tiny chips could be very hard to spot. especially when “printed” onto product packaging...
TRANSCRIPT
Tiny chips could be very hard to spot
Especially when “printed” onto product packaging
"The vision is to move from the etched, solid metal antennas to the printed antennas."
"Since radio waves travel through most packaging materials, packagers...could print the antenna…inside of the box. They could laminate it inside the package, or print it on the outside and print over it."
– Dan Lawrence, Flint Ink
And they’re getting smaller.
Hitachi’s mu-chip contrasted with grains of rice
They can be integrated into paper
Inkode’s “chipless tag”: Closeup of Inkode metal fibers embedded in paper
Tags can be sewn into clothing
Hidden in fabric labels(Checkpoint prototype)
Back of Checkpoint clothing label
RFID tag in Checkpoint label
Embedded in shoes
A 6” tag is hard to hide.
Alien/RAFSEC “C” tag
Or is it? Hidden: Sandwiched in cardboard
6” Alien/RAFSEC “C” tag inside a box
This tag (with a 17ft. read range) is easy to spot, right?
Alien/RAFSEC “I” Tag
Not when “placed inside cap” – an inaccessible location on this flip-top product
Alien/RAFSEC “I” tag in lid of Pantene shampoo bottle
Another big tag (4.5”)
Alien/RAFSEC “S” Tag
“placed between layers of paper”
Alien/RAFSEC “S” Tag in Bag
The government has mandated RFID in passports
Now they’re appearing in credit cards
Traceable Cash
Japanese yen and Euro banknotemay soon carry RFID chips
Tracking people: The “Verichip” implant
(short read range)
Industry has plans to ID shoppers
“Future Store”
Spychip hidden in loyalty card
Threat: Ubiquitous readers
Texas Instruments advises retailers to scan customers’ loyalty cards right through their purse or walletSource: http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/solutions/pos/loyalty.shtml
In ceilings and floors
Source: Checkpoint Systems
Image source: Copytag http://www.copytag.com/2001/active/apps-articles-1.html
In doorways
Even “Thinking Carpets”
Image source: Vorwerk (Germany)http://www.vorwerk.teppich.de/sc/vorwerk/img/bildarchiv/thinking_carpet_1.jpg
Free Market Privacy Activism
Who is guarding the henhouse?
Fair Information Principles Ignored
Direct Marketing Association member companies surveyed:
NOTICE: 62% gather personal information without telling customers
CHOICE: 74% use customers’ personal data without asking permission
(n=365)
Source: Milne, George R. and Maria-Eugenia Boza (1998), “A Business Perspective on Database Marketing and Consumer Privacy Practices,” Marketing Science Institute Working Paper No. 98-110. Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute.
As cited in: Milne, George R. (2000) “Privacy and Ethical Issues in Database/Interactive Marketing and Public Policy,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 19 (Spring), 1-6.
Scandal: Benetton/Philips clothing tagging
Tags could not be “killed” as promised
Benetton told consumers the tags could be “killed” at checkout, while Philips documentation revealed the tags could only be made “dormant.”
Scandal: The Gillette “smart shelf”
Took a mug shot of every customer
Tags were hidden in Gillette product packaging
For more details see: www.BoycottGillette.com
Our response:
Result: Wal-Mart stopped.
Picketers protested Tesco’s spychipped razor blades
Result: Tesco stopped, too.
Scandal: Secret Wal-Mart/P&G trial
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
4-month secret RFID experiment used live consumers. Distant P&G executives used a video camera trained on the shelf to observe shoppers.
Both Wal-Mart and P&G repeatedly denied the trials until evidence was produced.
Outcome: Very bad press.
Scandal: Spychipped shopper cards at Future Store
Rheinberg, Germany February 28, 2004
Outcome: Germans protested
The program was cancelled.
Scandal: Wal-Mart stepping into item-level tagging.
Outcome: 75 People protested in Dallas just this month
Just for fun:Can you spot the RFID tag on the Hewlett-Packard printer box? Hint: It's "clearly labeled," according to HP and Wal-Mart.
©Liz McIntyre
Look closer. Do you see the RFID tag now?
Oh, there it is!
Wal-Mart keeps employees in the dark.A Wal-Mart employee assured us this tag was "Nothing, just a label.“ She also told us the letters 'EPC' didn't mean a thing.
And now there’s a book.
"The privacy movement needs a book. I nominate Spychips.” - Marc Rotenberg, EPIC
“Spychips "make[s] a stunningly powerful argument against plans for RFID being mapped out by government agencies, retail and manufacturing companies…. This won't be comfortable reading in the IT departments of major retailers and manufacturers, but it is essential.”
- Evan Schuman, CIOInsight
Prepare to see a lot more of this.
WWW.SPYCHIPS.COM
Katherine Albrecht, Ed.M., CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)