a
which widespread hardware diffusion major role in future developments. Smarter homes, smarter
becomes possible, there is the prob- people?
lem of keeping usage or subscription Country case studies The Republic of Korea can be
charges at a sufficiently high level to Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea seen as a laboratory of the future, as
maintain incentives for investment and Singapore were selected for case it holds a leadership position in both
without deterring usage. Other diffi- studies, as early adopters of third- broadband and 3G mobile. This has
cult challenges include simplifying the generation (3G) mobile and ubiqui- resulted, inter alia, from a unique
inherent complexity of ubiquitous tous technologies in their regions. public/private consensus-making
networks; interpreting issues of liabil- While much activity, particularly in process, which has shaped govern-
ity and ensuring interconnection; and Europe and the United States, has ment policy for promoting Korea’s
countering any tendency towards concentrated on RFID technologies position in the information society.
monopoly provision by fostering in the context of product manage- One recent element of this has been
competition between networks that ment or a replacement for universal the IT839 strategy, which highlights
offer multi-purpose functionality. product codes (the familiar bar codes), new growth engines for a ubiquitous
Broad definitions of ubiquitous net- the Asia-Pacific vision of “ubiquitous” ICT environment.
work societies encompass a wide is much broader. A glimpse of what a An important market segment
variety of information and communi- future ubiquitous networking environ- emerging in technology-savvy envi-
cation technologies, while more nar- ment might look like is the communi- ronments in the country is the use of
rower definitions focus more directly cations environment portrayed in the RFID and other wireless sensor and
on developments in RFID and sen- film “Minority Report” (albeit a some- communication technologies (e.g.
sor technologies. Although, by no what negative one). Zigbee) for consumer applications
12 ITU News 4/2005
T HE DAWN OF A NEW ERA ?
such as smart houses and smart cit-
ies. There is significant interest in in-
troducing RFID functionality in the Watch this RFID: a step towards technological
construction of new urban land- ubiquity
scapes and in consumer appliances.
In March 2004, the Korean Govern- Radio frequency tags in smart watches remind people that
ment opened a museum in Seoul, they may have forgotten something
“Ubiquitous Dream” that includes a A working prototype of what might be
mock up of a “smart home”. The called a “smart watch system” has
design includes a networked refrig- been developed by a University of
erator that initiates the automatic re- Washington computer scientist, in col-
ordering of food items, contactless laboration with Intel. The watch is an
security systems and wireless sensors intelligent, integrated, and responsive
(e.g. for lights), and smart laundry system, capable of prompting users
machines (that determine treatment who leave the house or workplace
required for different fabrics). without essential items, such as keys,
If homes seem to be getting smarter, wallets and glasses.
so too are people, with the help of The wristwatch acts as an interface
portable smart devices. An example and is driven by a small personal server,
of this is the “smart watch system” that easily carried in the pocket, which
helps people remember to take their could eventually be integrated with the wristwatch itself. Important items
essential items with them when leav- in the household are embedded with RFID tags, and readers are in-
ing the house, or a public place (see stalled in various locations, for example, home, car or office. When the
box Watch this RFID). wristwatch passes a reader, the information is sent to a personal server
that checks whether all critical (tagged) items are present. In the future,
What migration path? wireless location systems may also determine the location of the user
For some experts at the workshop, (whether they are arriving or leaving), and use this information for
the migration path to ubiquitous net- decision-making.
work societies is incremental, with Source: EurekAlert, 6 October 2004, http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/
capabilities such as self-adaptive or uow-awt100604.php
context-aware operation of devices
being added slowly to today’s prod-
that: “While it may be tempting to
ucts and services. For others, the mi- tercommunication. But we should
focus only on the wonders of the
gration path is longer-term, disruptive ask ourselves whether social practices
new technology, we must also ac-
and potentially requiring huge invest- are developing hand-in-hand with
ment in infrastructure and applica-knowledge the need for consumer technological development, and
tions. For instance, some argue that
safeguards. It will be important to what policies may be required to dis-
using RFIDs effectively in inventory
consider, for instance, how long serv- courage the growth of any undesir-
management will require a complete ice providers should retain informa- able side-effects, such as a loss of pri-
rethink of existing management sys-tion about users’ calls, messages and vacy, or a sense of technological al-
tems rather than an incremental location. And while tiny radio tags ienation”, Mr Utsumi also said.
