Privacy Group Launches Worldwide Boycott Against Shaving Ravor Corp - Sierra Times.com

“CASPIAN sent an open letter to Gillette VP Dick Cantwell July 21 requesting information about the smart shelf and Gillette’s item-level RFID tagging of consumer products. The group also sought assurances that the company would not condone the photographing and tracking of consumers anywhere in the world. “Since Gillette failed to renounce the photographing and tracking of innocent shoppers, we can only conclude that they plan to continue down this ill-advised path,” says Albrecht. “We want to send a clear message to Gillette and other companies that consumers will not tolerate being spied on through the products they buy.””

Boycott information is online at http://www.boycottgillette.com.

The press release is available at Indymedia.  

BusinessWeek Online: News from C|Net.com

“Lawmakers in California have scheduled a hearing for later this month to discuss privacy issues surrounding a controversial technology designed to wirelessly monitor everything from clothing to currency. Sen. Debra Bowen, a California legislator recently on the forefront of an antispam legislation movement, is spearheading the Aug. 18 hearing, which will focus on an emerging area of technology known as radio frequency identification (RFID)”

and

Privacy probe on RFID tags

“Katherine Albrecht, the head of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (Caspian) … is scheduled to testify at Bowen’s hearing, as is Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearing House, a non-profit consumer advocacy group in San Diego. Givens said retailers should be required to notify consumers about merchandise containing RFID chips and that they should not only disable, but destroy, the chips at the checkout counter. She said: “It’s troubling that MIT and other developers of RFID appear to have left privacy to the last minute.” Also expected to speak at the hearing are Dan Mullen, head of the trade group Association for Automatic Identification and Data Capture Technologies, and Greg Pottie, an electrical engineering professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Pottie is involved in the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, a program out of UCLA funded by the National Science Foundation. Bowen’s office has also invited key members of MIT’s Auto-ID Center, a research group that has been on the forefront of RFID development, to participate in the hearing. The group has yet to accept or decline the invitation, Bowen’s office said.”

RFID Journal - The EPC Network Gets Real

“”Data sharing can be done at a fraction of the cost of what is required with point-to-point solutions today,” says Jon Brendsel, VeriSign’s director of product management. “And [the EPC Network] is broadly applicable to a variety of supply chains, not just consumer packaged goods.” ”

Wired News: Claim: RFID Will Stop Terrorists

“Facing increasing resistance and concerns about privacy, the United States’ largest food companies and retailers will try to win consumer approval for radio identification devices by portraying the technology as an essential tool for keeping the nation’s food supply safe from terrorists. The companies are banding together and through an industry association are lobbying to have the Department of Homeland Security designate radio frequency identification, or RFID, as an antiterrorism technology.”

EDIT: This story just made Slashdot.  

silicon.com - Privacy debate: RFID tags set for MP scrutiny

“Labour MP Tom Watson on Wednesday submitted a motion for debate on the regulation of RFID devices, and is confident that it will be debated in September. Watson said he submitted the motion because without proper regulation, RFID tags are “open to abuse by unscrupulous retailers” who could abuse the technology.”

ZDNet UK - Comment - New Euro law could make criminals of us all

“You want to change the tyres on your 2006 model Ford Prefect? Anything other than genuine Ford tyres – with the genuine Ford ID chip – will disable your car. Your Sony MP3-playing nasal hair trimmer will only work with genuine Sony batteries: don’t even think about trying to make alternatives, because that’ll make you a criminal. And no, you can’t buy those jeans – the RFID chip in the label says they’re only for sale in America. By the way, the same RFID chips on the clothes you are allowed to buy may well be radiating all manner of things about your location: you’re not allowed to find out for yourself, as possession of an unlicensed receiver is a criminal act.”

Automotive News

“Microsoft Corp. is developing an automatic identification tool for the auto industry that uses radio signals to automatically tag and track inventory. ”