Caspian Activists Update:

Hooray! Your calls and letters added to the heat in Sutter, California, where the Brittan Elementary school principal and superintendent had mandated that students be tracked with RFID tags worn around their necks. Now those kids are spychip-free, thanks to the efforts of freedom-loving citizens, committed civil libertarians, and brave kids and parents who just said, "No!"

For the last two weeks, national attention has focused on a small town, Big-Brother school, and its ill-conceived plan to track kids through spychipped security badges. Bad publicity, parent protests, the involvement of civil liberties organizations, threatened lawsuits, and a torrent of negative phone calls and email finally caused InCom, the company behind the technology, to call the whole thing off.

Thanks for your help in killing this awful program!

Source: Read the letter sent to the board of trustees by ACLU, EPIC, and EFF: [PDF file]

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Breaking news from the Washington Post:

Source: BizRate, 2/17/05 (Reprint from the Washington Post)

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Thumbs up to Casual Male for overhauling its supply chain and improving customer service the right way. The clothing retailer recently updated its inventory management system and now guarantees delivery of an item within five days if it isn't available in the store -- or the item is free.

The best part of the story is that Casual Male accomplished its supply chain overhaul without applying a single RFID tag to its clothing or shipping containers. We hope their success encourages other retailers to implement similar solutions to their inventory issues.

Source: Source: RFID Insights, 2/7/05

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Businesses adopting RFID have more to worry about than consumer backlash, say legal experts. They could find themselves engaged in expensive court battles if they violate laws governing individual privacy rights.

At present, it is unclear exactly where RFID chips and readers fall under existing national, state and jurisdictional laws. For example, is RFID a type of "electronic communication" covered by the U.S. federal Wiretap Act? This is just one of the many complex legal questions that may soon plague the industry as companies inch the technology closer and closer to consumers.

Until these issues are resolved, lawyers caution adopters to tread carefully. As Toronto attorney Javad Heydary points out in a recent column, "Any organization contemplating the use of RFID should start by ensuring that it is aware of its privacy obligations under different laws before it starts accumulating data that can come back to haunt it later."

Sources: RFID Journal, 2/14/05
E Commerce Times, 2/3/05

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Lowes Foods, a regional grocery chain, has announced that it's test-marketing a biometric payment system in its North Carolina stores. The company's news release states, "There is no cost for customers to enroll or use the program," as if giving an ID, fingerprint scans, checking account information, and "loyalty card and age information" isn't a cost to individuals who value privacy. The report also casually drops in a mention that once a person is enrolled, his or her data are shared with all retailers in the BioPay system.

Source: Progressive Grocer, 2/8/05
Voice your concerns to Lowes: lfscustomercare@lowesfoods.com
Phone 336-659-0180; or 800-311-2117 (note that calling 800 numbers reveals your identity to the company)
Fax 336-768-4702

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Oops! Someone forgot to tell students at the UK's University of Warwick about the RFID spychips in their university ID cards. The cards, which also serve as library cards, are reportedly beaming out identity information about students without their knowledge or consent as they pass reader devices at the library and other campus locations.

Because it's shockingly easy to hide an RFID tag in a plastic card, people need to remain vigilant even in countries like Great Britain where there are strict privacy laws. The EU's 2002 "E-Privacy Directive" outlaws the processing of "location data" (RFID data included) without "the consent of the individual." We'd love to see the lawsuits that arise out of this one!

Source: Warwick Boar, 1/25/05

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In California, the Berkeley Public Library system plans to lay off more than a dozen workers, while dropping a cool $650,000 to place RFID chips in over half a million books. Berkeley residents and library employees have a hard time understanding how RFID will "increase patron privacy," since the company doing the chipping is none other than the notorious Checkpoint Systems, the company recently caught hiding RFID tags in Calvin Klein and other clothing labels, then trying to cover it up after the fact.

In response to growing concerns about the use of RFID, The American Library Association (ALA) has published a resolution on RFID chip usage and patron privacy. While we're glad the ALA plans to monitor "the potential misuse of RFID technology to collect information on library users' reading habits and other activities without their consent or knowledge," we have a better idea: libraries should steer clear of this dangerous technology in the first place.