adoption of the technology within may be helping retail businesses track In many ways, this workshop has
existing supply chains. Others stress
inventory, it is crucial to discuss prepared the ground for the World
the importance of differentiating be-
whether these will continue to be Summit on the Information Society’s
tween today’s RFID applications active after purchase and if so, what Thematic Meeting: “Towards the re-
and future nano-scale or sensor- kind of information will be collected alization of a ubiquitous network so-
enabled radio technologies. and how it will be distributed.” ciety”. This meeting will be organized
The development of social norms jointly by the Japanese Government,
A word of caution is yet another sphere that demands ITU and the United Nations Univer-
At the workshop, ITU Secretary- attention. “ICTs are meant to save us sity and will be held in Tokyo on 16
General, Yoshio Utsumi, underlined time and to promote and facilitate in- and 17 May 2005. "
ITU News 4/2005 13
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ITU 050024/photos.com
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
T hough not a new concept, radio
frequency identification is being
seen as an enabler of the “Internet of
environment, thereby creating truly
intelligent and ambient network
spaces.
In North America, the biggest re-
gional player in RFID today, there are
standards such as Global Tag (GTAG),
things”. RFID enables the automated However, the absence of new in- American National Standard Insti-
collection of product, time, place and ternational standards is hindering the tute’s “NCITS-T6 256-1999”. In the
transaction information. An RFID sys- uptake of RFID-based applications. Asia-Pacific region, China has an-
tem consists of two main compo- nounced that it will develop its own
nents: a transponder to carry data (e.g. national standard for RFID in the 900
a tag), which is located on the object MHz band. If it works in collabora-
to be identified and an interrogator (or tion with international organizations,
reader) to read the transmitted data this bodes well for the take-up of
(e.g. on a device that is handheld or RFID in the country. The European
embedded in a wall). Many readers case is more complex, because there
are fitted with an additional interface is less uniform use of frequencies.
(i.e., middleware) to enable them to Data formats for RFID tags, or elec-
forward the data received to another tronic product codes, on the other
system, such as a personal computer hand, have benefited from interna-
or robot control system. Most tags are tional collaboration through organi-
no bigger than a grain of sand (see zations such as Auto-ID Centre, now
photo), and are typically encapsulated EPCGlobal, and Ubiquitous ID Cen-
inside a glass or plastic module. tre. For example, the main focus of
Siemens
Though there are early examples the EPCGlobal is the standardization
of ubiquitous technologies and their of the data format embedded in the
applications, such as the mobile An RFID tag RFID tag or label.
phone, the vision of access “anytime, Continuing fragmentation in stand- The potential benefits of RFID appli-
anywhere, by anyone and anything” ards setting in this area may mean that cations range from better and more
is still limited by the inability to col- organizations will incur higher costs efficient medical care to increased con-
lect raw data about where things are to ensure compatibility with multiple venience at points of sale, improved
located and changes in their status. systems. Participants in the ITU fraud prevention, and streamlined
RFID promises a shift in the comput- workshop on “Ubiquitous Network business processes (in particular, in
ing paradigm such that in the future, Societies” in April 2005 called for supply-chain management applica-
not only people and their communi- concerted efforts to encourage glo- tions). Near-term growth in RFID use
cation devices will be connected to bal harmonization of RFID standards will continue to be driven by business
global networks, but also a large and their interoperability to stimulate applications with consumer applica-
number of inanimate objects from smooth and rapid technological tions growing in the mid- to long-term.
tyres to razor-blades. RFID applica- growth in the field. This holds true The firm Frost and Sullivan predicts
tions will enable the automatic and particularly for the harmonization of revenue growth of USD 11.7 billion
autonomous collection of data about frequency use and communication for RFID systems by 2010 from its
all the things we see and use in our protocols which vary across regions. estimates of USD 1.7 billion in 2003.
