Are you good with people? Would you like to help with some important research?
We're looking for twenty volunteers from across the U.S. who are comfortable approaching strangers to help with a survey. The time commitment is about 20-25 hours total, spread across several days (most likely on weekends). It's easy work, and for a very good cause.
If you'd like to be considered, please send an email with a daytime and evening phone number to the following address, and someone will follow up with you. If you're selected, you'll get training before we send you out. Thanks!
EMAIL INQUIRIES TO: research@nocards.org
First off, thank you to all of you wonderful people who sent me very nice welcome notes, insightful comments or questions on last week's newsletter, or suggestions for future newsletters. Your feedback is very important to us, as CASPIAN is first and foremost an activist organization. Welcome also to all of you who joined after hearing Katherine Albrecht on the Coast to Coast radio broadcast last week! We're pleased to have you aboard.
As I said, CASPIAN is an activist organization; and we want to expand our activism to help educate others about the real privacy threats that we face, and to let businesses know that individuals do care about consumer privacy issues. But, before we plunge in, it's a good idea to take stock of what we want to do, and how we want to do it.
Below is a survey covering various aspects of CASPIAN's activities. Responses will, of course, be kept completely confidential by me; I may report general patterns in a future newsletter, but will not publish any individual comments or participant information. Please answer any questions you wish -- but remember, the more information we have, the better we can work to keep CASPIAN a strong activist group. Thanks very much!
PLEASE COPY-PASTE THE SURVEY INTO YOUR EMAIL CLIENT AND SEND YOUR
RESPONSES TO: SUNNI@NOCARDS.ORG
1] What day of the week is best for you to receive our newsletter?
a) Sunday
b) Monday
c) Tuesday
d) Wednesday
e) Thursday
f) Friday
g) Saturday
2] The newsletter format I prefer is:
a) a feature essay with links to news and opinion stories
b) an index of news and commentary stories, with brief descriptions of what each is about
c) no preference
d) other (please describe)
3] Are you interested in CASPIAN merchandise?
a) Yes
b) No
c) It depends on the merchandise and price
4] If you would like to see CASPIAN offer merchandise, what would you be most likely to buy? (Please select all that apply)
a) T-shirts
b) sweatshirts
c) ball caps
d) coffee mugs
e) other merchandise (please describe)
5] If you're interested in CASPIAN clothing, what would you be MOST likely to buy? (Please indicate top choice with a "1"; and your second choice with a "2")
a) a general CASPIAN design
b) a design protesting my local supermarket's loyalty card {please indicate the supermarket}
(i) Kroger
(ii) Safeway
(iii) Albertsons
(iv) Winn Dixie
(v) other (please name)
c) general anti-RFID design
d) anti Wal-Mart design
e) other (please describe)
6] If someone in CASPIAN offers t-shirts or other clothing, they would most likely be high-quality gear (not CafePress). With that in mind, what is the MOST you'd be willing to pay for a CASPIAN- themed t-shirt, INCLUDING shipping costs?
a) $15 or less
b) $16-$20
c) $21-$25
d) I don't really care, I just want a good product to wear!
7] What kinds of activism are you interested in? (Please select all that apply)
a) sending CASPIAN newsletters and other messages to friends
b) writing letters to newspaper editors about CASPIAN and related issues
c) writing essays educating people about CASPIAN and its work and/or related issues
d) participating in boycotts, protests, and other events in my area
e) participating in boycotts, protests, and other events across the country as I'm able
f) planning/organizing CASPIAN events
g) promoting CASPIAN events
h) being a CASPIAN spokesperson (doing interviews and other media appearances)
i) helping with web site design and/or maintenance
j) setting up a local CASPIAN chapter
k) participating in a local CASPIAN chapter
l) helping create/distribute CASPIAN materials (pamphlets, videos, etc.)
m) financial support of CASPIAN events or projects
n) other (please describe)
8] Would you be interested in attending or helping to organize a CASPIAN conference?
a) No, I'm not interested in attending or organizing
b) I would probably attend but not help organize
c) I might be able to help depending upon the event's scheduling and/or location
d) Yes, I'm definitely interested in attending
e) Yes, I'm interested in attending and planning/organizing
9] What would you say is the most important aspect of CASPIAN's mission to you?
a) consumer "loyalty cards"
b) RFID
c) religion-based privacy/enumeration issues
d) general privacy issues
e) free-market privacy solutions (not based on laws/regulations)
f) other (please describe)
10] If you have other comments or ideas that you'd like to share, please include them here.
Thanks again for your participation!
Last week's reintroduction of the CASPIAN newsletter and Katherine Albrecht's appearance on the Coast to Coast radio program brought a flood of email to both of us. While much of it was very supportive, some individuals claimed that groups like CASPIAN are "paranoid" or are "overreacting". Instead of the "fear-mongering", some said we should buy stocks in RFID and related technologies and then sit back and enjoy the good life. I doubt that most readers are surprised to learn that I've not invested my life's savings in RFID technology. Even so, these objections to CASPIAN's mission, and that of related groups, shouldn't be taken lightly.
