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  1.     
    #1
    Senior Member

    CASPIAN NEWSLETTER, 3/18/05: RFID BATTLES HEAT UP

    CASPIAN NEWSLETTER, 3/18/05: RFID BATTLES HEAT UP
    ================================================== ===================

    Consumer privacy and RFID newsletter
    Edited by Sunni Maravillosa and Katherine Albrecht

    NEWS:

    1- New Mexico legislators kill RFID labeling legislation
    2- U.S. Senators vow to "protect" spychips
    3- Spychips coming to your wallet?
    4- Another one! LexisNexis fumbles consumer information
    5- ChoicePoint downplayed consumer data-theft damage
    6- Miniscule penalties for data disclosures
    7- RFID: More push, less enthusiasm
    8- Big Brother moments in the parking terminal
    9- Hospital tests human spychipping program
    10- GPS in phone didn't prevent Japanese girl's murder

    CASPIAN ACTIVISTS UPDATE:

    1- CASPIAN news
    2- CASPIAN members sound off


    ================================================== ===================
    NEW MEXICO LEGISLATORS CAVE TO SPYCHIPPERS
    ================================================== ===================

    The New Mexico legislation to require labeling on products containing
    RFID tags died in committee this month. Political pressure, plain and
    simple, is what did it in:

    "The bill's rejection was the result of lobbying by the
    Grocery Manufacturers of America," Stewart says, "which
    convinced the majority of the Judiciary Committee members
    that New Mexico did not want to be the first state to enact
    such a bill."

    Rep. Mimi Stewart's legislation would have alerted consumers to the
    presence of RFID tags and given consumers the right to access
    information collected on them through the chips. As she says, she
    wanted
    to:

    "... protect consumers from the proliferation of a
    technology that is designed in the interest of business,
    not the consumer."

    Undaunted, Stewart intends to research the issues further and resubmit
    the bill in the 2006 session. Unlike many legislative efforts,
    Stewart's
    bill appears to be entirely in keeping with the joint position paper
    issued in 2003 by CASPIAN and many other privacy organizations.

    New Mexico residents: Please send an email applauding Rep. Stewart's
    efforts, and offer your future support to her cause. You can email her
    at: [email protected].


    Sources:
    RFID Journal, 3/16/05
    http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/a...view/1449/1/1/

    New Mexico State Government web site
    http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/legdeta...&Submit=Search

    RFID Position Statement
    http://www.spychips.com/jointrfid_position_paper.html

    Email NM state legislator Rep. Mimi Stewart:
    [email protected]


    ================================================== ===================
    U.S. SENATORS VOW TO "PROTECT" SPYCHIPS
    ================================================== ===================

    Why does RFID labeling legislation keep going down in flames? It
    becomes
    clear when you realize our elected officials are working overtime to
    protect and promote the industry.

    The latest pro-RFID government missive comes from the "Senate
    Republican
    High Tech Task Force" which unveiled a set of policy programs last
    week.
    Among them was a policy plank vowing to "protect" RFID. These senators
    have announced they will:

    "... protect exciting new technologies from premature
    regulation or legislation in search of a problem. RFID holds
    tremendous promise for our economy, including military
    logistics and commercial inventory efficiencies, and should
    not be saddled prematurely with regulation."

    While CASPIAN doesn't advocate legislative controls over RFID (we want
    labeling legislation only), we certainly don't think it is appropriate
    for our elected representatives to gush about the technology, calling
    it
    "exciting," either.

    Are we the only ones to think there's something wrong with an entire
    task force of elected officials identifying itself as "a conduit for
    the
    technology industry?" Whatever happened to elected officials being
    "conduits" for the people?