14 ITU News 4/2005
R ADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION
Table 1: RFID in the ultra high frequency (UHF) bands
Current status
Frequency band Details
433.5 – 434.5 MHz ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) band implemented in Europe, and under consideration,
by Japan and the Republic of Korea.
In April 2004, FCC released rules increasing the maximum signal level permitted for RFID
systems operating in the 433.5–434.5 MHz band, following pressure from shipping companies.
865 – 868 MHz ETSI 302–208 regulations provides for additional frequency range, increasing spectrum bands
from 250 kHz to 3MHz. Under old regulations, the readers were restricted to half a watt of
effective radiated power (ERP), but the new regulations allow them to emit up to 2 watts ERP
between 865.6 and 867.6 MHz.
869.4 – 869.65 MHz There is a very small 250 kHz unlicensed spectrum allocation in Europe that could be used for
.
RFID and other applications, at up to 0.5 watts ERP This has been used, per performance is
limited.
902 – 928 MHz This is an unlicensed band available for use in North America by systems deploying spread
spectrum transmission. This band would be shared with other non-RFID applications, such as
some wireless LAN systems.
918 – 926 MHz This is the Australian spectrum allocation for RFID, up to 1 watt ERP.
950 – 956 MHz Japan has set aside this band for RFID applications (regulations not yet finalized).
2.4 GHz (Microwave) Unlicensed ISM band that is available in most regions in the world, by systems deploying spread
spectrum transmission. This band is also used by Bluetooth systems and Wireless LAN systems
(e.g. IEEE 8092.11b and 802.11g). FCC rules define operation within the bands 2.4–2.48 GHz
and 5.72–5.85 GHz (the super high frequency band).
Source: Adapted from Auto-ID Centre, 2004. RFID Journal (9 November 2004).
RFID and spectrum issues applications due to the greater range work for disaster prevention. But
Although spectrum use varies de- for transmission of data. They are also now, the Ministry of Internal Affairs
pending on national regulation, gov- widely used for toll collection systems and Communications (MIC) has
ernments around the world have on highways, manufacturing applica- opened up the 950–956 MHz band
been trying to harmonize frequency tions, and parking lot access control. for RFID trials.
allocation for RFID. In most regions The use of RFID in the UHF band UHF is critical to the widespread
of the world, RFID systems can be is not harmonized across regions. Dif- adoption of RFID because it is in this
used in the low frequency (LF) typi- ferences in UHF operations stem frequency band that the extended
cally between 125–134 MHz, high , from the allowance of power levels, read range needed to track goods
frequency (HF) in the 13.56 MHz communication speed, and shared in a supply chain setting is possible.
band and ultra high frequency, or UHF frequency bands. The United States Governments and international or-
(see Table 1). and Canada typically use 915 MHz, ganizations are aiming to minimize
Typical LF applications include ac- whereas Europe uses 868 MHz. For- differences between regions, and to
cess control, animal tracking, vehicle tunately, though, most UHF RFID ensure that sufficient spectrum is avail-
immobilization, healthcare, authen- tags can function in both bands, with able for RFID applications. "
tication and point-of-sale applications. a slight hit on performance.
HF applications include smart cards In Japan, RFID tracking using UHF
and shelves for item-level tracking, tags was resisted for a number of
Source for the articles on pages 14–18:
library tracking, patient monitoring, years, as relevant parts of the spec- “Ubiquitous Network Societies —The case
product authentication and the track- trum had been allocated for mobile of RFID” (see www.itu.int/ubiquitous/Pa-
ing of airline baggage. UHF bands are phones, taxi and truck communication pers/RFID%20background%20paper.pdf).
highly suited to supply chain RFID systems, and a public wireless net-
ITU News 4/2005 15
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ITU 050025/photos.com
RFID applications
Science fiction or fact?
