Just when we thought that we had our hands full with an
upcoming Canadian election, a demoralizing and futile war in Afghanistan, and
an irrelevant and diversionary American election, there’s something else to be
concerned about.
In a new book called “Spychips,” by Katherine Albrecht and
Liz McIntyre, a new technology called
“RFID” is predicted to remove our remaining privacy and put us all under a
threat of surveillance.
Using technology much more sophisticated than bar codes,
RFID(radio frequency identification) uses tiny computer chips to track items at
a distance. If the corporations have their way, every consumable product, from
shoes to cars, will carry one of these chips which can be used to spy on us
without our knowledge or consent.
At a clothing show in Chicago in 2004, the authors noted
that companies such as Calvin Klein, Champion, Carters and Abercrombie &
Fitch proudly displayed the results of their investment into RFID. In their
clothing, the RFID tag is usually
inserted inside the label unseen to the purchaser. But the RFID tag
contains a computer chip and an antenna and a unique number that can be read
remotely.
So when you purchase any item containing RFID, you
unwittingly become part of a database with your personal information attached
to it. Some retail stores already have RFID “readers” located throughout their
stores, at the entrances and at the checkouts, so any RFID tag you have in your
possession is flagged and recorded. An instant profile is initiated without
your knowledge or consent.
It’s clear why the corporations are doing this. On the one
hand it becomes a perfect marketing exercise: instead of asking the customer
about his wants and needs, the companies are compiling thousands of thousands,
potentially millions of personal “inventories” of people’s purchases, and then
using that private information to sell more products. On the other hand, the
corporations are opening a pandora’s box of probabilities, with each step
curtailing individual privacy.
The authors indicate that Gillette, Procter and Gamble and
Wal-Mart have invested heavily into RFID, although none of these companies
communicate and explain RFID implications to their customers. Wal-Mart has gone
further than the others, by issuing an RFID supply chain “mandate” to force its
top 100 suppliers to invest in RFID. It’s just a matter of time before every
item in every store is spychipped.
The credit card companies are getting in on the act also. I
just received a notice from CIBC VISA telling me that “Chip technology is
here!” but nothing about what this technology could be used for, other than
I’ll have to use a PIN in the future when I use the card. So, that means that
my new card arriving soon, will be set up to release my personal information to
any card reader that happens to “ping” when I walk by! That is a breach of my
privacy and the banks should be explaining ALL of the implications of RFID to
everyone.
Do we really want any store or any person equipped with a
RFID reader to scan for RFID tags on our person or our wallets or purses? Do we
really want a store to identify us when we enter, retrieve our profile, and
then perhaps send us an e-mail or a cell phone message regarding products? Isn’t a bit over the top?
What do our federal and provincial politicians think about
this? The RFID issue doesn’t have a chance in hell of becoming an election
story. No, we need to speak to the managers of all of the stores we do business
with about RFID, and tell them that that we don’t need snoops trying to spy on
us. Moreover, we should say we won’t buy from stores that insist on using RFID!
RFID chips today, imbedded microchips in our bodies tomorrow, if we do nothing and say nothing.
