Personal privacy invasion is one the top hot topic issues of the day. People are going to great lengths to make sure their personal medical and financial records stay just that - personal and private. Identity theft is an ever growing career among modern techno-criminals. Criminals no longer have to march into a bank wielding a gun demanding money. Now they rely on the internet and modern day technology for their method of robbery.
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Corporations now share buyer information like never before to gain knowledge of what consumers are most interested in. The method by which all of this takes place, including how we do our banking and grocery shopping is about to change. Earlier this year I came across a book on Amazon called Spychips by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre. The book features need to know information about the way technology is changing not only our personal lives, but how it changes the way corporations do business and about how we purchase things. I personally recommend the book to everyone regardless of religious or political status.
As many of you may read my columns, you know me a strict conservative Christian who most often than not opposes anything to do with the ACLU, the UN, EU, or the American liberals. However, my personal disagreements end here with the spychips story. With this article I am putting aside my personal religious and political stances to ask everyone, Christian or not, conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican to realize what is at stake with Radio Frequency Identification or simply RFID.
Years ago human micro-chip implants were only something we saw in movies or read about in books, but with today's modern nano-technology available to the smartest engineers in the world, we now see it becoming reality. A company called Verichip (www.verichipcorp.com)is
There is a site called Home Again Pets (www.homeagainpets.com
People are already being implanted (voluntarily) with these RFID chips in hospitals for the purpose of identification. So are soldiers in the military and company employees in major corporations, for security identification purposes. Not only that, but now banks are wanting to do the same. Some in Europe are proposing an RFID Personal ID Card that can be scanned like a credit card. Next will be an implant to replace the card. Ever heard of the coming cashless society? It could be closer than you think. Microchip implants could take the place of currency, checks, and even credit cards leaving some people, particularly Christians very nervous.
Why do this leave Christians nervous you ask? In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we are told that the Anti-Christ who will appear before the end of the world will require a mark on the right hand or forehead of all before they can buy or sell. A microchip implant sounds very suspicious. Right now we know that these RFID chips are not mandatory, but what would keep future leaders from changing that?
These RFID microchip implants are supposed to be pain free and safe, but the FDA has raised questions over the safety of these chips. Among the hazards were electrical shock, MRI incompatibility, and adverse tissue reaction. I can imagine that mostly minor health risks go along with this procedure, but I still would not want to be tagged like an animal and kept track of.
Recently I have contact Liz McIntyre, the co-author of Spychips and have asked her some basic questions about this RFID Technology and what it means to the average American. Here is the interview:
ROB HOOD 1) What first made you made you get involved in research of RFID technology and the Verichip?
LIZ MCINTYRE
I found out about the technology while researching patent documents. I had stumbled upon a scheme to target grocery store shoppers with coupons based on their historical purchases whether or not they presented a supermarket loyalty card. I figured the best way to learn the mechanics of the coupon system was to look at the associated patents. While doing that research, I found a cache of scandalous documents outlining ways that RFID could be used to track people and create an inescapable surveillance grid. Many of these blueprints relied on using RFID in ways that would be invisible to the public. I felt a responsibility to share
my findings with the world in hopes of heading off this planned future.
ROB HOOD 2) What inspired you and Katherine Albrecht to write Spychips?
LIZ MCINTYRE
We had to write "Spychips" after we realized how major corporations and government agencies were planning to broadly deploy RFID technology despite consumer concerns. The industry's own studies showed that 78 percent of people surveyed around the world objected to the technology
on privacy grounds once they knew what it was and how it could be used against them.
One very influential document for me was an IBM patent application titled "Identification and Tracking of Persons Using RFID-tagged Items."(U.S. Patent Application #20020165758)
In this patent application, IBM inventors envision the day when every manufactured product contains an RFID tag with a unique identification number--like a Social Security number for things. These unique numbers are then "registered" to the people buying RFID-tagged items when they pay for them with a credit card or some other form of identifiable
payment--payment other than anonymous cash. Then later when these tags are detected by an RFID reader in the environment, IBM inventors say marketers could know the exact identity of the people carrying them or something about the people, and flash targeted advertising.
This would upset many consumers, but it goes beyond marketing. IBM inventors say the government could track people through their RFID tags using a device they call the "person tracking unit." This device can zero in on RFID tags and track people in public places. IBM names some of these places in its patent application: shopping malls, airports, train stations, bus stations, libraries, theaters, sports arenas, museums, elevators, and even restrooms.
ROB HOOD 3) How did you and Katherine Albrecht meet and get involved in this together?
LIZ MCINTYRE
Katherine and I met about 7 or 8 years ago when I was a financial columnist writing as the MoneyMom(R.) I interviewed her for a story about the downsides of supermarket loyalty cards--her passion at that time.
Then about 4 years ago, I contacted her once again to tell her about the supermarket tracking technology I had stumbled upon and shared the scandalous documents I had unearthed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. I told her that I planned to write a book with the
information to get the word out to the public. She thought it was a great idea since she had been pondering a book, too, and suggested we write it together. The rest is history.
ROB HOOD 4) What exactly does CASPIAN do and why should people get involved or keep up with the latest RFID news that concerns CASPIAN?