S ome of the applications described
in this article may seem far-
fetched, but the line between science
Radio that cab fare
Taxis, mobile phones and
RFID in Tokyo
that 30 per cent of drugs in the devel-
oping world and 6 to 10 per cent in
the developed world are counterfeit.
fiction and fact is blurring. Though in- In Tokyo, taxi drivers are being paid By using RFID tags on bottles of
dividual consumers may not always be via RFID and mobile phones. Japan- medication destined for pharmacies
aware of it, they have been exposed based credit card company JCB Inter- and drug stores, the pharmaceutical
to RFID in action: on toll roads, in of- national started a trial of the payment industry hopes to better detect coun-
fices, theme parks and libraries. From system (QUICPay or “Quick and Use- terfeit drugs. In July 2004, a group of
sports events to retail shopping, small ful IC Payment”) in November 2004. pharmaceutical manufacturers in the
RFID tags are increasingly being used. United States announced that they
Bio-medical applications too include were working with distributors and
RFIDs that contain identity informa- retailers on an experiment dubbed
tion and which can be implanted or “Project Jumpstart” to attach RFID
injected into the body. Pharmaceuti- tags to individual bottles of drugs.
cal companies are beginning to use In addition to tracking fake drugs,
RFID tags on bottles to fight counter- tagged bottles can serve to prevent
feiting and theft of their drugs. theft, as well as to manage recalled
Selected taxi drivers were given RFID and outdated medication. It is esti-
Transportation readers, which can read a passenger’s mated that inventory worth USD 40
Public transport, toll collection and mobile phone chip and deduct the billion is lost or stolen somewhere
contactless payment cards are some requisite amount. All mobile phones along the pharmaceutical supply chain
of the RFID applications that are gain- used in the trial had to be compatible every year.
ing momentum. RFID was first de- with NTT DoCoMo’s mobile wallet As pharmacies receive medication
ployed for collecting fares on toll high- handsets. These are equipped with through specific distribution centres,
ways. Electronic fare management the FeliCa chip from Sony, which uses bottles would be tagged reflecting
systems using RFID have been fairly near field communication (NFC) pas- their point of origin. Alarms could
successful in facilitating travel for com- sive RFID technology. — Japan Cor- thus be raised when an incomplete
muters. Typically, such systems use porate News and RFID Journal, Oc- or inaccurate set of locations were
contactless smart cards, which last for tober 2004. found on a tag.
about 10 years and are not easily The Food and Drug Administration
damaged by liquid, dust or tempera- RFID to combat issued a report in early 2004 recom-
ture fluctuations. In Europe, the Pa- counterfeit drugs mending that pharma-
risian mass transit authority, RATP , The sale of counterfeit drugs is said ceutical companies use
one of the most advanced networks to be plaguing the drug industry—and RFID on bottles of the
in the world, uses RFID-based auto- driving it to adopt item-level use of most commonly coun-
mated fare collection technology. The radio-frequency identification tech- terfeited drugs starting in
mass transit system in Seattle (United nology. RFID chips are being used to 2006 and on bottles of
States) uses an RFID contactless distinguish legitimate pharmaceuticals most drugs by 2007. —
smart card for fare collection. from counterfeit ones. It is estimated InformationWeek of 26 July 2004.
16 ITU News 4/2005
RFID APPLICATIONS
Security and access begun using RFID readers and tags
control for tracking inventory.
RFID technology is being used to When the Legoland amusement
control access to restricted areas, and park in Billund opened in March 2004,
to enhance security in laboratories, it launched a child-tracking system
Euroquest
schools and airports. Many employee based on RFID and wireless local area
identification cards already use RFID networks (LAN).
technology to allow staff to enter and
exit office buildings. For example, the Vatican Library deploys RFID
security programme of the Canadian RFID was chosen due to its low cost
Air Transport Authority (CATSA) uses and for the fact that it did not damage
smart cards equipped with RFID first the collection, which includes ancient
deployed in March 2004. These manuscripts and the oldest known
contactless cards and readers offer complete version of the Bible. —
physical access control enhanced by CNN.Com, 14 October 2004.
biometric authentication to restricted In the Netherlands, publishing com-
areas. panies like NBD Biblion, which sells
The Rikkyo Primary School in Tokyo 2.7 million books to Dutch libraries
(Japan) carried out a trial of active RFID annually (80 per cent of the national
tags in September 2004 in order to market), began tagging all of its books
monitor the comings and goings of its Parents can choose to rent RFID- in September 2004. In Tokyo, the
students in real-time. The system enabled wristbands from the park’s Roppongi Hills Library has been tag-
records the exact time a student en- administration for the purpose of ging its books since 2003.
