Thread: RFID In Your Clothing And Shoes

RFID In Your Clothing And Shoes
By Katherine Albrecht
8-13-8


RFID WHERE?

You'd better look at your shoes, socks and underwear!

Protesters will gather today in Manhattan to greet attendees of the third annual "RFID in Fashion" conference, an event organized to promote the use of RFID in clothing and footwear. Dr. Katherine Albrecht, the Harvard-educated privacy campaigner featured in the film "Freedom to Fascism" and co-author of the bestselling book "Spychips," will be on-hand to speak to attendees arriving for the opening keynote this afternoon at NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology.

The conference features two days of speeches and events to advance apparel-industry uses for controversial Radio Frequency Identification or RFID technology. Past attendees include New Balance Athletic Shoes, Reebok, Levi Strauss, American Apparel, Liz Claiborne, and Jockey, along with retail outlets The Limited, Timberland, and Dillard's.

Albrecht planned today's protest after discovering the conference would promote the use of RFID in individual clothing items. Known as "item-level tagging," the practice of placing RFID tags on consumer items (rather than on crates or pallets in a warehouse) has been widely condemned by privacy and security experts.

Experts caution that such tags pose huge privacy and safety risks to the public. Used to track inventory in warehouses, RFID tags can easily be used to track people as well Â* a fact that can be exploited by marketers, government agencies, and criminals. IBM, for example, has patented RFID "person tracking units" for placement in walls and floors to allow marketers and government agents to secretly monitor people's movements. They suggest using the devices in public spaces like shopping malls, theaters, elevators, and restrooms once RFID is implemented at the item level.

"Consumers shouldn't have to worry about tracking devices being sewn into the seams of their clothing or pressed into the soles of their shoes," said Albrecht. "We are putting apparel and RFID companies on notice that consumers will protest any item-level use of RFID on apparel."

In 2003, Albrecht's consumer group CASPIAN led a successful boycott against Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton. The resulting worldwide opposition forced the company to cancel plans to sew millions of RFID tags into women's garments.

"Consumer awareness and opposition to RFID has grown exponentially since 2003," Albrecht said. "Any U.S. company foolish enough to use RFID on apparel will face stiff repercussions."

The RFID in Fashion 2008 conference website can be found at: http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/fashion/

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ABOUT CASPIAN

CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes since 1999 and irresponsible RFID use since 2002. With thousands of members in all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries worldwide, CASPIAN seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their privacy and encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum

OUR WEBSITES

Human Chipping: http://www.AntiChips.com RFID Tagging:
http://www.spychips.com Shopper Cards:
http://www.nocards.org Boycott Gillette:
http://www.BoycottGillette.com Boycott Tesco:
http://www.BoycottTesco.com Boycott Benetton (2003):
http://www.BoycottBenetton.com


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ABOUT KATHERINE ALBRECHT

Dr. Katherine Albrecht is widely recognized as one of the world's leading experts on consumer privacy, retail issues, and RFID, or "Radio Identification Technology." She holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University, was appointed by NH Governor John Lynch to serve on that state's two-year RFID study commission, and is the director of CASPIAN, a 20,000 member consumer privacy organization she founded in 1999.

Since 2003, Katherine has led the fight against unethical RFID use in products and in people. She regularly testifies before lawmakers around the globe and has given over two thousand television, radio and print interviews to news outlets like CNN, NPR, Good Morning America, Business Week and the London Times, to name just a few. Executive Technology Magazine calls Katherine "perhaps the country's single most vocal privacy advocate" and Wired magazine calls her the "Erin Brockovich" of RFID."

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CONTACT // LINKS

Dr. Katherine Albrecht Founder and Director, CASPIAN Consumer Privacy (877) 287-5854, kma@spychips.com

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ABOUT CASPIAN

CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes since 1999 and irresponsible RFID use since 2002. With thousands of members in all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries worldwide, CASPIAN seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their privacy and encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum.

http://www.spychips.com/
http://www.antichips.com/
http://www.nocards.org/


http://www.rense.com/general83/where.htm

Well if they are sewn in , how u gonna find the little guys?

Originally Posted by uniteasone

Well if they are sewn in , how u gonna find the little guys?

I dont know perhaps 2 seconds in the microwave for items without metal.

Just imagine a person being tracked because of their shady behavior suddenly realizing what is going on and attacking the closest person to their size and swapping clothes so RFID tags are swapped. I thought I used to only have to worry about getting the wallet stolen with all the credit cards.

I got a pair of pants once and it was on a tag like in the seams where the size or washing instructions might be. Probably wouldn't have noticed it if it didn't get funky from the dryer and was annoying me. I thought it was just an uncomfortable tag.....till I cut it off and it had a disk sewn in it. It wasn't a tag like they have stuck on things to set off the alarm....it was something I'd never seen before.....and in the store it already had the big do-hickey anti-theft device.....so I'm assuming that's what it was.

The security risks are horrible. People scanning others walking down the street to see who has the most expensive clothes or footwear to steal. Homes and autos being scanned as well.

That is what is already in our money and even news says it is in your credit cards

Originally Posted by uniteasone

That is what is already in our money and even news says it is in your credit cards

I don't use credit cards except for business and even then I do not have an RFID chip in it.

I haven't seen any information out of the mint about the use of RFID. I do know that the newer money has metallic in it which could also cause the damage in the microwave. I have seen articles about the issue, just no proof from someone with a scanner.

I really haven't either ,seen or know of more proof about our money and credit cards. mostly just know from other articles I have read.

But look how long we had bar codes on purchase items before they actually started to use scanners for them in the stores.

Originally Posted by vortex

Just imagine a person being tracked because of their shady behavior suddenly realizing what is going on and attacking the closest person to their size and swapping clothes so RFID tags are swapped. I thought I used to only have to worry about getting the wallet stolen with all the credit cards.

Thanks for the idea, vortex