    Source: RFID Journal, 3/10/05
    http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/a...view/1440/1/1/


    ================================================== ===================
    SPYCHIPS COMING TO YOUR WALLET?
    ================================================== ===================

    Imagine if Holiday Inn, Barnes & Noble, American Airlines, OfficeMax,
    AAA, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield could all secretly read a plastic card
    they've issued to you -- right through your wallet, backpack, or purse.
    Imagine if they used such RFID-laced loyalty or membership cards to
    keep
    track of when you pass through doorways and observe how long you linger
    in front of the cookbooks and office furniture. Then imagine them
    sharing that information with other companies, marketers, and
    government
    officials -- or losing it to hackers and identity thieves.

    This horrific vision may come true sooner than you think. Arthur Blank
    &
    Co., Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of plastic cards,
    has just announced it is adding RFID capability to its product line.
    This move has huge implications for consumer privacy, as Arthur Blank
    makes 1.3 *billion* cards every year for hundreds of companies,
    including the ones listed above.

    There is currently no requirement for a store or other company to tell
    you if the card they've issued you contains a remotely-readable
    spychip.
    In addition, once they get you to take the card, there is nothing to
    prevent them from tracking you with it -- or helping others to do the
    same.

    Before long, we'll be reduced to X-raying the contents of our wallets
    to
    be sure we're not being spied on by the cards we carry. It's time to
    DEMAND labelling on spychipped items -- especially plastic cards. Ask
    your state representative to read our website and contact us to provide
    sample legislation and expert testimony.

    You should also let Arthur Blank know how you feel about their
    spychipped cards:
    Arthur Blank president Stuart Blank: [email protected]
    Phone number: 617-325-9600
    fax: 617-327-1235.

    Sources:
    Contactless News, 3/3/05
    http://www.contactlessnews.com/news/...rd-production/

    Arthur Blank web site
    http://www.arthurblank.com/


    ================================================== ===================
    ANOTHER ONE! LEXISNEXIS FUMBLES CONSUMER INFO
    ================================================== ===================

    Lexis-Nexis is the latest American company to fall prey to identity
    thieves, with about 32,000 individuals' names, addresses, driver's
    licenses, and Social Security numbers going to unauthorized parties.
    Unlike ChoicePoint, Lexis-Nexis seems to be taking the breach
    seriously,
    but for the victims, it's a case of too little, too late.

    Apparently, identify thieves have caught on to the value of our stored
    data -- in a big way.

    "'As the value of what you're trying to steal increases, so
    does the effort that the bad guys will put into it,' said
    Paul Beechey, a security expert with UK defense group QinetiQ."

    The increasing frequency of these breaches is a cold-water-in-the-face
    wakeup call. Industry needs to get some privacy-respecting choices
    (i.e., companies promising not to store your data) back into the
    marketplace.

    Source: Yahoo News, 3/9/05
    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...er_security_dc


    ================================================== ===================
    CHOICEPOINT DOWNPLAYED CONSUMER DATA-THEFT DAMAGE
    ================================================== ===================

    ChoicePoint is still in the hot seat over its mis-handling of over
    145,000 individuals' records. In documents recently filed with the
    Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it was revealed that
    ChoicePoint limited its search for damage to the effective date of the
    California notification law.

    How many more people are affected by ChoicePoint's carelessness, that
    involved selling data to over *50* fraudulent companies? ChoicePoint
    says any increase above that 145,000 won't be "significant." But who's
    willing to trust them now?

    Source: c|net news, 3/10/05
    http://news.com.com/ChoicePoint+data...l?tag=nefd.top


    ================================================== ===================
    MINISCULE PENALTIES FOR DATA DISCLOSURES
    ================================================== ===================

    Another disquieting reminder that we shouldn't believe everything we
    read in a web site's privacy policy: CartManager International, an
    internet company that provides "shopping cart" software to process
    other
    companies' transactions, sold information on around 1 million people
    who
    used their product on thousands of web sites. Many of those sites had
    assured purchasers their data would be kept private.

    While it's hard to put a monetary value on privacy, we know when we're
    being sold out cheaply. CartManager's penalty for the privacy breach
    was
    nothing more than a requirement that they pay back the $9,000 they
    earned from the sale and promise to "clearly disclose" consumer data
    sales in the future.