ters or leaves the campus, and restricts keeping a tab on their children’s
entry to school grounds. Since the tags whereabouts. RFID and the mobile
can be read by scanners from a dis- Parents and guardians wishing to phone
tance of up to 10 metres, students do locate separated or missing children Mobile phones can serve as an im-
not have to stop at designated check- can use their mobile phones to send portant platform for users to commu-
points. Some schools in North a text message to an application nicate with smart objects and open up
America too have gone down this known as “kidspotter”. The applica- possibilities for location-based serv-
path. One example is the Enterprise tion then returns a text message stat- ices. In March 2004, Nokia intro-
Charter School in Buffalo (New York), ing the details of the child’s last loca- duced the “Nokia RFID Kit”, a GSM
which deployed an RFID smart label tion in the park. — Network World, phone with RFID reading capability for
system from Texas Instruments in 3 May 2004, Vol. 21, Issue 18. supply-chain applications. Within a
2003. The system, in addition to con- couple of years, the handset manu-
trolling access to the school campus, Tagging the ancient… facturer intends to give consumers the
is also being used to identify and se- and new ability to use their mobile phones to
cure assets such as library books and Libraries are opting for RFID tech- access data rich in information about
laptop computers. nology to automate the loan and re- consumer products sold in retail
turn of their materials. These were stores. Nokia is developing the RFID
Personal safety: RFID traditionally identified using bar code consumer phone jointly with Verisign.
helps parents keep a tab labels that had to be read individually
on their children with bar code readers. With RFID, Sports and leisure
As tags are location-sensitive, pub- libraries can check in and out materi- High-speed RFID
lic leisure parks such as Legoland in als using scanners (placed on shelves Tracking runners
Denmark are using RFID technology or in hand-held devices). in marathons
to attract families concerned for the The Vatican Library, containing a Marathon organizers in such cities as
personal safety of their children and 40-million piece collection of books Boston, London, New York, Berlin,
elderly relatives. Large shopping malls and manuscripts, began deploying Los Angeles and Capetown are
and department stores may not be RFID in 2003. About 30 000 books bringing high-tech communications
far behind, particularly as many have had been tagged as of October 2004. to participants as they run the course.
ITU News 4/2005 17
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For example, all of the official entrants It also stores credit data, so author-
in the 2004 Boston Marathon were ized VIPs may purchase drinks and
issued with the “ChampionChip”, a food by a simple wave of their
small token that is tied onto the run- “chipped” arm. About the size of a
ner’s shoe. As a runner crosses sta- grain of rice, each Verichip RFID de-
tionary mats located throughout the vice contains a unique verification
race, his/her time is recorded. number, allowing access to a data-
The chips contain RFID tags that base containig information on a VIP
transmit the runner’s time at the patron.
checkpoints to databases operated How does VeriChip work? It is im-
by the Boston Athletic Association planted just under the skin (typically
and its technology partners (Hewlett- in the upper arm) via a syringe. It can
Packard and Verizon Wireless). then be scanned when necessary with
In April 2004, when some 33 000
runners competed in the London
gates equipped with readers can de-
tect a valid ski-pass and open auto-
matically, resulting in shorter queues
for skiers. The credit-card sized
RFID-enabled ski-pass can also be
used to locate skiers (in cases of in-
jury) or children.
