Vendors Say RFID Doesn't Compromise Privacy

"In comments to the San Francisco Public Library regarding RFID (radio frequency identification) checkout system, Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) commented, 'a 'mandatory kill' policy is the only measure that would allow RFIDs to be used by the library internally, while giving the public the necessary time to consider whether and to what extent they want RFIDs to proliferate.' RFID vendors, however, say that's what's happening. Scott Hackstadt, director of technology, Vernon Library Supplies, said that the only information on the RFID chip is the barcode number of the item and sorting information: 'We have an on-off bit on the tag. If it's been turned off, it can go through the gate. When it's gone, there's no mechanism for the tag to be read when it's out of the building.' " [Library Journal]

I don't blindly believe these claims because I don't work with RFID and can't test them for myself and, well, they're vendor claims. However, I think it's safe to say that of all of the various organizations implementing RFID, libraries are being the most careful and thoughtful about privacy concerns. Hopefully SFPL will continue releasing specific information to address this issue. Has anyone seen confirmations from other libraries that have implemented RFID systems?