- A member of the Senate Banking Committee denounced RFID
"no-swipe" credit cards at a press conference Sunday. Senator
Charles Schumer (D-NY) said contracts for the cards should have warning
boxes disclosing "the known weaknesses of the technology." He
cautioned cardholders about their vulnerability to identity thieves, commenting
you "may as well put your credit card information on a big sign on
your back."
-
- "No-swipe" or "contactless" credit
cards contain RFID microchips that communicate account information silently
and invisibly by radio waves. These microchips have earned the nickname
"spychips" because the information they contain can be read without
an individual's knowledge or consent.
-
- While Congress is just waking up to the dangers of RFID
technology, privacy and civil liberties organizations like CASPIAN have
been sounding the alarm for years.
-
- "It's about time for Capitol Hill to recognize the
dangers of RFID," said Dr. Katherine Albrecht, Founder and Director
of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering).
"Perhaps now members of Congress will listen to their concerned constituents
and work to pass long overdue bipartisan RFID labeling legislation not
only for credit cards, but other RFID-tagged consumer items as well."
-
- CASPIAN has had model RFID labeling legislation titled
"The RFID Right to Know Act" available to federal lawmakers since
2003. (See <http://www.spychips.com/right-to-know-bill.html>http://www.spychips.com/right-to-know-bill.html.)
The legislation was authored by by Zoe Davidson of the Boston University
Legislative Clinic.
-
- While CASPIAN supports free-market solutions to the problems
of privacy invading technologies like RFID, the group believes consumer
notice is needed so the free market can work. "We believe consumers
have a right to know when the things they wear, carry, and interact with
contain tracking devices--especially credit cards that can leak sensitive
personal information," said Liz McIntyre, CASPIAN's communications
director.
-
- McIntyre, a former federal bank examiner, points out
that vulnerable "swipeless" technology not only poses a threat
to customers, but to the financial institutions that have issued millions
of contactless cards, as well. "What excuse will organizations like
JP Morgan Chase make if consumers are harmed financially because they have
their personal information siphoned by identity thieves? These issuers
stand to lose millions of dollars."
-
- CASPIAN demanded a recall of RFID credit cards last month
after the New York Times reported that a team of security researchers found
that virtually every one of the "no-swipe" credit cards it tested
was vulnerable to unauthorized charges and put consumers at risk for identity
theft.
-
- Researchers demonstrated how thieves could secretly skim
information from the cards, right through purses, backpacks and wallets.
The data included the cardholder's name, credit card number, expiration
date and other information that could be used to make unauthorized purchases.
-
- Albrecht and McIntyre are offering to testify before
Congress about their extensive research into the dangers posed by RFID,
and to send a copy of their book "Spychips: How Major Corporations
and Government Plan to Track Your Every Purchase and Watch Your Every Move"
(Penguin/Plume Oct. 2006) to interested federal legislators.
-
-
- =========================================
-
- TO LEARN MORE
-
- "NY Sen. Schumer warns of no-swipe cards"
- http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8LPMID00.htm
-
- New York Times article about "no-swipe" credit
card vulnerabilities:
- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/business/23card.html
-
- Security researcher's detailed report on "no-swipe"
cards: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20061023_CARD/fc2007-submission.pdf
-
-
- =========================================
-
- ABOUT CASPIAN
-
- CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion
and Numbering) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance
schemes since 1999. 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 encourage privacy-conscious shopping
habits across the retail spectrum.
-
-
- ==========================================
-
-
- ABOUT THE BOOK
-
- "Spychips" is the winner of the 2006 Lysander
Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty and has received
wide critical acclaim. Authored by recent Harvard graduate Dr. Katherine
Albrecht and former bank examiner Liz McIntyre, the book is meticulously
researched. "Spychips" draws on patent documents, corporate source
materials, conference proceedings, and firsthand interviews to paint a
convincing -- and frightening -- picture of the threat posed by RFID.
-
- Despite its hundreds of footnotes and academic-level
accuracy, the book remains lively and readable according to critics, who
have called it a "techno-thriller" and "a masterpiece of
technocriticism."
-
- ""A chilling story about an emerging future
in which spychips run amok as Big Brother and Big Shopkeeper invade our
privacy in unprecedented ways."" - Chicago Tribune
-
- ""Paints a 1984-ish picture of how corporations
would like to use RFID tags to keep tabs on you."" - The Associated
Press
|