High-tech devices monitor product from manufacturer's headquarters

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35629
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Wal-Mart used microchip to track customers
High-tech devices monitor product from manufacturer's headquarters

Posted: November 15, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Wal-Mart customers who picked up lipstick off the shelf at a Broken-Arrow, Okla., store were part of a little-mentioned experiment earlier this year that tracked consumer habits using Radio Frequency Identification technology, or RFID.

Proctor & Gamble teamed with the retail giant in the test over a four month-period which allowed researchers to view the Wal-Mart shelves from company headquarters some 750 miles away in Cincinnati, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

-snip-

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hmm. DOD? to keep costs down? i'm all for it if it keeps the cost of defense down. however, if it watches us person by person, keeps track of our purchases by name, it makes my stomach ache.


EDITED BY ADMIN FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS

[izzie]

1. What is the point? Is it really to see what you are buying?

Seems like a lot of work for little.

[truthisfreedom]

2. ahh, perhaps the real point is something somewhat obscure...

some kind of "read from anywhere" technology... read the habits of all consumers everywhere?

[Melsky]

3. Mostly, it replaces bar codes

It is an inventory tracking system. But you can take inventory on a whole crate of items without opening it. It would also contain pricing information, so they can scan it at the checkout. Except they wont need to scan each item, but everything could probably just be scanned at the same time without leaving the cart. Quite the labor saver, so it's goodbye cashiers!

The problem is that they are not going to stop at inventory. They want to use it for tracking and marketing purposes after the purchase has been made.

[Gin]

4. Spooky.....how would prices change with this chip? Remember

shrub and walmart are the rollback queens.

[Occulus]

7. So we

learn how to find and disable the chips after we buy things.

The question becomes- if retailers do start using this for marketing purposes, will it become a crime to tamper with the chips even after purchase? Will these chips spur legislation that give them some kind of pseudo-copyright status?

Am I giving 'them' ideas by saying this?

[54anickel]

5. Time for that tinfoil hat again....

Tracking stops at the scanner....for now. I would think DOD and folks like Rummy would just love to micro-chip each and every one of us. Hmmm, lets try this little test market, put it in things folks tend to carry with they all of the time, lipstick, wallets, purses. We can find out who purchased it when they pay, since we scan account numbers of checks and debit/credit cards are easy enough to ID. Who pays cash now days anyway...we'll get them later when we expand the chips to Driver Licenses, or make ID cards mandatory.
:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[htuttle]

6. Picture this....Dateline 2010, a shopping mall near you

A Distinguished looking gentleman walks past a bank of the new 'AccuSense' advertisement terminals.

As he walks by, the terminals sense the products he has purchased via RFID, and uses that to identify the consumer, and find their purchase history in it's databank. This allows the AccuSense to deliver highly targeted ad content.

"Since you purchased a pair of wool slacks last week, Mr. Smith, how about getting a matching jacket in our Men's wear department. A new pair of EuroLeather casual slip-on shoes would match your #15 men's dress belt as well. Find them our shoe department.

And if you want to get a matching bra for the black 'LaceLook' panties you are wearing, look in Aisle 19..."

:o


It's not just the tinfoilhat usage of these things that is the problem. It's a severe violation of privacy, even if it's only used for 'benign' marketing purposes.

I, for one, will start wearing a "Mr Static RFID Belt-Mount Jammer (Navy Blue model #23)" in public if this technology becomes widespread.

[Occulus]

8. THAT'S IT!!!

We need to build a device that passively destroys these chips while they're sitting right there on the shelf. The device needs to be cheap, simple, and for the RFID chips, deadly. The device to disable these things needs to be able to do so in mass quantities, but still be small enough to wear concealed in one's clothing.

Let's take the fight to them, where it belongs. Force them to consider choosing between strip searching their shoppers or abandoning this technology.