A joint study by Telaeris and Point Loma Nazarene University evaluated public perception of RFID tracking technology, focusing on privacy concerns vs. benefits. Key findings indicated that concerns over data hacking were the highest among respondents, with demographic differences influencing attitudes toward the technology. Recommendations include broadening the sample frame for future research to enhance understanding of diverse opinions on RFID applications.

1. Privacy vs. Safety
Acceptance of Tracking
Technology

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Introduction
Telaeris and Point Loma Nazarene
University MBA students teamed up to
conduct a research study.
This study sought to evaluate how people
weigh the balance between the privacy
concerns and potential benefits of using
RFID technology to track people.

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Research Objectives
Assess stakeholder perceived benefits and concerns with
respect to selected RFID people tracking applications.
Measure respondent assessments of various methods of
allaying concerns.
Determine whether attitudes vary significantly by key
demographic groups.

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Methodology
A Qualtrics-hosted web survey was designed with
substantial inputs from Telaeris management.
A solicitation email with a link to the survey was sent out to
a Telaeris-provided email list and the survey was also
posted to LinkedIn to allow for participation by the
followers of the Telaeris CEO.
All data was processed and analyzed using SPSS.

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Limitations
Small sample size (n = 140) due to limited email lists and
social media reach.
Sample frame was limited to the Telaeris, Inc. contact list
and it may not draw on audiences who aren’t security
related yet still have concerns.

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Demographics
of Respondents

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Respondents Working in the
Security Industry
• Majority of respondents
do work for a company
that provides services or
solutions that use RFID
• 42% work in industries
outside of security
solutions

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Industries Respondents Work In

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Number of Employees at
Respondent's Companies

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Approximate Respondent
Position in Company

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Age of Respondents

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Respondents’ Ethnicity

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Highest Degree Achieved

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Children Under the Age of 18 at Home?

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Knowledge of
RFID Technology

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SURVEY QUESTIONS
KNOWLEDGE
OF RFID:
• TECHNOLOGY
• CAPABILITIES
• STANDARDS
1. How knowledgeable
would you say you are
about RFID?
(Not at all - Extremely)
2. Please list RFID:
• Applications
• Benefits
• Concerns

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Average Knowledge of RFID

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Verbatims: Applications of RFID

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Verbatims: Benefits of RFID

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Verbatims: Concerns of RFID

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SURVEY QUESTIONS
Pre-Image
Vs.
Post-Image
Knowledge
How often do you
think you have
used a product or
item containing an
RFID chip in the
last month?

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RFID Technology Use in the
Last Month

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IMPORTANCE OF
RFID CONCERNS

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Concerns:
# 1: Management Monitoring
#2: Hackers Skimming Data
#3: Government Tracking
#4: Radiation Risk
#5: Implantable RFID Chips
SURVEY QUESTIONS
1. Which concern with
RFID was most
important?
2. What is the most
effective solution for
each concern?

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Average Level Of Importance
for RFID Concerns

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SURVEY QUESTIONS
Management
Monitoring Concern #1:
Tracking people by RFID
could be used by
management to
monitor where
employees are and
what they are doing.

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Concern Level for Management
Monitoring
Mean = 3.11
Moderate level of concern.
No significant difference in level of concern by sub-group.

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Effective Ways to
Address Management Monitoring
Provide educational resources as to how the technology
avoids this problem.
RANK RESPONSE MEAN RANK
1 Educational Resources 2.29
2 Case Histories 2.37
3 Employee Opt-Out Option 2.81
4 Company Policies 3.16
5 Other 4.37

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Verbatim: Other Ways to
Address Manager Monitoring

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SURVEY QUESTIONS
Hackers
Skimming Data Concern #2:
Hackers could skim
individual’s private
data from RFID
cards and tags.

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Concern Level for Hackers
Skimming Private Data
Mean = 3.86,
High level of concern for hackers skimming data.
Many significant differences in sub-group perceptions.

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Concerns about Hackers
Skimming Data by Sub-Groups
• Respondents from companies involved with RFID technology
applications were significantly less concerned about hacking than other
respondents.
• Respondents from small companies (1-50 employees) were significantly
less concerned than respondents from large companies (500+
employees).
• Younger respondents (18-30) were significantly less concerned than
older employees (40-65).
• Respondents with less than a Bachelor’s degree were significantly less
concerned than respondents with a Bachelor’s or advanced degrees.

