RFID and Cookies - evoking Big Brother?
I've been busy this week researching for my program on using RFID in the meetings industry at the upcoming IAEM Expo! Expo! in Atlanta.
It's been fascinating - I've heard so many different views of the status of this technology in terms of it's cost, reliability, and return on investment.
But one thing has really stood out - there's a deep mistrust among attendees around the privacy aspect. I heard from one meeting planner that even the mention of the word "tracking" was enough to have some of her folks rip the chip off their badge!
It's clear that people want to know the deal - if you're using this on me, exactly what information about me is readable, where are you tracking me, and what are you doing with the results?
Which reminds me a lot of the cookies debate. Cookies can be so useful to improve the visitor experience on a Web site, allowing pre-populating forms, reflecting already established preferences, etc.
But you have to be really clear with your visitors about how you're using cookies, and whether and how you share information with any other parties.
Otherwise, they're likely to refuse them, or delete them in short order (some software is now doing that automatically).
Which I guess is the online equivalent of ripping the chip off your badge!
It's been fascinating - I've heard so many different views of the status of this technology in terms of it's cost, reliability, and return on investment.
But one thing has really stood out - there's a deep mistrust among attendees around the privacy aspect. I heard from one meeting planner that even the mention of the word "tracking" was enough to have some of her folks rip the chip off their badge!
It's clear that people want to know the deal - if you're using this on me, exactly what information about me is readable, where are you tracking me, and what are you doing with the results?
Which reminds me a lot of the cookies debate. Cookies can be so useful to improve the visitor experience on a Web site, allowing pre-populating forms, reflecting already established preferences, etc.
But you have to be really clear with your visitors about how you're using cookies, and whether and how you share information with any other parties.
Otherwise, they're likely to refuse them, or delete them in short order (some software is now doing that automatically).
Which I guess is the online equivalent of ripping the chip off your badge!
posted by Philippa Gamse at
6:53 PM
1 Comments:
Phillipa,
This is what's missing - there is nothing in it for attendees.
Nobody trusts that the info is just "aggregate". So say`AOL and Google and Y! - and they already know more about you than the Feds do.
But if you gave attendees a "Minority Report" experience, they might be happy to be "chipped".
Imagine walking down an aisle and targeted messages are pinging you - free registration for first 1,000... free web analysis to improve traffic... drawing for iPod... Hummer giveaway... etc. etc.
Now you've got something interesting. It's amazing to me that organizers (and registration vendors) rarely consider the attendee experience.
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Anonymous, at 4:03 PM
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