Are You Guys Ready For Your National ID Cards?

[MagentaCandle]

RFID employs a numbering scheme called EPC (for "electronic product code") which can provide a unique ID for any physical object in the world. The EPC is intended to replace the UPC bar code used on products today.

Unlike the bar code, however, the EPC goes beyond identifying product categories--it actually assigns a unique number to every single item that rolls off a manufacturing line. For example, each pack of cigarettes, individual can of soda, light bulb or package of razor blades produced would be uniquely identifiable through its own EPC number.

Once assigned, this number is transmitted by a radio frequency ID tag (RFID) in or on the product. These tiny tags, predicted by some to cost less than 1 cent each, are "somewhere between the size of a grain of sand and a speck of dust." They are to be built directly into food, clothes, drugs, or auto-parts during the manufacturing process.

Receiver or reader devices are used to pick up the signal transmitted by the RFID tag. Proponents envision a pervasive global network of millions of receivers along the entire supply chain -- in airports, seaports, highways, distribution centers, warehouses, retail stores, and in the home. This would allow for seamless, continuous identification and tracking of physical items as they move from one place to another, enabling companies to determine the whereabouts of all their products at all times.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Steven Van Fleet, an executive at International Paper, looks forward to the prospect. "We'll put a radio frequency ID tag on everything that moves in the North American supply chain," he enthused recently.

The ultimate goal is for RFID to create a "physically linked world" in which every item on the planet is numbered, identified, catalogued, and tracked. And the technology exists to make this a reality. Described as "a political rather than a technological problem," creating a global system "would . . . involve negotiation between, and consensus among, different countries." Supporters are aiming for worldwide acceptance of the technologies needed to build the infrastructure within the next few years.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Though many RFID proponents appear focused on inventory and supply chain efficiency, others are developing financial and consumer applications that, if adopted, will have chilling effects on consumers' ability to escape the oppressive surveillance of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers. Of course, government and law enforcement will be quick to use the technology to keep tabs on citizens, as well.

The European Central Bank has been quietly working to embed RFID tags in the fibers of Euro banknotes since 2005. The tag allows money to carry its own history by recording information about where it has been, thus giving governments and law enforcement agencies a means to literally "follow the money" in every transaction. If and when RFID devices are embedded in banknotes, the anonymity that cash affords in consumer transactions will be eliminated.

Hitachi Europe wants to supply the tags. The company has developed a smart tag chip that--at just 0.3mm square and as thin as a human hair -- can easily fit inside of a banknote. Mass-production of the new chip is currently underway.

 

[MagentaCandle]

RFID would expand marketers' ability to monitor individuals' behavior to undreamt of extremes. With corporate sponsors like Wal-Mart, Target, the Food Marketing Institute, Home Depot, and British supermarket chain Tesco, as well as some of the world's largest consumer goods manufacturers including Proctor and Gamble, Phillip Morris, and Coca Cola it may not be long before RFID-based surveillance tags begin appearing in every store-bought item in a consumer's home.

According to a video tour of the "Home of the Future" and "Store of the Future" sponsored by Proctor and Gamble, applications could include shopping carts that automatically bill consumers' accounts (cards would no longer be needed to link purchases to individuals), refrigerators that report their contents to the supermarket for re-ordering, and interactive televisions that select commercials based on the contents of a home's refrigerator.

Now that shopper cards have whetted their appetite for data, marketers are no longer content to know who buys what, when, where, and how. As incredible as it may seem, they are now planning ways to monitor consumers' use of products within their very homes. RFID tags coupled with indoor receivers installed in shelves, floors, and doorways, could provide a degree of omniscience about consumer behavior that staggers the imagination.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Consider the following statements by John Stermer, Senior Vice President of eBusiness Market Development at ACNielsen:

"After bar codes the next 'big thing' was frequent shopper cards. While these did a better job of linking consumers and their purchases, loyalty cards were severely limited...consider the usage, consumer demographic, psychographic and economic blind spots of tracking data.... Something more integrated and holistic was needed to provide a ubiquitous understanding of on- and off-line consumer purchase behavior, attitudes and product usage. The answer: RFID (radio frequency identification) technology.... In an industry first, RFID enables the linking of all this product information with a specific consumer identified by key demographic and psychographic markers....Where once we collected purchase information, now we can correlate multiple points of consumer product purchase with consumption specifics such as the how, when and who of product use."