Sources:
Berkeley Daily Planet, 2/15/05
Alameda Times-Star, 2/8/05
ALA web site

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ID World, an annual gathering of "the ID revolution community," boasts a page on its website featuring "visionaries and pioneers in the field of automatic identification." We thought you'd like to see who's behind much of the technology that is so profoundly changing our world.

Source: ID World

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We are sorry to see privacy-friendly K-Mart go. Sears has announced its plans for K-Mart stores after their merger: they'll be re-branded "Sears Essentials," and will feature some of Sears' more popular lines while keeping the K-Mart focus on daily necessities. Unlike K-Mart, Sears won't let you get past the checkout these days without pestering you to give your phone number or register your purchases in a club. We wish the outcome of this merger were more K-Mart and less Sears.

Recent mega-corporate mergers, including the P&G/Gillette and Verizon/MCI deals, spell bad news for consumers who value privacy. As retail diversity dwindles, leaving us all with fewer and fewer shopping options, it becomes even more important to speak out about what matters to you. If you want to keep your local no-cards, no-chips stores and products, you need to reward them -- both in words and with your shopping dollars.

Source: Seattle Times, 2/9/05

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From our German friends FoeBuD comes word of disturbing plans by German authorities to turn the 2006 World Cup into a mega-surveillance snoopfest. Application forms for tickets to the football (Americans, read "soccer") world championship require fans to give up an amazing amount of sensitive information, including passport number, nationality, financial information, and birth date. Information is also required for all others receiving tickets, even if they're not the purchasers. "Sifting out notorious trouble makers" is the excuse for this astonishing information grab.

Those fans "lucky" enough to get tickets will be in for another privacy shocker: They will have "personalized" RFID-chipped tickets that enable authorities and others to track their movements during the event.

The use of RFID chips to monitor sporting events isn't limited to Germany. The SuperFest held in Florida in conjunction with this year's Super Bowl relied on RFID-chipped wrist bands for age verification and cashless payment.

Sources:
FoeBuD/StopRFID
The Register, 2/8/05
Jacksonville Business Journal, 1/26/05

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What does a company do when faced with a consumer backlash over an unpopular technology that gives marginal results? Apparently, if they've invested millions and staked their careers on it, they talk it up so they're not left holding the bag.

With news of the Tesco boycott hitting the first page of the company's Google results, Tesco exec Colin Cobain has apparently decided it's time to call on his industry cronies to "believe" in RFID. In a recent interview, he said the toughest part of pushing RFID is "getting people to believe. Because until they believe this is going to be the future, they are not going to do the right thing."

Deploying dangerous technology that puts your customers at risk is not the right to do, Mr. Cobain. Shame on you.

Sources:
North Jersey.com, 2/8/05
Tech World, 2/7/05

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Katherine Albrecht, CASPIAN founder, was a featured keynote speaker at the 6th annual Security & Privacy Conference in Victoria, BC, Canada last week. Katherine's address, delivered to a crowd of over 800 privacy and security professionals, has brought many new members and newsletter subscribers to CASPIAN. A warm welcome to all!

Source: Security & Privacy Conference 2005 page

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Need evidence that data collection is out of control? Next time someone says, "Oh, come on, nobody cares that much about your life," pull out a copy of the new book by Washington Post journalist Robert O'Harrow, titled No Place to Hide: Behind the Scenes of Our Emerging Surveillance Society.

This groundbreaking book provides incontrovertible evidence that corporations really ARE spying on you, with a degree of intensity that will leave you speechless -- and mad. Even we learned a thing or two.

How to get the book? Support your local, independent bookseller, and preserve your privacy, too, by buying the book with cash at a bookstore near your home. Check BookSense to find a store near you. Or, you can buy the book online, and choose from three computer-based formats.

O'Harrow's book was featured in a recent Peter Jennings television special, as well as a Fresh Air interview on NPR.

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Robert Smith's Privacy Journal web site is an excellent resource for a wide variety of privacy information. It's easy to read and offers realistic and practical advice. From the site you can also subscribe to Privacy Journal and order Smith's books. Drop by and benefit from Smith's expertise.

http://www.privacyjournal.net/

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Bruce Schneier's web site is a good place to go for security-related information. His books and essays are available, and his "Schneier on Security" web log is regularly updated with news, ideas, and other sound information, and you can subscribe to his Crypto-Gram email newsletter. An impressive resource.

http://www.schneier.com/

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