- CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion
and Numbering) reports that the MIT Auto-ID Center is meeting with world
CEOs today at a closed meeting in a posh Boston Hotel. "They've locked
the doors to the press and consumers, afraid we'll grill them about the
three questions they still haven't answered," says CASPIAN Founder
and Director Katherine Albrecht.
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- CASPIAN posed the following three questions to the Auto-ID
Center's Board of Overseers last week after finding documents detailing
plans to sell RFID-tagged products at stores like Wal-Mart and Target:
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- 1. What consumer products are currently being individually
tagged with RFID devices? What products have been tagged in the past?
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- 2. What retail stores are selling or have sold RFID-tagged
items to consumers? Please provide specific store location information.
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- 3. Where can consumers get details about information
collected when they interact with RFID-tagged items at these locations?
For example, are consumers being tracked, videotaped, or photographed?
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- "We believe that consumers have a right to know
when they are interacting with technology that could compromise their privacy
and/or health," says Albrecht. "We hope that one outcome of their
closed gathering will be to formulate a complete and relevant response
to these questions." She adds, "If necessary, consumers can begin
to address each organization individually."
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- Albrecht said CASPIAN did receive an initial response
to the letter from the Center's Director Kevin Ashton on Monday, which
she characterized as ,Äúa non-answer,Äù that did
not address the questions. CASPIAN will post the complete text of Mr. Ashton's
email response on its website: http://www.nocards.org.
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- Contrary to the Auto-ID Center's recent statements that
all of their activities are public, the agenda for today's meeting at the
Fairmont Copley Hotel in Boston was not available to the press or the public.
CASPIAN obtained inside information about the Summit, however, including
an agenda which will be posted as well.
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- "Particularly noteworthy about this agenda is that
less than 4 percent of the meeting is devoted to 'addressing consumer privacy,'
" says Albrecht. "And no mention is made of security, despite
recent document security issues at the Auto-ID Center's web site."
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- Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
(CASPIAN) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance
schemes since 1999. With members in all 50 U.S. states and 15 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.
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- For more information about CASPIAN's visit http://www.nocards.org.
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- Katherine Albrecht, CASPIAN Founder and Director: (877)
287-5854 Mary Starrett, CASPIAN Media Associate: (602) 315-6193
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