LIZ MCINTYRE
CASPIAN is an international grass roots consumer organization founded by
Katherine Albrecht in 1999. We seek to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their privacy and to encourage consumers to practice privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum. CASPIAN has members in all fifty U.S. states and in over thirty countries worldwide.
The official CASPIAN website is at http://www.nocards.org
In our book "Spychips" we have an entire chapter devoted to solutions to the encroaching RFID threat. We have steps anyone can take to fight the technology--simple steps like giving up a product made by a pro-RFID manufacturer, and steps for those who can be more involved.
The first step, though, is alerting the world's consumers to the encroaching RFID threat. We need everyone to tell friends, family, co-workers about RFID. Get a copy of our book and pass it on, and encourage others by word-of-mouth, blogs, and letters to the editor to visit our website at www.spychips.com
ROB HOOD 4) Do you think that Verichip and other RFID projects are an invasion of personal privacy and why?
LIZ MCINTYRE
The VeriChip and RFID projects are not themselves an invasion of privacy (though that kind of power is hard to resist abusing). Rather, the planned *uses* of the technology threaten our privacy and civil liberties. While companies planning to use RFID technology have told consumers they only have their best interests in mind, we have found evidence otherwise and lay it out in our book "Spychips." We've caught major companies like IBM, Procter & Gamble, NCR, and Bank of America red-handed with plans to track people.
ROB HOOD 5) Many Evangelicals are somewhat suspicious of Verichip because they see it as the possible "Mark of the Beast" as described in the Book of Revelation of the Bible. What is your opinion about this theory?
LIZ MCINTYRE
My co-author Katherine Albrecht and I have addressed the connection between RFID technology and widely-held Christian beliefs in another book titled "The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance." Many Christians see the technology as potentially offering a fulfillment of the prophesies of John in the last book of the Bible. Revelation 13:16-18 predicts a time when people will not be able to buy or sell unless they receive a mark:
[The beast] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)
We do not believe the current incarnation of RFID is the "mark of the beast" prophesied by John in Revelation 13. However, we are particularly uneasy about discussions of implantable RFID "identity verification" devices such as the VeriChip and RFID-based numerical payment systems such as the Mobil Speedpass and the Timex Speedpass watch. When these technologies converge, humankind may well have developed something that looks surprisingly similar to the mark of the beast predicted so long ago.
ROB HOOD 6) How possible is it that sometime during the next 20 years or less that we could see a major change in the way we make everyday purchases and could we become an international "cashless" society who pays for everything electronically?
LIZ MCINTYRE
Very possible. RFID could be instrumental in that move because spychipped payment devices are being marketed as convenient cash replacements for low-cost items--no more digging in the pocket for change for things like packs of gum. Spychipped credit cards can be read right through purses and wallets.
If we fall for these schemes to use payment devices in lieu of cash, the government will have a basis for eradicating cash.
Cash: Use it or lose it.
ROB HOOD 7) We already know that the Verichip is being used in medical, industrial, security, and possibly military application and some people are implanting chips into their bodies as we speak on their own free will. How long do you actually think it will take before this becomes mandatory and takes the place of paper documents like Driver's License, Social Security card, Credit cards, etc? Do you think that major corporations, military, or other places will require a Verichip implant or something similar for a security pass into their facilities?
Right now the VeriChip is a "voluntary" system, but that could change. The VeriChip Corporation has been in talks with the Pentagon about replacing military dog tags with the chips. Since our men and women in uniform often have to yield their bodies to military requirements—case in point, vaccines--we suspect they would be required to comply with a VeriChipping order or face a court-martial.
But even if the VeriChip system remains "voluntary," that won't necessarily mean taking a chip is completely optional. Consider the case of the Cincinnati company CityWatcher that has asked its employees who need to access a video storage room to get chipped. Two have already been chipped and the others are allowed to carry the VeriChip in a plastic case that dangles from a keychain.
Supposedly, no one will be fired for failing to take the chip. *But* there must be tremendous pressure to get chipped in an environment where the boss has installed a shiny new VeriChip system, and he is walking around showing everyone the place on his arm where he "took one for the team." An employee would always have to wonder about how rejecting implantation would affect his annual review and promotions. I imagine it would be awkward working in that kind of an environment.
What if your health insurance company offers a 15 percent discount to insureds who get chipped or denies coverage to unchipped individuals? I'm sure we could think of an endless stream of scenarios in which "voluntary" chipping could be so compelling as to push it into the "required" category.
ROB HOOD 8) How concerned should Americans be concerned about Verichip implants and their own financial security? Can this lead to further problems with identity theft greater than what we already see or will this technology
have a harder code to break?
LIZ MCINTYRE
Let's hope people reject VeriChip implants so they don't have to be concerned about this. I see this technology as another avenue for criminal enterprise.
Anytime personal information about us is stored in a database, we should be very concerned, and the VeriChip will spawn new databases and new database information. Even with the best of security, systems can be hacked and abused. The recent ChoicePoint data grab is a good example.