 

[MagentaCandle]

Marketers aren't the only ones who want to watch what you do in your home. Enter again the health surveillance connection. Some have suggested that pill bottles in medicine cabinets be tagged with RFID devices to allow doctors to remotely monitor patient compliance with prescriptions.

While developers claim that RFID technology will create "order and balance" in a chaotic world, even the center's executive director, Kevin Ashton, acknowledges there's a "Brave New World" feel to the technology. He admits, for example, that people might balk at the thought of police using RFID to scan the contents of a car's trunk without needing to open it.

The Center's co-director, Sanjay E. Sarma, has already begun planning strategies to counter the public backlash he expects the system will encounter.

 

[Woody Sideman]

ah ha!

I've figured it out. I knew I recognised the style of writing.

You are peaceinspace

Have fun talking to yourself

Woody

 

[Aponi]

I agree that this is just the first step. And while I'm sure (?) there are benefits, I don't like it. I'll carry their stupid card--you can always leave that at home if you want to. But no way are they chipping me. And that's where it will really get tough.

 

[MagentaCandle]

I know that a Big Brother vision of the future sounds farfetched. I assure you that this seemingly impossible future is on the drawing board, and I promise that you will be convinced, too.

In a future world laced with RFID spychips, cards in your wallet could "squeal" on you as you enter malls, retail outlets, and grocery stores, announcing your presence and value to businesses. Reader devices hidden in the doors, walls, displays, and floors could frisk the RFID chips in your clothes and other items on your person to determine your age, sex, and preferences. Since spychip information travels through clothing, they could even get a peek at the color and size of your underwear.

I'm not joking. A major worldwide clothing manufacturer named Benetton has already tried to embed RFID chips into women's undergarments. And they would have gotten away with it, too, had it not been for an international outcry when we exposed their plan.

While consumers might be able to avoid spychipped clothing brands for now, they could be forced to wear RFID-enabled work clothes to earn a living. Already uniform companies like AmeriPride and Cintas are embedding RFID tracking tags into their clothes that can withstand high temperature commercial washings.

Don't have to wear a chipped uniform to work? Your RFID-enabled employee badge could do the spying instead. One day, these devices could tell management who you're chatting with at the water cooler and how long you've spent in the restroom—even whether or not you've washed your hands. There's already a product called iHygiene that can monitor the handwashing habits of RFID-tagged employees during bathroom visits.

Our next generation of workers could be conditioned to obediently accept this degrading surveillance through forced early exposure. Some schools are already requiring students to wear spychipped identification badges around their necks to keep closer tabs on their daily activities. If Johnny is one-minute late for math class, the system knows. It's always watching.

Retailers are thrilled at the idea of being able to price products according to your purchase history and value to the store. RFID will allow them to assess your worth as you pick up products and flash you a corresponding customer-specific price. Prime customers might pay three dollars for a staple like peanut butter while "bargain shoppers" or the economically challenged could be charged twice as much. The goal is to encourage the loyalty of shoppers who contribute to the profit margins while discouraging those who don't. After all, stores justify, why have unprofitable customers cluttering the store and breathing their air?

 

[MagentaCandle]

RFID chips embedded in passbooks and ATM cards will identify and profile customers as they enter bank lobbies, beaming bank balances to employees who will snicker at the customer with a mere thirty-seven dollars in the bank while offering white glove treatment to the high-rollers.

RFID could also be used to infringe upon civil liberties. The technology could give government officials the ability to electronically frisk citizens without their knowledge and set up invisible checkpoints on roads and in pedestrian zones to monitor their movements.