" McDonald’s has chosen to
provide a wireless credit card system
using RFID technology to make their
fast food even faster. Customers
marathon, their positions could be need simply wave
tracked and recorded by electronic their “Mastercard
tags attached to their shoes. Friends PayPass” card near a
and family of competitors were able “VeriFone” RFID
to follow their progress by signing up card reader. The de-
to a short message service (SMS) that vice then automatically interprets the
sends the positions of athletes as they wave, charging the amount of the or- a “Verichip” RFID scanner. A small
make their way around the course. der to the customer’s MasterCard ac- amount of radio frequency energy
Special mats were positioned every count. — San Jose Business Journal. passes from the scanner, energizing
5km along the marathon course. the dormant chip, which then emits
When an athlete ran over the mat, Implantable chips a radio frequency signal. The signal
their time and position was sent to RFID has its privileges transmits the individual’s unique per-
an Oracle database. Running over for VIP patrons sonal verification ID number and pro-
special mats with receivers would The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona vides instant access to the Global
send a message to those who signed has introduced RFID chips for their Subscriber Registry. This is done via
up to receive the alerts. — ITU VIP patrons. An RFID implant (made secure, password-protected Internet
Internet Reports 2004: The Portable by Applied Digital Solutions and access. Once the registry confirms
Internet (www.itu.int/portableinternet). known as the “VeriChip”) injected via the data, the appropriate benefits
" In Switzerland, RFID is used syringe allows club-goers to breeze become available to the VIPs.
widely in ski-passes to provide access past readers that instantly identify The United States Food and Drug
control and an easy mechanism for them and their VIP status. The chip Administration has approved the use
payment. Hands-free access systems contains information about access of VeriChip in hospitals. — ITU
using RFID for ski lifts have been in use status and can open exclusive areas Internet Reports 2004: The Portable
for some time now. Remote-operated of the club for the “chipped” patrons. Internet (www.itu.int/portableinternet).
18 ITU News 4/2005
C HALLENGES
Challenges
The privacy paradox American Civil Liberties Union) led by to secure the data on the tag before
Will society be under more CASPIAN (Consumers against Super- introducing RFID chips in passports.
surveillance? market Privacy Invasion and Number- The “privacy paradox” associated
Privacy is a central issue in the ubiq- ing) released a “Position statement on with ubiquitous network societies in-
uitous computing vision and has been the use of RFID on consumer prod- volves three co-dependent domains:
identified as such from its earliest in- ucts”. The statement called for a full the technical domain (e.g. encryption
ception. Many in the research and assessment to be conducted on the and spyware), the regulatory domain
development community clearly rec- impact of RFID technology. (e.g. rules on disclosure and retention
ognize the inherent challenge that The BBC News technology website of personal data) and the sociological
networked devices hold for current recently reported on a consumer domain (e.g. blurring boundaries be-
social norms and values concerning study indicating that a majority of peo- tween public and private spaces). In
privacy and surveillance. ple in the United Kingdom have seri- the sociological domain, privacy is-
ous privacy concerns related to RFID sues are evaluated as they relate to
Data protection tags, believing that these tags can be social systems and norms and, in this
and consumer privacy read from a distance and thereby ex- respect, education and awareness
A number of consumers and pri- posing them to unwanted surveillance. about the concept of privacy are im-
vacy advocates have voiced concern But despite the privacy concerns, portant starting points, according to
over the growing adoption of serv- many of those responding to the sur- the ITU workshop held in April 2005
ices based on radio frequency iden- vey also recognized that RFID tagging on “Ubiquitous Network Societies”.
tification (RFID) technology. Given could provide real benefits in the form Participants in the workshop raised
the capacity of RFID to track things of, lower retail costs, convenience, specific challenges related to privacy
and people, and to record a wide ar- and crime detection. in ubiquitous network societies such
ray of information, consumer advo- In some countries, RFID chips in ID as authentication mechanisms (e.g.
cates remain concerned about the cards and passports have been pro- forgotten passwords or stolen identi-
potential risks RFID poses to indi- posed as a way of improving security ties), individual profiling (i.e. prediction
vidual freedoms and privacy protec- and streamlining procedures at air- or categorization of human behav-
tion. RFID critics argue that stores, ports. Human rights advocates are iour), and unsolicited and fraudulent
corporations and governments could particularly concerned that biometric communication (e.g. spam, spim and
eventually use RFID to spy on indi- passports will facilitate global surveil- phishing). Other concerns included
viduals by accessing information on lance and lead to misuse or abuse of surveillance, retention of data, and
tags embedded in their clothing or information. For example, how much security.
