For those of you who remember the CASPIAN survey I sent out in a newsletter a while ago, I have begun tallying your responses _ which numbered over one hundred -- and will have a report on it as soon as I'm able. The CASPIAN staff plans to make full use of your responses, especially the willingness many of you expressed in various sorts of activism and education projects. Please exercise your patience with us a bit longer -- we'll do our best to reward you well for it!
If you haven't already responded to the survey, or weren't on this newsletter list when it went out, and would like to participate, please send me an email requesting it be sent to you. My email address for all CASPIAN work is: sunni@nocards.org
Thanks!
-Sunni
First, I believe I speak for Katherine Albrecht and all the CASPIAN staff in apologizing for the unintended interruption in the newsletter. This has been a busy summer of travel and public appearances for me, as well as Katherine, and when juggling so many balls, a few inevitably drop.
One of the reasons the newsletter has been AWOL so long is the participation of both Katherine and myself at this year's Eris Society conference. I was one of the organizers, and Katherine delivered an excellent, jaw-dropping presentation on RFID tracking capabilities. (For those who may be interested, an audio cassette recording of her presentation will be available; I will publish the URL for ordering it when it's available.)
I thought that, with my dual hats as news reporter for this publication as well as another one, I was pretty up to date on RFID tracking technology. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that some of what Katherine talked about surprised even me -- but it caught many of the Eris attendees completely unaware. She did an excellent job covering all the bases, and was one of the best (and most sought-after) speakers of the entire conference.
So, the summer has been a time of growing pains for CASPIAN, as we juggled the challenges of launching the newsletter, coordinating our activist goals with your interests and the available (just about nonexistent) budget, and trying to keep up with the explosion of consumer privacy issues.
Fortunately, it's also been a season of growing pains for the pushers of privacy-threatening technology. While various corporate
entities have been enthusiastically pushing RFID tagging, many CEOs still don't understand the technology and overall, don't seem to be in a hurry to embrace it -- especially since costs are still on the high side. Privacy advocates' messages have had a major impact in slowing adoption of the technology and many within the privacy and engineering communities are working to find ways to render RFID tags and the information they contain useless.
One of the strongest voices on general privacy issues of late has been the ACLU. An August report titled "The Surveillance-Industrial Complex" documents what CASPIAN has been saying for years _ that the U.S. government and corporations are working together to create a surveillance society: http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=16226&c=282
They conclude that individual activism is an important part of checking both state and industry abuse of consumer information. Many individuals appear to have already conceded the battle, thinking that with so many Goliaths to fight, the Davids just can't win. Such defeatist thinking certainly doesn't help the odds! As public awareness mounts on consumer privacy issues, our voices have gained momentum. Also, more information is becoming available on ways to tweak or defeat both tags and readers:
http://news.com.com/RFID+tags+become+hacker+target/2100-1029_3-5287912.html
(paste to above to get complete link)
Meanwhile, users of RFID tagging have been very hard at work trying to tout the benefits of using this technology:
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1489605519;fp;2;fpid;1
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/989/1/1/
Its use in hospitals is being promoted as a safety
mechanism for patients, and to track staff:
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1088/1/1/
What proponents seem to forget, however, is that any technology is only as good as the individuals using it. Wearing an RFID-chipped badge will no more protect a patient from receiving the wrong care than do the current wrist bands, since medical staff errors almost always result from human carelessness rather than insufficient or inadequate technology.
We privacy advocates have been sounding the alarm for years, and our hard work is beginning to pay off. The seeds we have planted to educate the public about consumer privacy issues have begun to sprout. There is more mainstream awareness of the problem than ever before, and our opponents are scrambling to respond. It's a season of growing pains for the industry as well as the activists -- and if we keep our goals in sight and work diligently toward them, we can turn back the tide of tracking everything everywhere.
Confidentially yours,
Sunni
SHOPPING WITHOUT A CARD
by Katherine Albrecht, CASPIAN Founder
People living in towns where all the major supermarkets have gone to cards often write to tell us they feel compelled to use a "loyalty" card that monitors their shopping. They believe they have no other choice.
