Update: Benetton details decision on ID clothing tags

Computerworld - Philips Electronics NV in Amsterdam jumped the gun when it issued a statement last month saying that fashion retailer Benetton Group SpA planned to use "smart tags" in its Sisley line of clothing to help track shipping, inventory and sales in the company's 5,000 stores worldwide.
Benetton spokesman Federico Sartor said today that Terry Phipps, consulting CIO at Ponzano Veneto, Italy-based Benetton, misspoke in comments included in the Philips announcement.
"This release was not done by Benetton," Sartor said.
Philips had said that the tags would use its I.Code semiconductor technology and would be integrated into clothing labels made by Lab ID in Bologna, Italy, and scanned by handheld devices made by Psion Teklogix Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario (see story).
At the time, Phipps told Computerworld that it was the first time the company planned to integrate the radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking technology into a product line.
Today, Sartor said Philips didn't check with Benetton before it issued the release, despite the fact that Phipps was quoted in it and a Benetton contact was listed on it. Philips declined to comment on the issue.
Sartor said that while Phipps had knowledge of the technology involved in the RFID tags, he didn't have the authority to speak on behalf of Benetton about whether the company planned to use the tags.
"Phipps was speaking about the technology," said Sartor. "It is not up to him to say if the company will use the tags. That decision, which has not yet been made, will be made by a committee."
Although privacy groups have expressed concern about the use of RFID tags, they said they didn't believe it would create a problem if customers were notified and the tags were disabled before they left the store. Some groups, however, urged that the company's clothing be boycotted.
Mihir Kshirsagar, a policy analyst at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, has said that the "potential for privacy invasion is significant." But he said that if the RFID tags were used the way bar codes are used today, they wouldn't create a problem.
In a statement issued Friday (see story), Benetton said that "no microchips [smart tags] are present in more than 100 million garments produced and sold throughout the world under its brand names, including the Sisley brand."
Benetton said that even though it's currently analyzing RFID technology, no feasibility studies -- including analysis on the potential implications relating to individual privacy -- on the use of this technology have yet been done. The company said that after those studies are completed, it will decide whether to implement the use of smart tags.
"I don't care how much stakeholder value they might think they can generate by putting tracking devices in people's underwear. It's socially irresponsible, and they shouldn't even be experimenting with the idea without assuring the public that they won't have electronic bugs living in their closets," said Jason Catlett, president of Green Brook, N.J.-based Junkbusters Corp., a privacy advocacy group.

Read more about Privacy in Computerworld's Privacy Topic Center.