The privacy issues of contactless smartcards

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has its roots in early military applications back in 1940s and is often referred to “Communication by Means of Reflected Power”. The portability of RFID sets its footprint in ubiquitous computing and its adoption in the business community in form of various services, for instance, contactless smartcard applications, become widespread. Privacy advocates raise concerns on the potential threats of the exploitation of personal data collected from smart card transactions leading to individual tracking. As a result, measurements for data privacy protection need to be observed in the regulations in response to social and technological changes.