How have we gotten to such a pass? And what is the solution? A few years back I clearly saw that the solution to a dwindling number of "good" stores was to be nice to the ones we had left. If we consumers want to encourage consumer-friendly practices, we have to seek out stores that treat us well and support them with our money. Thank them. Write them letters of praise. Recommend them to our friends and family members.
The basic responsibility of every consumer in a market-based, capitalist society is to reward good behavior with money and punish bad behavior by withholding it. Apparently a fair number consumers have been doing just that. CASPIAN's Associate Director John Vanderlippe has been watching the financial figures for grocery chains across the country. He reports
that card-free chains like Publix, Meijer, and Trader Joe's have been doing fairly well in recent years, while stores with newly-minted card programs like Winn Dixie and Albertsons are not doing well at all.
Interestingly, we've watched many stores experience a steep drop in profitability just a few quarters after introducing a new card program. The card -- and the anti-shopper mentality behind it -- appears to have a negative effect on the bottom line over time. That's good news for us consumers. It means the market is working.
Now comes the hard part for people stranded in a sea of card stores: we have to keep boycotting the stores that treat us poorly until they see the error of their ways.
If you're one of the lucky ones and you still have a major card-free grocery chain left in your town, SHOP THERE! The Wall Street Journal, CBS Evening News, and dozens of local news outlets have all confirmed that you will pay less for your groceries at a card-free chain than you will at a comparable card store -- even if you take advantage of the supposed "card savings." And you'll be doing your part by punishing the card stores with your absence.
But what if all of the advertised, big-name, national chains around you have gone to cards? When I started CASPIAN in 1999, boycotting card stores simply meant driving an extra mile or two down the street to another major store without a card. But it's getting harder to find a card-free national chain anymore. In your town there may not be a single major supermarket left without a card. So what's a conscientious shopper to do?
The answer is to leave the mega-chains and find alternative grocery shopping options. If you live in a metropolitan area, there are probably several non-famous (i.e., not advertised) supermarkets that you've driven past and not even noticed. These are typically local, family-owned businesses that are unlikely to start asking you to pay for your groceries with an iris scan or a chip implant. Even most of you who live in rural areas can still probably find a family-owned local store somewhere. Seek these stores out and give them your business -- and thank them. They may be our last refuge against the trend toward total shopper surveillance.
I make a mental note of any supermarket I pass whose name I do not recognize, and do a private high-five with the universe that such stores still exist. If I have time, I'll stop in to buy a soda and chat with the checker to see if they have a card or plans to implement one. They almost never do.
In many ways, these stores remind me of the markets of my childhood. They are typically smaller than the big chains, not as well lit, and overall not as "slick." But that can be a good thing. Not only does it mean the store is probably not experimenting with the latest in GPS shopping cart tracking technology (see: http://www.sorensen-associates.com/files/pathtracker.pdf) or slipping you an RFID-laced loyalty card (see: http://www.spychips.com/metro/scandal-payback.html or http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/solutions/pos/loyalty.shtml), it means there are fewer layers of bureaucracy between you and the owner, so your complaints and praise go right to the top -- you actually matter to the store.
The prices may be a little higher at a small, locally owned store, but I figure I'd gladly drop $5-$10 into a "keep good stores alive" fund if such a thing existed, so why should't I transfer the same $5-$10 in a more efficient way -- directly to the owner of a good store himself? It will certainly go a long way to keeping these stores around.
If there's a lesson I've learned in five years of conscientious shopping, it's that there's more to looking out for your best interest than simply finding the store with the cheapest price. If protecting your privacy and keeping independent food retailers in business means paying a few extra dollars to a locally owned store, do it with a smile -- and dont forget to say "thanks" on your way out.
CASPIAN: Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion
and Numbering
Opposing supermarket "loyalty" cards and
other retail surveillance schemes since 1999
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