It is undeniably true that product tagging can improve a company's product supply chain. It's also true that product tagging might make some products cheaper, through better tracking and loss prevention, once the costs of tagging are low enough. I don't know of any individual who objects to these benefits of tagging, assuming that they are the motivation behind tagging. What groups like CASPIAN object to are the real, and coming, intrusions into an individual's privacy via RFID tags and consumer loyalty cards.
For example, Wal-Mart boasted last month that its electronic product code (EPC) rollout in the Dallas/Forth Worth area got off to a positive start (1). The switch from bar codes to EPCs, which involves RFID technology and which Wal-Mart has been touting as an improvement over bar codes (2), was accompanied by a PR campaign designed to sway individuals who disliked bar code technology. What this campaign failed to mention is that the use of RFID technology, particularly when it is
placed on individual items rather than pallets or shipping containers, can be an even more egregious violation of individual privacy than bar codes. (3)
The half-truths accompanying Wal-Mart's push to adopt RFID tagging are alarming enough, as Katherine Albrecht outlined in her press release (3). However, Wal-Mart is leaning on its suppliers very hard for the adoption of RFID tagging technology. Currently, eight suppliers are working with Wal-Mart on the case/pallet RFID tagging trials in Dallas. They are:
The March issue of Food Processing Magazine (5) admits that RFID tagging is happening "largely because Wal-Mart wants it to be." But the tagging is not without obstacles, especially for food processors; for example, it's hard to tag liquids and metal. And it brings significant costs to suppliers, which Wal-Mart has said that it won't help defray.
While it's true that a company is free to choose whether to enter into business with Wal-Mart or not, it's also true that Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. (In fact, Wal-Mart is so big that some pundits have credited the retail giant with single-handedly keeping the U.S. economy from getting in a worse state than it is.) That doesn't leave manufacturers with a lot of choices when it comes to selling products; and it probably means even fewer choices for consumers who are concerned about RFID monitoring and consumer databases.
That's the bottom line for privacy groups like CASPIAN: consumer choice. A consumer who wants greater privacy ought to be able to make that choice. Yet, is it likely that a company like Procter & Gamble will offer two identical products, with the only difference being the presence of an RFID tag? With the enormous economic clout a retailer like Wal-Mart or a manufacturing giant like Nestle has, their blanket adoption of RFID means that consumers have fewer choices. A recent Guardian (UK) article neatly summarizes the "myth of choice" many consumers face (6): it simply isn't economically feasible for some individuals, especially the elderly and infirm, to "vote with their feet" by shopping at markets that offer the privacy or other services or goods they prefer -- assuming such markets even exist.
Customers are more than mere vehicles for the transfer of capital. We are full participants in the economic process. It is consumer choice that led to Coca Cola's new formula (remember that?) being rejected; it is consumer choice that led to Wal-Mart becoming the dominant retail force in the U.S. Even though Wal-Mart is a huge market player, not all small-time or specialty stores have died -- in fact, some have flourished in Wal-Mart's shadow. Why? Because those stores cater to some niche that Wal-Mart cannot or will not fill. Sometimes that niche involves specialty items; sometimes it's good customer service.
But a consumer who isn't fully informed can't make a real choice. As Wal-Mart has already demonstrated, companies can "spin" their goals and intentions to make it sound as if what they're doing is completely innocuous and good for the consumer, when what they're doing could lead to a decrease in privacy. While CASPIAN isn't a pro-regulatory organization, the one area where it maintains that legislation can help protect consumers is in labeling laws. As long as companies exist in a culture that allows "little white lies" and accepts some amount of fudging of the truth, they will engage in such deceptive behavior. That's why voluntary labeling regulations, like the one calling for voluntary country of origin labeling (7), are met with skepticism. Accidents can happen (8), and should be dealt with appropriately by consumers and watchdog agencies. But a pattern of systematic, willful deception or covering up has no place in a free society. Laws that protect consumers against fraud are therefore justified.
Who knows where tagging and consumer tracking will head in the future? Could anyone have predicted from the days when Radio Shack was alone in asking for a customer's address that getting a zip code along with payment for a sale would be commonplace? Who would have predicted that AC Nielson would open an RFID "learning lab" for putting chips in its products (and what ARE its products, anyway)? (9) When the FBI's technological experts make a mistake with fingerprints (10), it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that companies like Kroger are responsibly using biometric technology to track employees, and in some areas of the U.S., in customer transactions (11).
Collecting information means that information can and will be used -- and as I made clear in my last essay, bought and sold. Often corporate databases get used in ways that are completely unexpected; some of these uses will be unwanted by consumers (12). Making an informed choice means that each consumer will be able to "vote" in the marketplace by clearly stating his or her preferences, not only for products but for services. If tagging consumer items and data-mining are pushed on consumers by businesses (often with the state's help) without meaningful consumer choice, then we all have lost.
