- Chip implants won't help crime wracked country, could
make things worse
-
- "Promoting implanted RFID devices as a security
measure is downright 'loco,'" says Katherine Albrecht, Founder and
Director of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and
Numbering). "Advertising you've got a chip in your arm that opens
important doors is an invitation to kidnapping and mutilation."
-
- That's Albrecht's response to the announcement by Mexican
Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha that he and 160 other Mexican
officials were implanted with Verichip RFID devices. Reportedly, the chips
allow the implanted employees to access secure areas of the Attorney General's
headquarters.
-
- Albrecht surmises that Macedo de la Concha made the ill
advised revelation in the wake of citizen protests against corruption in
the crime wracked country. "Selling the idea of RFID chipping as the
solution to rampant crime may be politically expedient, but it's dangerous
misinformation. He could encourage the Mexican people to seek the implants
thinking RFID is their ticket to security. RFID implants may offer the
illusion of safety from kidnappers, but in reality, they put their users
at peril."
-
- While there are promises of future implantable RFID devices
that could be globally trackable even in remote areas, the read range of
the VeriChip devices currently marketed is only a few inches, Albrecht
explains. While that small read range could be critical to someone desperate
to access a secure area, it would do little to locate a kidnap victim hidden
miles away from reader devices.
-
- Ironically, rather than protecting their wearers from
kidnapping, implantable security devices may actually turn their wearers
into tempting targets for Mexico's notorious kidnapping gangs, especially
as the chips migrate to serve as payment devices, says Albrecht. "What
could be more inviting to kidnappers than a chip that offers access to
secure areas or someone's bank account? If criminals want to get ahold
of a chip, they will naturally try to nab a person wearing one."
-
- The potentially gruesome implications of being probed
for an implanted chip are obvious, said Albrecht. She points out that at
least one Mexican kidnapping gang, a group nicknamed "el chip"
for its interest in RFID implants, is focused on the technology. According
to recent reports, its members have stripped kidnapping victims and demanded
to be told where they have chips implanted in their bodies.
-
- Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
(CASPIAN) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance
schemes since 1999, and item-level RFID tagging 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 to encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail
spectrum.
-
- For more information, see http://www.spychips.com
-
- ### =====================================
- CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion
and Numbering) is a consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes
since 1999, and item-level RFID tagging 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 to encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum.
-
- For more information, see: http://www.spychips.com and
http://www.nocards.org
-
- See our campaigns at: http://www.BoycottGillette.com
- http://www.BoycottBenetton.org
- We encourage you to duplicate and distribute this message
to others.
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