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RFID Industry Confidential Memos

Posted by timothy on Mon Jul 07, 2003 08:46 PM
from the just-look-away-citizen dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Cryptome has learned www.autoidcenter.org (RFID flak) has made internal memos available for perusal at their site. Those RFID people sure have some interesting plans for the future. Who needs conspiracy theories, when you can hear it from the horses mouth? Weeeeee!"
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  • So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hashish (62254) on Monday July 07 2003, @08:51PM (#6387959)
    Will the clerk know what you aready are wearing down to your jocks size. I can see lots of good things with these tags but I can see lots of missuses too.

    I wonder if govts will legislate to make it possible for us to op-out with these tags? Some tags maybe built into the products that it would be impossible for us to remove them. I think we need protection too.
  • Fulltext of post (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 07 2003, @08:52PM (#6387962)
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    July 7, 2003
    RFID Site Security Gaffe Uncovered by Consumer Group

    CASPIAN asks, "How can we trust these people with our personal data?"

    CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) says anyone can download revealing documents labeled "confidential" from the home page of the MIT Auto-ID Center web site in two mouse clicks.

    The Auto-ID Center is the organization entrusted with developing a global Internet infrastructure for radio frequency identification (RFID). Their plans are to tag all the objects manufactured on the planet with RFID chips and track them via the Internet.

    Privacy advocates are alarmed about the Center's plans because RFID technology could enable businesses to collect an unprecedented amount of information about consumers' possessions and physical movements. They point out that consumers might not even know they're being surveilled since tiny RFID chips can be embedded in plastic, sewn into the seams of garments, or otherwise hidden.

    "How can we trust these people with securing sensitive consumer information if they can't even secure their own web site?" asks CASPIAN Founder and Director Katherine Albrecht.

    "It's ironic that the same people who assure us that our private data will be safe because 'Internet security is very good, and it offers a strong layer of protection'

    http://cryptome.org/rfid/questions_answers.pdf

    would provide such a compelling demonstration to the contrary," she added.

    Among the "confidential" documents available on the web site are slide shows discussing the need to "pacify" citizens who might question the wisdom of the Center's stated goal to tag and track every item on the planet,

    http://cryptome.org/rfid/communications.pdf

    along with findings that 78% of surveyed consumers feel RFID is negative for privacy and 61% fear its health consequences.

    http://cryptome.org/rfid/pk-fh.pdf

    PR firm Fleischman-Hillard's confidential "Managing External Communications" suggests a variety of strategies to help the Auto-ID Center "drive adoption" and "neutralize opposition," including the possibility of renaming the tracking devices "green tags." It also lists by name several key lawmakers, privacy advocates, and others whom it hopes to "bring into the Center's 'inner circle'".

    http://cryptome.org/rfid/external_comm.pdf

    Despite the overwhelming evidence of negative consumer attitudes toward RFID technology revealed in its internal documents, the Auto-ID Center hopes that consumers will be "apathetic" and "resign themselves to the inevitability of it" instead of acting on their concerns.

    http://cryptome.org/rfid/cam-autoid-eb002.pdf

    Consumer citizens who are not feeling apathetic will be pleased to learn that the site provides names and contact information for the corporate executives who oversee the Center's efforts. Since the phone list isn't labeled "confidential," we're assuming that Auto-ID Center Board members are open to calls and mail that might help them better understand public opinion on this important subject.

    Anyone interested in speaking with Dick Cantwell, the Gillette VP who heads the Center's Board of Overseers, for example, can find his direct office number listed on the Auto-ID Center's website here:

    http://cryptome.org/rfid/226691160-list_board_of_o verseers.pdf

    To experience the Auto-ID Center's security holes firsthand, simply visit the web site at http://www.autoidcenter.org and type "confidential" in the site search box. The Center encourages such site exploration: "Our website has Research Papers and other information that anyone can download for free. There is also a Sponsors Only area of the site, which includes information and materials not available to the public at large. We encourage you to visit our site frequently to stay up to date with the Center's many activities."
  • Hopefully, the collective mindset that makes americans fear their government will be turned-around, and they will realize that they have far more to fear from the croporations who rule than from their pet minion government...

    And MAYBE they will take back democracy from those who have stolen it.

  • disabling? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Azghoul (25786) on Monday July 07 2003, @08:54PM (#6387979)
    (http://www.buffalonews.com)
    Not really knowing all that much about the technology RFIDs use, this might be a stupid question (or I might be a stupid person :))...

    Is it possible for end-users to easily disable an RFID? It seems to me some well-placed magnets, or hell, even the business end of a stable gun, should be able to knock out the RFID. How hard would it really be?

    And yeah yeah, the evil government will make it illegal for us to do that. I'm honestly curious, not interested in conspiracy theory.
    • Microwave oven. (Score:5, Informative)

      by molo (94384) on Monday July 07 2003, @08:58PM (#6388010)
      (Last Journal: Friday May 07 2004, @11:35AM)
      Try a microwave oven. That will induce enough current in the device to melt/short its circuits.

      Hopefully the thing the device is embedded in won't be harmed by the microwave.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Microwave oven. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Pompatus (642396) on Monday July 07 2003, @09:08PM (#6388067)
        (Last Journal: Thursday September 18 2003, @07:29PM)
        The problem with microwaving clothing would be the shorts I have on right now, for example. They have a metal zipper. We all know what happens to AOL cd's when microwaved (if you don't know, try it. 5 seconds does wonders).

