RFIDs and Privacy

With permission, this from John D. Gregory [Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario)], with assistance from David Loukedelis, via John’s email list:

In the past month or so, three privacy commissions in Canada have published reports on radio-frequency identification methods (RFIDs):

• Canada: Fact sheet on RFIDS
• Ontario: “Privacy Guidelines for RFID Information Systems”
• Quebec: “La technologie d’identification par radiofréquence (RFID): doit-on s’en méfier?”
  also available in English: “Radiofrequency identification technology (RFID): is there reason to mistrust it?”

BC did some preliminary work but then decided to defer to its colleagues in the jurisdictions named above.

Has the Alberta commission had its say as well?

I hear that Industry Canada is running a policy consultation on RFIDs, with a meeting in August (have not heard who is invited or how one might get on the list.)

The European Union is conducting a study of the topic too, according to Computerworld (“European Commission to launch public inquiry into RFID”). And The Center for Democracy and Technology recently issued some “best practices” that were acceptable to it and to industry (though not universally to privacy advocates). As well, IT.Can is holding a round table panel on this topic in September, and also at its annual conference in October.

So: are there common elements in these various approaches? is there something that everyone accepts? What are the points of divergence? Is there law reform required, or just acknowledgement of best practices?