- Consumers will protest the "EPC Symposium"
at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center Tuesday, September 16 at
10 AM. The Symposium is scheduled to showcase the world launch of the Electronic
Product Code (EPC) network.
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- The EPC network, nicknamed by proponents "The Internet
of Things," was designed to connect all items on the planet to computer
databases via miniature RFID "spy chips." The stated purpose
of the network is to tag and track every manufactured item with a unique
EPC identification number.
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- Corporations like Gillette, Procter & Gamble and
Unilever plan to embed EPC-compliant RFID chips in consumer products and
product packaging. "We have serious privacy and civil liberties concerns
about this technology. Corporations and governments could use it to register
products to individuals and secretly track them after purchase," says
Katherine Albrecht, Founder and Director of CASPIAN.
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- "Businesses have dismissed consumer concerns by
characterizing RFID as an 'improved bar code,' but RFID is very different,"
says Albrecht. "These RFID spy chips can be read silently from a distance,
right through your clothes, wallet, backpack or purse by anyone with the
right reader device. For example, the chips can be secretly embedded in
credit cards or sewn into the seams of pants where they can be used to
observe people's movements without their knowledge or consent."
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- The 10 AM protest time was chosen to coincide with a
speech by Gillette Vice President Dick Cantwell entitled, "Reasons
to Believe." "Protesting during Mr. Cantwell's speech is particularly
appropriate," says Albrecht. "Gillette has never answered consumers'
questions regarding its use of RFID, and we find the use of religious terminology
in the title of his speech disturbing."
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- Gillette is the target of a worldwide boycott for its
involvement with RFID-enabled "smart shelves" that have been
used by the Tesco retail chain in England to secretly photograph consumers.
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- CASPIAN has delayed announcing protest details due to
restrictions placed on First Amendment activities by McCormick Place. ACLU
attorney Adam Schwartz, who is representing CASPIAN in this matter, has
issued a letter to McCormick Place authorities requesting that protestors
be allowed to express themselves inside the convention center, close to
the EPC Symposium event.
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- "We are grateful for the ACLU's help," says
CASPIAN spokeswoman Liz McIntyre. "With their assistance, we are now
confident that we will be able to exercise our free speech rights in accordance
with the law."
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- In addition to the live protest in Chicago, consumers
from around the world will stage their own local protests of the EPC launch.
For example, consumers in England plan to protest on Monday, September
15 at a Tesco supermarket in Sandhurst, Surrey. Details of that protest
are available at http://www.notags.co.uk.
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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 more than 15
nations around 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 the protest visit http://www.stopRFID.com.
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- Katherine Albrecht, CASPIAN Founder and Director: (877)
287-5854 Liz McIntyre, CASPIAN Communications: (877) 287-5854 or liz@nocards.org
Mary Starrett, CASPIAN Media Associate: (602) 315-6193
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