    The data peddling industry must be laughing all the way to the bank on
    this one.

    Source: Reuters, 3/10/05
    http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=7867566


    ================================================== ===================
    RFID: MORE PUSH, LESS ENTHUSIASM
    ================================================== ===================

    Many companies have invested millions to expand the use of spychips --
    so much so that they're overstating the case for the technology.
    Wal-Mart's highly-touted mandates didn't live up to the hype, and
    reports continue to show that manufacturers are less enthusiastic about
    RFID than the tech's promoters would like us to believe. Even ardent
    supporters like Procter & Gamble acknowledge that real hurdles still
    exist. Keep up the privacy pressure -- it's just one more thing
    dragging
    RFID down.

    Source: Promo Magazine, 3/1/05
    http://promomagazine.com/mag/marketing_tag_tag/


    ================================================== ===================
    BIG BROTHER MOMENTS IN THE PARKING TERMINAL
    ================================================== ===================

    The new "smart parking system" at Boston's Logan Airport uses cameras
    to
    snap photos of cars' license plates as they enter and leave the parking
    structure. What's more, staffers make daily rounds using handheld
    scanners to pinpoint each car's parking spot. Everything gets stored in
    a database.

    Massport says it has no plans to notify people of the new
    information-gathering system. Nor will they say what they might do with
    the database generated:

    "Phil Orlandella, a Massport spokesman, said the agency does
    not plan to notify parkers about its information-gathering
    activities or develop a privacy policy. He stressed that data
    are gathered on vehicles entering the garages and not the
    drivers of those vehicles.

    "Orlandella said the information is held indefinitely and
    used for internal parking management, although he said the
    State Police is given access to the database for stolen vehicle
    and other investigations."

    Will they start photographing the insides of our cars next? Where does
    this snoopiness end?

    Source: Boston Globe, 3/13/05
    http://www.boston.com/business/techn...ked_your_car/?


    ================================================== ===================
    HOSPITAL TESTS HUMAN SPYCHIPPING PROGRAM
    ================================================== ===================

    Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey is launching a
    clinical evaluation of the VeriChip human RFID implant system in its
    emergency department. However, the "innovative, well respected medical
    center" appears to be ignoring the medical risks associated with the
    implanted spychips, including FDA warnings that embedded chips could be
    dangerous for patients undergoing MRI procedures. We hope Hackensack
    emergency patients don't learn this lesson the hard way.

    Source: BusinessWire, 3/14/05
    http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...83&newsLang=en


    ================================================== ===================
    GPS IN PHONE DIDN'T PREVENT JAPANESE GIRL'S MURDER
    ================================================== ===================

    Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has been touted as a way to
    protect people, especially children, from harm. Many Japanese have
    bought the argument hook, line and sinker, and now tag and track their
    children in a variety of different ways.

    A blog called "RFID in Japan" (a great resource for monitoring
    spychip-creep in that country) reports that GPS tracking technology
    failed to live up to its promise for at least one unfortunate victim.
    Although the technology allowed some preliminary tracking, it didn't
    allow anyone to catch up with the girl's captor in time to prevent her
    murder.

    Sources:
    RFID in Japan blog, November and December 2004
    http://ubiks.net/local/blog/jmt/archives3/2004_11.html

    Blog home page:
    http://ubiks.net/local/blog/jmt/stuff3/


    ================================================== ===================
    CASPIAN NEWS
    ================================================== ===================

    Good news for consumers following privacy issues -- our newsletter is
    now available online! If you missed our last issue, you can find it
    here:

    http://www.spychips.com/news/index.html

    Sunni will be keeping the newsletter page current and adding back
    issues
    over the next few weeks. Bookmark the CASPIAN newsletter home page, and
    tell your friends about this excellent resource for consumer privacy
    news and trends.

    -----

    San Diego's Fox6 News aired a 5 minute segment on RFID this week,
    featuring CASPIAN founder (and newsletter co-editor) Katherine
    Albrecht.
    After all the pro-industry puff pieces that have come out on RFID
    recently, it was nice to see a reporter go heavy on the creep factor to
    remind us just how scary this stuff is.

