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March 11, 2006
Brilliant anti-RFID protest in Germany
Get a load of what our German privacy colleagues from FoeBuD did at the CeBIT conference this week in Hannover, Germany! This has to be one of the most brilliant things I have ever seen. I am in complete awe of these people.
(Click for a full-res version to see the balloons!)
Here, I'll let one of my FoeBud friends describe what happened in his own words:
A group of FoeBuDniks went to the CeBIT on opening day and enrolled a StopRFID banner right in front of the METRO stand. They inflated several dozen toy balloons with helium, fixed them to the banner so that it hung suspended, and somehow manoeuvred it all through the exhibition hall.
I don't yet know of any English coverage of the story, so, for the moment, one German source (Heise) may be enough to give an impression of what happened:
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/70601
If you don't understand the text, you will nonetheless see what the picture says and does... ;-)
And what the operation *did*:It was taken up by German news agency DPA and thus published in who-knows-how-many daily papers. One of the participants even gave an interview to French TV.
Is that awesome or what??
Anyone in America up for trying to top FoeBud's record for most original anti-RFID protest?
If you've read Spychips, you'll recognize FoeBuD as the organization that helped us uncover the METRO Future Store scandals in 2004 (See Spychips Chapter 6: The RFID Retail Zoo, p. 72.)
http://www.spychips.com/metro/albrecht-tour-1.html
Including the spychip hidden in METRO's frequent shopper card:
http://www.spychips.com/metro/scandal-payback.html
They're the guys who pummelled METRO with a protest, too:
http://www.spychips.com/metro/protest.html
You gotta love 'em!
-Katherine Albrecht
Posted by Katherine Albrecht at March 11, 2006 6:05 AM