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GCN Home > 04/02/07 issue

Robert Cresanti | RFID the world over

Interview with Robert Cresanti, Commerce Department undersecretary for technology

By Drew Robb, Special to GCN

When Robert Cresanti, Commerce Department undersecretary for technology, visited the annual CeBIT computer show in Hanover, Germany, this year to discuss technology policy with his European Union counterparts, radio frequency identification was at the top of his agenda. A year earlier at CeBIT, Viviane Reding, the European Information Society and Media commissioner, had announced a Europe-wide review of RFID tags. Many people anticipated the review would prompt EU legislation that could potentially restrain RFID development and deployment. This year, Reding announced the results of her study, which included a proposal to address privacy and security concerns while holding off on any RFID legislation. Against that background, Cresanti arrived at CeBIT unsure of what to expect but ready to speak up at the Reding press conference if the outcome didn’t forward U.S. interests. GCN spoke with him at CeBIT about these and other issues pertinent to U.S. information technology concerns.

GCN: How satisfied were you with the EU’s announced stance on RFID?
Cresanti: We were afraid the EU would mandate RFID legislation and would perhaps fail to understand where the technology was going. Instead, they took a step in the direction of monitoring the technology to prevent consumer harm. This is a reasonable and rational perspective. A cautious approach to this area of technology is appropriate.

The big victory is no legislation. It is best if technology is driven by market forces rather than regulation. That’s how we prefer to do it—assess first and regulate later.

GCN: Why is Commerce giving RFID so much emphasis?
Cresanti: This is a major international commerce issue. If we don’t get it right, it could put all kinds of kinks in the system that would seriously hamper trade.

GCN: Does this announcement mean that EU and the U.S. are now on the same page?
Cresanti: EU and the United States are still far apart, particularly in the area of radio spectrum. This may well be insurmountable, as it is probably impossible now to have us, Europe, Russia, China and other nations alter their existing spectrum systems.

GCN: How could the spectrum problem be resolved?
Cresanti: RFID cards will need at least two antennas—one each for USA and EU. But then you have entirely different frequencies used in Russia and Asia. The problem is that as you add more and more antennas to deal with regional variations, you add cost to the RFID tag itself.

More news on related topics: Mobile & Wireless, Authentication / Identity Management, Homeland Security, IT Management



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