But there are additional concerns with a remotely readable device like the VeriChip, as demonstrated by security researcher Jonathan Westhues. Westhues, who wrote a chapter on hacking RFID proximity cards for an Addison-Wesley book, has demonstrated how he can clone the unique number on a VeriChip within seconds by simply bumping into a chipped person with his homemade number-gleaning device. He can then replay that unique number to VeriChip readers and pretend to be that person.
The VeriChip is also being used as a payment device when linked to a credit card, so we have to wonder what this cloning will mean for the handful of people who are using it for that purpose.
ROB HOOD 9) How does Verichip implants play into the role of the government keeping tabs on law abiding citizens. we know they will have access to medical records, financial records, and other such data as well as personal data like where we go, what we do, what we say, etc. Is this a
great issue to be concerned about?
LIZ MCINTYRE
Yes. The government is already using records collected by private enterprise to go on fishing expeditions into the private lives of Americans, as we document in "Spychips." (see pages 194-7) We have no reason to believe the government would treat our RFID/VeriChip data any
differently.
ROB HOOD 10) Many RFID companies blame your group CASPIAN for legislation passed that prohibits retailers from collecting data about what products that consumers are buying. I suppose some are kind of angry that CASPIAN
opposes RFID. Do people who oppose this Verichip implant technology usually see a high degree of lawsuits or even persecution from corporations that wish to use these techniques? Should we be watchful of these companies and their activities and should we be careful what we
say about Verichip? I do suppose someone is watching the internet chatter on this subject.
LIZ MCINTYRE
So far no law has been passed prohibiting retailers from collecting RFID data, to the best of my knowledge. Legislation requiring labeling of products with RFID tags and similar surveillance devices has been introduced in several states. Our best hope right now lies with HB203 in New Hampshire.
In a nutshell, the HB203 seeks the following:
A. Requires labeling to indicate when items contain RFID tags: "No consumer product or identification document, to which a tracking device or devices have been affixed or implanted, shall be sold or offered for sale or provided to a consumer without a label containing a universally accepted symbol. This requirement shall also apply to any packaging relating to an individual consumer product or identification document that may contain a tracking device. A single such label may be used on a product or identification document that contains more than one tracking device."
B. Restricts the New Hampshire state government's use of the technology's tracking abilities: "The state or political subdivision, department, or agency shall not issue, or permit others to issue on its behalf, any identification document that contains a tracking device or uses tracking devices to locate an individual, either directly or indirectly through other persons except in the following circumstances:" (limited circumstances are then named)
C. Prohibits human implantation without informed consent: "No person shall implant or attempt to implant a tracking device into any individual without the informed, written consent of the individual, or an individuals' legal guardian. No individual shall be offered an incentive, denied an opportunity, or in any way treated differently from any other individual as a consequence of providing or withholding such consent."
You can read the entire text of the bill here:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2006/HB0203.html
HB203 was introduced in the House on Jan. 1, 2005. It was amended and later passed by the House on Jan. 18, 2006. It was then referred to the Senate Public and Municipal Affairs Committee, where it is being considered. We are hopeful that this bill will be passed by the Senate soon so New Hampshire can serve as a model for the rest of the country.
Looking at that legislation and similar legislation introduced in various states, it's hard to understand why anyone would object to it. But lobbyists for the RFID industry always swarm state capitals to argue against any kind of restrictions on the technology--even simple labeling. They know that the vast majority of consumers object to RFID on privacy grounds, and that they would reject spychipped products and stores that support the RFID agenda if they were informed about the devices.
With this interview and article I have tried to explain in what ways we as a free society are most vulnerable to personal privacy invasion at the hands of corporations and technology. Don't misunderstand me. Technology is great in the hands of those who wish to use it for the purpose of benefiting mankind, but can be disastrous in the hands of those who have more sinister purposes in mind.
You can voice your opinion on this issue by contacting the corporations who are developing this technology like Applied Digital who owns Verichip and by writing to your Senators and Congressmen.
Also for more info on Spychips or CASPIAN simply visit the following:
www.spychips.com
www.nocards.com
REFERENCES:
FDA LETTER RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT VERICHIP SAFETY, DATA SECURITY
Implantable RFID device "poses potential risks to health"
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-fda.html
Total Surveillance
http://www.tldm.org/news4/MarkoftheBeast.htm
Farmers, Breeders face deadline with animal Tracking System
www.therfidtruth.com
ABOUT ROB HOOD
Rob Hood grew up in rural Mississippi and was rooted in the doctrine of the Southern Baptist Convention and its teachings of Biblical right and wrong, accountability to a higher authority, and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was a participant in Bible Drill for nine years, a Southern Baptist Convention program devoted to educating children and youth with scriptures from the Bible for use in everyday life situations. He graduated from Holmes Community College in Grenada, Mississippi with an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Electronics Technology and is currently employed as an Electronics Technician with HAM radio equipment manufacturer. He is also a Federal Communications Commission licensed Technician Class HAM radio operator and lives in North Mississippi.
Mr. Hood is also the author of Issues That Matter : America’s Moral Battleground and a columnist for five of the news/commentary sites of the Move Off Network at www.moveoff.net