While RFID proponents claim they would never use RFID to track people, the fact is that they are not only considering it, they've done it. The United States government has already controlled people with RFID-laced bracelets—and not just criminals. And now they're planning to embed spychips in U.S. passports so citizens can be tracked as they move about airport terminals and cross international borders.

Hitting the open road will no longer be the "get away from it all" experience many of us crave. You may already be under surveillance, courtesy of your RFID-enabled highway toll transponder. Some highways, like those in the Houston area, have set up readers that probe the tag's information every few miles. But that's child's play compared to what they've got planned. The Federal Highway Administration is joining with states and vehicle manufacturers to promote "intelligent vehicles" that can be monitored and tracked through built-in RFID devices (Minority Report-style).

RFID spychips in your shoes and car tires will make it possible for strangers to track you as you walk and drive through public and private spaces, betraying your habits and the deepest secrets even your own mother has no right knowing. Pair RFID devices with global positioning (GPS) technology, and you could literally be pinpointed on the globe in real time, creating a borderless tracking system that already has law enforcement, governments, stalkers, and voyeurs salivating.

There will be no more secret love letters in the RFID world, either—not if the U.S. Postal Service has its way. They would like to embed every postage stamp with an RFID chip that would enable point-to-point tracking. Even more disturbingly, RFID could remove the anonymity of cash. Already, the European Union has discussed chipping Euro banknotes, and the Bank of Japan is contemplating a similar program for high-value currency. Your every purchase could be under the microscope.

So could your trash. In the RFID world, garbage will become a snoop's and criminal's best friend. Today, it's a dirty job sifting through diapers and table scraps to get at tell-tale signs of a household's market value, habits, and purchases. In the RFID world, scanning trash could be a simple as driving down the street with a car-mounted reader on trash day.

How about the "smart" house? Researchers have developed prototype "homes of the future" to showcase RFID-enabled household gadgets like refrigerators that know what's in them (and can tattletale to marketers), medicine cabinets that talk (to your doctor, government, and HMO), and floors that keep track of where you are at each moment. The potential is staggering. Your insurance company could remotely monitor your food consumption and set rates accordingly, health officials could track the prescription drugs you're taking, and attorneys could subpoena your home activity records for use against you in court.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Home RFID networks will allow family members to remotely track you during your "golden years," or times of incompetence, real or otherwise. Doors can remain bolted to keep you from wandering, toilets can monitor your bowel habits and transmit data to distant physicians, and databases can sense your state of mind. It's all under development and headed your way.

But chipping inanimate objects is just the start. The endpoint is a form of RFID that can be injected into flesh. Pets and livestock are already being chipped, and there are those who believe humans should be next. Incredibly, bars have begun implanting their patrons with glass-encapsulated RFID tags that can be used to pay for drinks. This application startles many Christians who have likened payment applications of RFID to biblical predictions about the Mark of the Beast, a number the book of Revelation says will be needed to buy or sell in the "end times."

While some of these applications are slated for our future, others are already here, right now—and they're spreading. Wal-Mart has mandated that its top one hundred suppliers affix RFID tags to crates and pallets being shipped to selected warehouses. Analysts estimate this one initiative alone has already driven close to $250 million worth of investment in the technology. Other retailers such as Albertsons, Target, and Best Buy have followed suit with mandates of their own. According to one industry analyst, there are now sixty thousand companies operating under RFID mandates and scrambling to get with the spychip program as quickly as possible.

Adding fuel to the fire, the Department of Defense is also requiring suppliers to use RFID. In fact, government cheerleaders can't fall over themselves fast enough to support the technology. The Department of Homeland Security is testing the use of RFID in visas, and the Social Security Administration is using spychips to track citizen files. Not to be outdone, the Food and Drug Administration wants RFID on all prescription drugs, and the makers of Oxycontin and Viagra have already begun to comply. The FDA has also approved the use of subcutaneous RFID implants for managing patient medical records—the same implants being used to track bar patrons.