other personal items. of the identifying information will The workshop recalled that privacy
In November 2003, a coalition of RFID chips contain, and will that data is widely recognized as a shared set
advocacy groups (e.g. the Electronic be secure from hackers? This is a of common values, and in many coun-
Privacy Information Centre, the Elec- public policy question, and some gov- tries it is recognized as a human right.
tronic Frontier Foundation, the ernments are now looking at ways Privacy is also an important business
ITU News 4/2005 19
U BIQUITOUS NETWORK SOCIETIES
consideration, especially as consumer Ubiquitous technologies promise to mobility), as well as enhancements to
demand and the building of consumer be engines for economic growth, today’s 3G systems.
confidence are pivotal to any business which is one reason that so many op- A market analysis of future service
case for ubiquitous network applica- erators and firms are targeting this requirements is being undertaken in
tions. In this respect, fears related to area. However, for traditional opera- order to develop recommendations
the social impact of new technologi- tors there is also the threat of canni- for the next world radiocommunica-
cal developments are important balisation of existing revenue streams. tion conference. For RFID applica-
considerations for the mass take-up There are continuing tensions be- tions, various spectrum allocations
of ubiquitous network technologies tween the economics of Internet Pro- and power limitations have been
and applications. tocol and Time Division Multiplexing agreed in different regions — for in-
At the same time, the workshop (TDM) networks that will need to be stance, 902–928 MHz, 2.4 watts of
suggested that the notion of individual addressed, together with issues of bill- effective radiated power (ERP) in the
privacy is not absolute and that pro- ing, quality of service, and network United States but 868–870 MHz, 0.5
tections must be balanced against security. For instance, self-adaptive watt ERP in Europe. This is hindering
collective interests in economic telephones will tend to reduce the the further development of global
growth, business and social develop- price paid for calls without necessarily RFID applications and future decisions
ment, and the public interest. Resolv- increasing their duration or number. will have an impact on the structure
ing these issues will have a fundamen- Advanced wireless technologies and competitiveness of emerging
tal impact on the trust and confidence (such as Wi-MAX, Wi-Fi or the markets.
that consumers and citizens place in Republic of Korea’s WiBro standard) New spectrum requirements for
ubiquitous network societies. were also seen to complement and ubiquitous network societies are also
In the specific context of data pro- build on current third generation posing challenges for traditional com-
tection, the workshop concluded that mobile technologies. mand and control or administrative
it will be necessary to elaborate solu- The introduction of “always-on” spectrum allocation techniques. Some
tions based on shared principles in pricing models will provide a signifi- countries have already adopted mar-
response to new challenges presented cant improvement over traditional ket-based mechanisms for spectrum
by ubiquitous networks and the use per-minute charging schemes. In the allocation (including spectrum trad-
of sensors that otherwise might re- Republic of Korea, two out of the ing in some countries) while licence-
sult in surveillance. Solutions are likely three licensees for WiBro are fixed- exempt services like Wi-Fi are also
to entail the use of technology, regu- line operators (KT and Hanaro) that being deployed in a growing number
latory, administrative and financial see WiBro as a way of winning back of countries, creating demand for a
mechanisms and will need to cover traffic that has shifted to their mobile larger spectrum “commons”. Some
data collection, retention and security competitors. services (for instance, public protec-
issues. tion disaster relief) still require global
Implications for government harmonization. Different mechanisms
Challenges for the tele- policy and regulation for spectrum management will most
communication industry The different types of service under- likely coexist in ubiquitous network
The ubiquitous nature of informa- lying ubiquitous network societies societies, and it will be important to
tion and communications will have a each have difficult spectrum require- consider whether allocation should
significant impact on the telecommu- ments that are difficult to foresee, but be done on an application-specific
nication landscape and current busi- certainly substantial. There also are basis or on a technology neutral one.
ness practices. The hope for the tele- issues around who should bear the Government policy and regulatory
communication vendors and service risk and costs associated with changes issues are important considerations as
providers is that ubiquitous commu- in spectrum management approaches ubiquitous network societies emerge.