Some individuals do long for days when a sticky price tag adorned each item on a store's shelf, not for the convenience but simply because it is a low-technology system. More individuals appreciate the conveniences of technology, but aren't willing to blindly accept those without a critical assessment of the risks. No one is more interested in keeping information private than the individual whose information is at stake. Governments and businesses alike have shown themselves to be willing to bend on privacy, especially when they think there's little attention or opposition. Groups like CASPIAN aren't naive enough to think that ID will magically become unnecessary. Rather, we prefer a free market that offers real, private choices, with rewards for good performance and penalties for poor performance; this is just as applicable for information technology as it is for restaurants (13).
Many organizations rightly question the state's role in information collection, distribution, and use; CASPIAN is one of the few that shines a similar spotlight on corporations' use and abuse of consumer information. Without customers, a business will die. In my experience, most privacy activists understand that consumer information is a valuable commodity, now that it can be easily collected and used. What we don't want is its widespread abuse, or an absence of choices for those who wish to opt out of databases, or even just certain uses of databases. All we really want is some consumer respect. (14) And we aren't going to stop questioning, and challenging, and making a fuss until we get it.
References:
(To reconstruct multi-line links, cut and paste; delete any spaces;
or copy-paste one line at a time, without spaces)
1) http://www.walmartstores.com/wmstore/wmstores/Mainnews.jsp?BV_
SessionID=@@@@1963874720.1088028997@@@@&BV_EngineID=
cccjadcljlggefdcfkfcfkjdgoodglh.0&pagetype=news&template=
NewsArticle.jsp&categoryOID=-8300&contentOID=13839&catID=
-8248&prevPage=NewsShelf.jsp&year=2004
2) http://www.walmartstores.com/wmstore/wmstores/Mainnews.jsp?BV_
SessionID=@@@@1963874720.1088028997@@@@&BV_EngineID=
cccjadcljlggefdcfkfcfkjdgoodglh.0&pagetype=news&template=
NewsArticle.jsp&categoryOID=-8300&contentOID=13794&catID=
null&prevPage=NewsShelf.jsp&year=2004
3) http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/wal-mart-texas.html
4) http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1612365,00.asp
5) http://www.foodprocessing.com/Web_First/fp.nsf/ArticleID/DFUO-
5WSUPU?OpenDocument
6) http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1238875,00.html
7) http://www.agriculture.com/default.sph/AgNews.class?FNC=goDetail
__ANewsindex_html___51842___1
8) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/07/hdd_wipe_shortcomings/
9) http://www.acnielsen.com/news/american/us/2004/20040415.htm
10) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001944007_
fingerprint01m.html
11) http://www.detnews.com/2004/business/0406/23/a01-192603.htm
12) http://www.komotv.com/stories/31775.htm
13) http://www.doingfreedom.com/gen/0304/nonid0304.html
14) http://www.customerrespect.com/upload/Ten_Rules.pdf
BUGMENOT LETS YOU INTO
"REGISTRATION ONLY" NEWS SITES
Are you tired of being required to log in to
see a newspaper web site? Can't keep up with your current newspaper registration
names and passwords? Ditch 'em and use this
handy page. BugMeNot.com (http://www.bugmenot.com/) asks for the web site you
want to access, then offers you a username and password to access it. You can
also add the registration information you create, to help others log in to web
sites more anonymously. Thanks, BugMeNot!
OPT OUT OF CALLER ID
SNOOPING
Did you know that more and more individuals and businesses are using Caller
ID technology to identify you when you make a
phone call? This happens whether you have Caller ID or not -- and can make your
telephone number visible to people you don't want to give it to (even unlisted
numbers are revealed with Caller ID). For a good overview of why you might want
to block Caller ID, and times when you don't want to block it, please see:
http://www.astound.net/callerID_block.htm
You can opt out of Caller ID, though, by calling your telephone company and asking for "Caller ID blocking". This service is free in most areas, and if you value your privacy, it's definitely worth the phone call. (Note that some calls, such as to 911, can't be blocked.) Check into it, and if you decide you want greater phone number privacy, sign up for your company's service -- and be sure to thank them for helping protect your privacy.
SEND THE FTC YOUR COMMENTS
ON RFID USES
There's still a couple of weeks to send your RFID comments to the FTC regarding
consumer use of RFID tags. Please browse their information, and share your thoughts
on this fast-moving technology. COMMENTS DEADLINE IS JULY 9, 2004.
http://www.ftc.gov/rfidworkshop/
Don't forget to copy-paste the survey at the top of the newsletter into an email, and indicate your responses before sending it to me at sunni@nocards.org . Your feedback is much appreciated, and will help ensure that CASPIAN stays on top of the consumer privacy issues most important to you. Thanks again!
Confidentially yours,
Sunni
CASPIAN: Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion
and Numbering
Opposing supermarket "loyalty" cards and other retail surveillance
schemes since 1999
http://www.nocards.org/
http://www.spychips.com/
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http://www.nocards.org/cgi/mojo/mojo.cgi
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