You may have already brought a spychip home with you. If you own a toll transponder or a Mobil Speedpass, you're interacting with RFID every time you use it. And if you bought Procter & Gamble's Lipfinity lipstick at a Wal-Mart in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, between March and June of 2003, you could have brought home a live RFID chip in the product packaging and unknowingly starred in a video, too!

P&G is not the only company that's tested spychips on unwitting consumers. Gillette was also caught tagging packages of Mach3 razor blades with some of the 500 million (that's half a billion!) RFID chips it put on order in early 2003. There's also evidence to suggest that other everyday products like Pantene Shampoo, Purina Dog Chow, and Huggies baby wipes may have been tagged with RFID chips and sold to unsuspecting consumers.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Why would anyone want to keep such close track on everyday objects? The answer is simple. Businesses want the technology to give them complete visibility of their products at all times. Having this real-time knowledge would allow them to keep products on store shelves and know precisely what's in their warehouses. They also believe it could help them fight theft and counterfeiting. Theoretically, it could even eliminate the checkstand, since doorways could scan your purchases automatically when you leave the store and charge them to an RFID-based account.

While some of these goals may sound appealing, the problem is what happens when spychipped products leave the store with us and find their way into other areas of our lives.

The seamy details that have been discovered make the spychipped future look more like the ending scene of a gut-wrenching Outer Limits episode.

 

[MagentaCandle]

One of the consumer privacy nightmares is for those little anti-theft tags (known in the industry as "EAS" tags) to someday be combined with individually trackable RFID chips and slipped into consumer products.

An article in Friday's RFID Journal (posted below), reveals that Checkpoint Systems has actually developed a product tag that combines anti-theft and RFID tracking capabilities. The tags will debut this week at the RFID Journal Live! Conference in Orlando, Florida. What's more, Sensormatic, Checkpoint's only serious competitor, is running a whole conference session to describe the benefits of using this combined tracking technology.

This is beyond a doubt one of the most important and dangerous developments in the consumer privacy arena today. It means consumers may soon be buying, wearing, and carrying products tagged with RFID at the item level, because Checkpoint and Sensormatic specialize in hiding anti-theft tags deep inside of products, then distributing those products to nearly a million retail locations worldwide.

Now they want to do the same thing with RFID spychips. If they are not stopped, Checkpoint and Sensormatic will soon be hiding these dual-use tracking devices in your belongings, where they will be able to silently and secretly transmit information about you to marketers, criminals, and Big Brother.

This will be a consumer privacy nightmare and no one will even know it's happening. That's because industry lobbyists have prevented RFID labeling legislation from passing anywhere in the nation. There is no requirement that retailers or manufacturers tell us when they're hiding RFID tags in our clothes, shoes, books, or anything else.

Our only protection against this threat is the strength of our voices and the power of our protests.

Here is a list of the companies that have joined the RFID journal conferences:

? Academy Sports & Outdoors
? Albertsons
? The ALDO Group
? Anheuser-Busch
? Best Buy
? Blockbuster
? Blommer Chocolate
? Brass Eagle
? CDW Corp.
? Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream
? Electrolux
? Energizer Battery
? Fuji Photo Film USA
? The Gap
? General Mills
? Gillette Company
? Hampton Products
? Hasbro
? Hershey Foods
? Hewlett Packard (HP)
? Hunter Fan
? Hy-Vee, Inc.
? Jockey International
? Johnson & Johnson
? Johnsonville Sausage
? Kellogg Co.
? Kimberly-Clark
? Limited Brands
? L'Oreal USA
? Loblaws
? Louisville Bedding
? Lowe's Companies
? Luxottica Retail
? Maidenform Worldwide
? Mars
? Marubeni America
? Masterfoods USA
? McIlhenny Co.
? Meyer Corp.
? Nestle USA
? Newell Rubbermaid
? OfficeMax
? Pacific Cycle
? Payless Shoe Source
? Pharmavite
? Procter & Gamble
? S. C. Johnson
? SAKS Inc.
? Sara Lee Foods
? Schick
? Scott Paper Limited
? Sears
? Sears Canada
? Sherwin-Williams
? Storekraft
? Stride Rite Corp.
? Tanimura & Antle
? Target Corp.
? The Valvoline Co.
? Unilever
? Wal-Mart
? Walgreens
? Wm Wrigley Jr Co
? Wegmans

