Katherine Albrecht
The global RFID chippers are running scared
Tue Mar 2 18:43:49 2004
64.140.158.141

It's finally online! Stop by our website for a photographic tour of the
METRO Future Store and see for yourself the RFID privacy problems and
scandals I uncovered there during my tour in January.

http://www.spychips.com/metro

Considering the results (an avalanche of negative press for METRO and a
German consumer revolt!) I'd say the trip was a smashing success.

The global RFID chippers are running scared, as well they should be.

In freedom,

Katherine Albrecht
Founder and Director, CASPIAN

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 2, 2004

RFID Revolt in Rheinberg: Germans brave snow to protest spy chips
CASPIAN posts photos, launches website exposing METRO scandals

Nearly fifty German consumers braved the aftermath of a freak snowstorm
Saturday to protest RFID privacy invasion in front of the METRO Extra
Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany. This in response to a scandal in
which the store was caught embedding RFID tracking devices in their
�€œloyalty�€� cards and misleading consumers about RFID tags on products
like Gillette razors and Kraft cream cheese.

The US consumer group CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy
Invasion and Numbering) has posted pictures of the protest online at
http://www.spychips.com/metro/protest.html  as part of its "METRO Future
Store Special Report" website being launched today. The website offers a
photographic tour of the METRO Future Store and highlights problems
discovered there by CASPIAN Founder Katherine Albrecht during her
January visit.

Revelations of RFID tags in the store�€™s �€œloyalty card�€� and RFID product
tags that couldn�€™t be completely disabled led to a media onslaught and
public outcry across Germany. Days before the protest, METRO dropped its
RFID card and promised to replace the 10,000 already in circulation.

However, METRO failed to address its use of RFID tags on consumer items,
said Rena Tangens, Founder of the German privacy organization FoeBuD.
"While METRO's announcement was encouraging, it did not go far enough.
So protesters marched four kilometers through the town of Rheinberg to
demand that METRO comply with an international call for a moratorium on
item-level RFID product tagging. We also want them to fund a forum of
consumer and citizen protagonists to review the implications of the
technology."

�€œHaving fifty people show up anywhere is a feat,�€� said CASPIAN's
Albrecht. "Having fifty people show up in two feet of snow when roads
are closed and public transportation is crippled is evidence of how
strongly the German people oppose these dangerous RFID experiments.�€�

METRO's Extra Future Store is the industry's showplace for RFID tracking
technology. There, companies like Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM
have been testing the technology on live consumers in what the press has
called a "life-sized petri dish."

Reportedly, METRO executives were surprised to see that consumers cared
enough to brave the weather. As a gesture of goodwill, they offered
protesters hot soup.

�€œIt�€™s going to take more than soup to bridge the divide,�€� said CASPIAN's
Albrecht. �€œGlobal businesses like METRO, Procter & Gamble and Gillette
need to realize that consumers won�€™t tolerate being spied on through
products and services, and consumers will continue to speak out until
they get that message. It's time the world's people leave these abusive
businesses and switch to ones that respect their privacy and civil
liberties. That�€™s how the free market works.�€�

The "METRO Future Store Special Report" is online at:
http://www.spychips.com/metro

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CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)
is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes
since 1999, and item-level RFID tagging since 2002. With members in all
50 U.S. states and over 20 nations across the globe, CASPIAN seeks to
educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their privacy
and to encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail
spectrum.

For more information, see http://www.spychips.com
and http://www.nocards.org 

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following link or cut and paste it into your browser:
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For CASPIAN's overview of RFID product identification and tracking
technology, please see: http://www.spychips.com/rfid_overview.htm