The growing availability of packaged, “turnkey’ solutions shows the kind of growing market maturity that was key to bar code finally taking off in the 1990s. What is also intriguing here is that Checkpoint offers a “service bureau” that can deliver RFID-tagged labels to vendors, as it has done with EAS (electronic article surveillance) tags for years.

Suppliers that are already performing bar code or EAS tagging at the item-level – such as those in the apparel industry and some other high-value categories – would not have to change processes at all to switch to attaching RFID tags/labels, making the shift almost seamless for these types of suppliers.

Washington State Passes Modest RFID Privacy Law: As expected, Washington state passed an RFID privacy bill last week, signed by the governor into law, but it was much toned down from earlier proposals, and is unlikely to cause RFID vendors or users much in the way of problems.

With that bill’s passage, two other, more onerous bills are being dropped by the legislature for now.

The bill as passed, at its core, makes it illegal for someone to surreptitiously read tags carried by a person or on his or her possessions. It prohibits the scanning of an RFID tag by anyone except the business or agency that issued that tag, with certain exceptions, such as a transaction initiated by the “tag holder,” and inadvertent reads (as long as that information is not disclosed to others).

The bill seems acceptable to those in the RFID industry, who were worried such legislation could present large obstacles to adoption.

Earlier proposals had called for requiring a signature from the RFID tag holder indicating he or she was aware of the tag and approved of its use by the providing company or agency; another earlier provision would have required all RFID-tagged products to bear a universal, clear and conspicuous label—recognizable by the public—to indicate RFID technology is being utilized.

In addition, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire vetoed one section of the bill, which would have required the state's attorney general to make annual recommendations to the legislature regarding any new "potentially-invasive technologies," In a public statement, she claimed this section of the bill would have created a financial hardship to the state.

Prettying Up the RFID Portal: We also found interesting a new product announcement from Jamison Door's RFID Division that offers a more attractive RFID portal housing for those that want a less “industrial” look.

The company’s Gnome series provides a more attractive housing that can be outfitted with many existing reader systems, or delivered with readers already installed.

The product is targeted at businesses that “want something warm and welcoming that blends well with the décor of their store, office, data center or other professional location" says Tim Buckley, Manager of Jamison's Industrial Portals. The units use “aesthetically-pleasing,” textured ABS covers, and are offered with either solid oak side trim in four finishes or a more industrial matte aluminum finish.

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