To learn more about the conference, and to see a video on it, see: http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/

 

[MagentaCandle]

Write to as many of these companies as you can. Let them know how strongly you oppose RFID spychips. When you're done writing an email, call their customer service lines for good measure. Send a fax, write snail mail, send a singing telegram. But whatever you do, don't take this lying down. We need everyone we can to put a stop to this.

 

[auntiegrav]

You are certainly long-winded. You haven't touched on the REASON why they are putting all of these chips in things yet, though.

It's not because we just 'let' them.
It's because WE BUY THEIR STUFF!

The reason we have too much government is because people are too stupid, lazy, and comfortable to do things for themselves. It's because people want 'safe' food and 'national security' from 'terrorists'. It's because we want to BUY everything instead of doing it for ourselves. It's not a big step to go from seeing you use your credit card at every fast food joint to just putting a chip in your credit card and reading it when you walk in the doorway. Many of the things you bring up (employee monitoring for example) are well beyond even what you have noted. Why do we need to chip people when they are always in their cars and their cars are tied into satellite 'blondestar' systems?

The fact remains; all of these things come about because we don't take care of ourselves and our own needs, we don't even live (work, eat, play) in our own communities, we buy things that come from suppliers whom we cannot reach with our pitchforks, and the holes in our personal networks of life become filled by government-sponsored roads, corporate-sponsored products, centralized distribution of 'cheap' products ("Always Low Prices" leads to "Always Monitored Prices" which leads to "Always Monitored People".)
The quest for cheap crap from 'somewhere else' has brought us to this System of Monitored Systems simply because we have forgotten the value of the people around us and turned everyone against everyone else in the name of "competitive profit".
Stay home, buy less, buy local, make it yourself and it won't have a tag.

AG

P.S. You might want to think about an editor for your manuscript. Maybe even go the Tom Paine route and distribute pamphlets. (don't forget to RFID them)

 

[auntiegrav]

? Academy Sports & Outdoors
? Albertsons
? The ALDO Group
? Anheuser-Busch
? Best Buy
? Blockbuster
? Blommer Chocolate
? Brass Eagle
? CDW Corp.
? Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream
? Electrolux
? Energizer Battery
? Fuji Photo Film USA
? The Gap
? General Mills
? Gillette Company
? Hampton Products
? Hasbro
? Hershey Foods
? Hewlett Packard (HP)
? Hunter Fan
? Hy-Vee, Inc.
? Jockey International
? Johnson & Johnson
? Johnsonville Sausage
? Kellogg Co.
? Kimberly-Clark
? Limited Brands
? L'Oreal USA
? Loblaws
? Louisville Bedding
? Lowe's Companies
? Luxottica Retail
? Maidenform Worldwide
? Mars
? Marubeni America
? Masterfoods USA
? McIlhenny Co.
? Meyer Corp.
? Nestle USA
? Newell Rubbermaid
? OfficeMax
? Pacific Cycle
? Payless Shoe Source
? Pharmavite
? Procter & Gamble
? S. C. Johnson
? SAKS Inc.
? Sara Lee Foods
? Schick
? Scott Paper Limited
? Sears
? Sears Canada
? Sherwin-Williams
? Storekraft
? Stride Rite Corp.
? Tanimura & Antle
? Target Corp.
? The Valvoline Co.
? Unilever
? Wal-Mart
? Walgreens
? Wm Wrigley Jr Co
? Wegmans

To learn more about the conference, and to see a video on it, see: http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/

Notice anything peculiar about this list of companies?

