FragDB - Secure Localized Storage Based on Super-Distributed RFID-Tag 
Infrastructures 

Marc Langheinrich, Institute for Pervasive Computing, ETH Zurich 8092 Zurich, 
Switzerland 

Abstract: 

Smart environments and wearables will make the storage and subsequent sharing 
of digitized multimedia diaries and meeting protocols - whom we meet, or what 
we say or do - cheap and easy. However, controlling access to this data will 
become cumbersome if traditional forms of access control are to be used: 
Overly restrictive rules might deny the potential of data sharing, while a 
lack of control could easily lead to Orwellian surveillance scenarios. This 
paper presents FragDB, a storage concept based on localized access control, 
where data storage and retrieval are bound to a specific _place_, rather than 
the knowledge of a particular password or certificate. FragDB uses tiny RFID 
tags embedded in floors, walls or desks, to compute a local key that is used 
to encrypt and decrypt data in a global storage system. We describe the setup 
of an initial prototype and analyze its complexity.