nication will create new revenue and allocation decisions. Within ITU, In some economies, there is a shift
streams, in particular, from machine- Working Party 8F of the Radiocom- in focus from “e” to “u”-strategies,
to-machine communications and item- munication Sector (ITU–R) is work- to reconsidering the treatment of
level tagging. Operators are expect- ing on the spectrum requirements of universal service and the ubiquity of
ing greater revenue growth from data services beyond IMT-2000 (3G), with access for potentially excluded
services than from voice services, on a typical radio interface of 100–1000 groups, including the elderly, and,
both fixed and mobile networks. Mbit/s (depending on the level of potentially, to discussing new codes
20 ITU News 4/2005
C HALLENGES
transparent, and to develop ways of Although the benefits of supply-chain
fostering trust and minimizing risk. automation for workforce-saving may
The real (or perceived) social con- not be as significant in developing
sequences that may result from the economies, the potential gains in
global and pervasive use of ubiqui- terms of reduction of inventory losses,
tous technologies (such as RFID) will traceability of origin and improve-
need to be considered along with the ments in timeliness of delivery will
economic, organizational and politi- provide benefits. As in the case of the
cal considerations, possibly in the industrialized economies, there are
context of multi-disciplinary global issues of security, spam and privacy
forums. intrusion which may be more severe
One important consideration in any in developing economies and need to
assessment of these technological de- be taken into consideration, together
velopments and their policy and with issues of public and private sec-
regulatory implications (as well as the tor sources of investment.
Siemens
likelihood of compliance with legisla-
tive measures) is the extent to which Opportunities for inter-
people will remain a systemic weak- national collaboration
of social conduct. In addition, the ness in ubiquitous network societies. The development of ubiquitous,
roles of the public and private sec- Decisions with respect to the liabilitynext-generation networks will re-
tors in encouraging the spread of the assigned to various human actors quire international coordination in
new technologies will continue to within these societies will play an many different areas including stand-
need to be reviewed to ensure an important role in whether policy and ardization, both of technical interfaces
appropriate balance in their respec- regulatory goals can be met. and product codes, frequency allo-
tive contributions. Another consideration is the devel- cation and allocation of IPv6 ad-
opment of a better understanding of dresses. As one participant in the
The interplay between the user motivations that shape de- workshop observed, “it is difficult to
technological ubiquity, human mand for new applications and serv- speak about the future, especially
behaviour and socialization ices and of the socio-economic fac- during a technological revolution”.
No technology can develop without However, it is clear that consideration
tors that influence them. In particular,
an effect upon society and vice versa. there is a need for ongoing discussion must be given to what a standards de-
The mobile phone, as an early exam- of the distinctive social, cultural andvelopment organization in the 21st
ple of a ubiquitous technology, pro- other values that will become embed- century would be like and to the pri-
vides an interesting case study. Mobile ded in the architecture of ubiquitous orities that should be given to global
communication, in particular, among network societies and whether these harmonization in certain areas. This
young people, has been accompanied are consistent with agreed values and will require continuous institutional
by changes in social values and norms. ethical norms. evolution and, perhaps new types of
For young people, mobile phones are mechanisms, with broader member-
regarded more as personal gadgets Shaping ubiquity ship that could handle the many dif-
than as communication devices: they in the developing world ferent coordination requirements,
serve as fashion statements, as a link One of the major factors influencing while remaining flexible, responsive
to their peer groups and often as a developing economy firms to adopt and cost-effective.
means of gaining independence from ubiquitous technologies is the need to
parental control. The mobile phone meet requirements for participation in Sources: “Privacy and Ubiquitous
of the future may change radically, per- global supply chains including the re- Network societies,” “Ubiquitous Net-
haps by being integrated into users’ quirements of their clients in the in- work Societies: The case of Radio Fre-
glasses or clothes (“invisible mobile”), dustrialized countries. For instance, quency Identification,” and extracts
from the Chairman’s reports from the
accompanied by further changes in the retailer WalMart, which sources workshop on “Ubiquitous Network
social practices. There is a need to many of its products from China, is Societies”, held in Geneva from 6 to 8
manage increasing complexity, to en- progressively requiring the use of April 2005 (see www.itu.int/ubiquitous).
sure that functionality for users is RFID tags throughout its supply chain.
ITU News 4/2005 21