    Catch it soon, before they pull it off the website:
    http://www.fox6.com/
    (Scroll down to "RFID Tagging")

    (Thanks to our friend James at www.zombiewire.com for alerting us to
    this one)

    ================================================== ===================
    CASPIAN MEMBERS SOUND OFF
    ================================================== ===================

    The following is just a small sample of the huge volume of mail we
    receive each week. Comments are edited for brevity, spelling, and
    grammar.

    -----
    "Are these things [RFID chips] in our passports? Why would they need
    that information if they didn't want to control the citizens? Our
    Founding Fathers would be SPINNING in their graves if they knew what
    was
    happening to the citizens of a country established 'For the people, of
    the people and by the people.'" - James, Florida

    -----
    "I was charged $2.19 for loaves of Klosterman bread without a card,
    when
    they were marked 99 cents and in tiny little print 'with card.' Marking
    up an item 221% for simply not having a card is outrageous!" - Gary,
    Kentucky

    -----
    "I had heard stories of how HP and other printer manufactures's
    software
    secretly accesses their web site and transmits statistical and other
    unknown data from the user's computer. When I installed this firewall
    software, I very quickly learned how many different programs did so.
    Almost every application, including Microsoft programs, attempted to
    connect without notification to send some unknown data from my
    computer.
    I now realize that everyone should have it [a firewall] even for
    dialup,
    to stop this invasion of privacy." - Rick, Texas

    -----
    "Every day, we as Americans are idly standing by and watching our
    freedoms and privacy slip slowly beneath the cresting wave of one world
    agenda. We either take a stand right now or face the certainty of
    government controlling every aspect of our daily lives." - Duane, Texas

    -----
    "We are losing our rights left and right and we don't even realize we
    are being preyed upon and information stolen from us. From a very
    concerned parent." - Scott Glover, Springfield, MO

    -----
    "I just read the new newsletter and am a little appalled by the support
    for Wal-Mart. They are leading the industry in America for putting RFID
    tags on items on their store shelves.... There are so many places that
    you can go [instead]. The store I shop at won't even allow you to use a
    debit/credit card because it would increase store prices. Let's support
    those people. God bless!" - Anonymous

    [Editor's response: It's been nearly two years since I set foot in a
    Wal-Mart store, and I agree with you 100% about not shopping there. The
    last newsletter didn't support Wal-Mart, but merely pointed out that a
    lot of people began shopping there when their regular supermarkets
    started tracking their purchases with cards. - Katherine Albrecht]


    ================================================== ===================

    CASPIAN: Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
    Opposing supermarket "loyalty" cards and other retail surveillance
    schemes since 1999.

    http://www.spychips.com/
    http://www.nocards.org/

    You're welcome to duplicate and distribute this message to others who
    may find it of interest.

    ================================================== ===================

    To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CASPIAN mailing list, click the
    following link or copy and paste it into your browser:
    http://www.nocards.org/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi

    If you have difficulty with the web-based interface, you may also
    subscribe or unsubscribe via email by writing to:
    [email protected]

    ================================================== ===================
    pisshead Reviewed by pisshead on . CASPIAN NEWSLETTER, 3/18/05: RFID BATTLES HEAT UP CASPIAN NEWSLETTER, 3/18/05: RFID BATTLES HEAT UP ===================================================================== Consumer privacy and RFID newsletter Edited by Sunni Maravillosa and Katherine Albrecht NEWS: 1- New Mexico legislators kill RFID labeling legislation 2- U.S. Senators vow to "protect" spychips Rating: 5
    down with censorship! - http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

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  3.     
    #2
    Senior Member

    CASPIAN NEWSLETTER, 3/18/05: RFID BATTLES HEAT UP

    Fuck the future!

    Reminds me of that government regulated hellhole in Minority Report. We are rapidly loosing our right to privacy...

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