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Effective Ways to Address
Hackers Skimming Data
Provide educational resources as to how the technology
avoids this problem.
RANK RESPONSE MEAN
Rank
1 Educational Resources 1.99
2 Case Histories 2.70
3 Employee Opt-Out Option 2.70
4 Company Policies 3.09
5 Other 4.54

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Verbatim: Other Ways to
Address Hackers Skimming Data
The industry needs to support the equivalent of CERT
(Community Emergency Response Team) to fix issues
Do not put private data on the card
Show the data up front so they are informed & not
speculating
Provide two factor authentication required to read the tags.

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Government
Tracking
SURVEY QUESTIONS
Concern #3:
RFID is a tool that
the government
could use to track
people.

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Concern about
Government Tracking
Mean = 3.1
Moderate Concern
Younger respondents (18-30) are significantly less concerned than older respondents
(31-45; 45-65).

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Ways to Address Government
Misuse (Verbatims)

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SURVEY QUESTIONS
Radiation Risk Concern #4:
RFID tags and
readers could
pose a radiation
risk.

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Concern Level for
Radiation Risk
Mean = 1.81
Lowest Concern overall
Concern levels did vary by sub-groups

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Concern Level
Significantly Lower for:
RFID involved respondents
Caucasians (vs non-caucasians)
Respondents from large companies (vs. mid sized
companies)
Respondents with more than Bachelor’s degree

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Ways to Address Radiation
Concern (Verbatims)

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SURVEY QUESTIONS
Implantable
RFID Chips Concern #5:
Implantable RFID
chips could be used
as universal
identification for
everything from
security to payment.

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Concern Level
for Implantable RFID Chips
Mean = 3.26
Moderate concern (2nd highest).
Non-Caucasians are significantly more concerned than Caucasians about this issue.

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Ways to Address an Implant
Concern (Verbatims)

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Case Studies
1. Tracking School Children with RFID Tags
2. Worker Tracking with RFID tags

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Case 1: School Children
Privacy vs. Concerns
Mean = 4.64; Non-Caucasians (mean 3.53) significantly more concerned
about the privacy issues than Caucasians (mean 5.07).
Support = 71% , Don’t Support = 29%

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Expected Parental Reactions
(Verbatims)

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Case 2: Employee Tracking
Privacy vs. Concerns
Mean = 4.42. Non-Caucasians (Mean = 3.71) significantly more concerned
about the privacy issues than Caucasians (Mean 4.76).
Respondents from small firms (50-200) are more positive about the benefits
than respondents from larger companies.

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Expected Employee Reactions
(Verbatims)
Support = 46% , Don’t Support = 54%

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PRIVACY CONCERNS
VS. BENEFITS
SECURITY
SAFETY
EFFICIENCY
CONVENIENCE

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Security, Safety, Efficiency,
Convenience

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Benefit vs Privacy
Tradeoffs by Demographic Groups
Respondents in RFID related services rate the security benefit of
RFID significantly higher than respondents who work for non-RFID
related firms.
Respondents in larger companies (e.g., > 500 employees) are
significantly less impressed by the safety benefit than respondents
from smaller companies (e.g., 50 employees or less)
Respondents in mid-sized companies (e.g., 50-200; 201-500
employees) are significantly less impressed by the convenience
benefit than respondents from smaller companies (e.g., 50 employees
or less)

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CONCLUSIONS &
RECOMMENDATIONS

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Conclusions
Hackers skimming data is the largest concern of
respondents and must be addressed by security
solutions companies.
This is less of an issue for respondents who come from the industry, are younger,
are from smaller companies, or have less education
Radiation risks are not a significant concern for
this sample.

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Conclusions cont’d
The most highly ranked interventions are education,
case histories, and employee opt out options.
• Non-Caucasians are significantly more concerned
about both the student- and the employee-tracking
application cases than Caucasians.
• Respondents are generally strongly positive
towards the security, safety, and convenience
benefits of RFID but are more neutral about the
efficiency benefit.

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Recommendations
The survey worked well. The main limitation for the
study were:
1. the limited number of respondents
2. the limited sample frame from which
respondents were drawn, i.e., contacts and
social media followers of Telaeris.

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Recommendations Cont’d
We recommend:
• Pursuing other sample frames such as the
Security Industry Association, and other, non-
security related associations.
• Continuing the collection of responses so as to
“increase the power of the test” of differences
among demographic groups concerning RFID
benefits and concerns.
• In particular, the attitudinal differences we
uncovered based on ethnicity should be
explored further.