You don't actually NEED ANY OF THEM!!!
Stop buying their stuff and they won't be able to 'chip' you.
Get to know your local farmers.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Auntie,

Thank you for your input. It's important that more and more people learn about this before it's too late.

The Department of Homeland Security is planning on the national ID cards with the RFID technology that INCLUDES a bar code. WOW-- that is just the icing on the cake. The barcode was certainly the precursor to the "Mark of the Beast" because we ALREADY can't buy or sell anything without 6 -6 -6 in it.

Look on a bar code for anything that you bought today. For every numerical value there is a pattern of lines. For 6 -- the pattern of lines are two thin lines close together.

If you look at the beginning, the middle and at the end of the barcode you will see two small lines together. So... the computer reads 6 (then numbers) 6 (then numbers) and then 6.

So.... if the RFID and National ID cards have a bar code, and this technology is eventually made into an implantable microchip that we are forced to have inserted in us.... then PLEASE DO NOT TAKE IT!!!

I truly believe this to be a huge step towards the "Mark of the Beast" or the coming implant.

 

[MagentaCandle]

By allowing an ID card like this to be forced on you, you are setting yourselves up for a fall. Nazi Germany, remember them? No ID? no excuse, concentration camp. Organized crime will just add another industry to their web. Boy, when mass paranoia hits, reason goes out the window.

Certain corrupt parts of our government have been trying to force this issue for many years, well before 9/11, and so far we have resisted. We already have enough forms of ID.

Once your freedom is gone it is gone for good in many cases. Unless you are "saved" by an outside source. Or unless there is a rebellion within. And if America isn't free, than there's little hope for the rest of the World.

 

[MagentaCandle]

When you take this to these extremes everything our Forefathers fought and died for is lost.

They have used 9/11 to gain everthing they wanted in this area, and have fed us all on a diet of b/s ever since. What is the final agenda once total control in the "free world" has been achieved? A modern form of slavery from birth to death in the service of the state. Will they sort out the weaker members of our society for "special" treatment? You bet they will. It will be a case of if you can't be productive than you are of little use, and with all our rights now being taken away we will have little chance of challenging anything.

In America the powers that be already have more than enough information on each of us, so anything on top is just tightening the reigns and rubbing our noses in it. An orderly society is one thing, an oppressed one is another.

 

[MagentaCandle]

Remember, you get what you wish for, our liberties have gone so far it ignores the dangers we face. The corrupt politicians/controllers with their system of checks and balances are blurring the foundation of the intent of our constitution, and are slowly trying to replace it with a quasi living breathing document that never existed. This is what they are hoping for anyways.

The law makers in the past until present, from the lawyers who present cases that broaden the essence of the intent of the rights of an individual, and the judge who turns a blind eye, allows the term right to mean what ever the case may be. Hence people get sued, companies get sued, and anyone else that stepped on this new found right that was created by our court system, by our law makers etc etc..

The supreme court is not an elected branch of government, they are appointed.. When they rule on an issue for what ever reason in the minds of the people, congress, the media, etc etc becomes the standard and will challenge the constitutions intent. Given enough time over and over again the changing of the intent of the constitution it will render its intent meaningless..

Roe Vs Wade is not Law, its a decision. But for what ever reason we accept it as law, for it to be a true right it must be part of our constitution, ie constitutional amendment. This is just an example of political manipulation to obtain a social outcome apart from the Law. This is what is happening all the time today as we sit in front of our computer screens, because our freedoms are being destroyed in the name of freedom.

Be carefull who you vote for, because what seems harmless at first can turn into in the catalyst of our undoing, and people will fight for these so called rights and take us all down with them, and all the while never seeing their true dangers until it is too late.

Satan comes as a roaring lion seeking those he can destroy, he comes as an Angel of light making him self look like the desired thing even if in reality its the most evil of all, for after all, he is the master deceiver and a master at the slight of hand luring all into the subtle false intention. He comes as an Angel of light which means he looks as beautiful as the real thing, and for many its easy to follow him because it's just so appealing.