        Be careful what you nuke.
        [ Parent ]
        • Re:Microwave oven. (Score:5, Funny)

          by number11 (129686) on Monday July 07 2003, @09:46PM (#6388277)
          The problem with microwaving clothing would be the shorts I have on right now, for example. They have a metal zipper.

          WARNING: Do NOT microwave shorts before removing them from body. Side effects could include actually reading those spams that offer to help you grow larger body parts.
          [ Parent ]
        • Re:Microwave oven. (Score:4, Informative)

          by G-funk (22712) <josh@gfunk007.com> on Monday July 07 2003, @11:11PM (#6388673)
          (http://www.gfunk007.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday May 27 2006, @04:33AM)
          Metal doesn't hurt the microwave, neither does your microwave hurt the metal. The reason people think microwaves are damaged by metal is they microwave a spoon, and nothing else... Metal reflects the microwaves, the magnatron overheats. Same thing happens if you run your microwave with nothing in it. Place a glass of water in the oven to absorb excess microwaves and you'll have no worries.
          [ Parent ]
        • Mr Microwave (Score:5, Funny)

          by xixax (44677) on Tuesday July 08 2003, @01:55AM (#6389174)
          "Hi, I notice that you are attempting to place a pair of shorts in your microwave, would you like me to help by:

          - recommending other nutritious meals from our corporation
          - Retrieve the warranty text for your microwave and shorts from the corporate web site
          - Call the authorities to help educate you about the benefits of the RFID EULA you agreed to.
          - Retrieve information about the penalties for violating the DMCA
          - Suggest other apparel made from al-foil worn by kooks like yourself"

          Xix.
          [ Parent ]
        • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
      • Re:Microwave oven. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by aethera (248722) on Monday July 07 2003, @09:20PM (#6388133)
        Not only that, but you have to be aware that the device even exists, or plan on microwaving every single one of your purchases. The Caspian site shows RFID tags they have found embedded in the rubber soles of sneakers, in between layers of paperboard, you name it.

        I view this technology much like the use of genetically modified foodstuffs, the technology itself has tremendous potential to make life better/easier, but I think that before we start intorducing these things to the market (a little late on the GM foods for that) we need a serious public awareness / education program. I simply don't trust corporations to use this sort of technology responsibly. Until there are serious and meaningful checks in place to prevent abuse, I strongly oppose the use of these technologies.

        [ Parent ]
        • Re:Microwave oven. by 1010011010 (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:48PM
        • Shoes by mgkimsal2 (Score:2) Tuesday July 08 2003, @07:26AM
        • Re:Microwave oven. by po_boy (Score:2) Wednesday July 09 2003, @05:56PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • Mini Tesla Coil? by anubi (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @11:28PM
      • Re:Microwave oven. by scubacuda (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @01:39AM
      • Microwaves outlawed by Bananenrepublik (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @05:18AM
      • 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:disabling? by Jeffrey Baker (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @08:59PM
      • Re:disabling? by halfelven (Score:2) Tuesday July 08 2003, @01:15PM
    • Microwave your Jockeys... by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:01PM
    • Re:disabling? by SoSueMe (Score:1) Monday July 07 2003, @09:04PM
    • Are you kidding? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by aliens (90441) on Monday July 07 2003, @09:11PM (#6388083)
      (http://rapture-cms.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday June 24 2003, @02:11PM)
      Disabling an RFID will be tantamount to tampering with a product in a way it was not meant to be. Whether using the DCMA or some future bill it will become illegal to disable the RFID. You think I'm kidding, but I would not be surprised at all to hear this in the future.

      Maybe though, the courts will recognize how utterly detremental the DCMA (and the like) are to this free society. Yes we give up a certain amount of privacy living in a free society(apologies for the American-Centric) but this does not mean that corporations have the right to track us or our products.

      Bite me to any business that thinks I'll buy RFID products, I'll make my clothes out of hemp and be the nut in uncomfortable clothes if I have to be.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:disabling? by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:12PM
      • Re:disabling? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 07 2003, @09:48PM (#6388281)
        A typical cordless phone is about 1/2 watt.(500mW).
        With your logic, a 2 watt cellphone would have a range of about 4 feet.

        Just to put things into further perspective, radio enthusiasts have contests to see how far around the /WORLD/ they can communicate with only a watt or less of power to work with.

        You've fallen victim to some of the strategies outlined in the articles this whole story is about. You've been pacified into believing radio waves are severely limited in range. And you believed it. Even going so far as to try to convince other people that a half watt of power is insignificant for distances greater than a meter, which is completely absurd.

        You're repeating a meme. You have been "pacified" according to the gameplan set forth in the memos.
        [ Parent ]
        • Re:disabling? by Anonymous Coward (Score:3) Monday July 07 2003, @10:42PM
          • Re:disabling? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 08 2003, @12:56AM (#6389017)
            There are battery powered RFID tags. And your "reflected" description is misleading. Know what a capacitor is? And RFID could store away energy from the cell phones of the people around you, or the countless other devices that use those frequncies. then it would just have to wait for the proper signal from a reader and release the stored energy in a large burst. It only needs to transmit a tiny amount of data. I don't think it would be too hard to make one that could do hald a watt for a thousandth of a second. but you wouldn't even need a half watt to go a mile under the right circumstances. Could do with far far less for distances of 100 feet or less.

            People really are hammering on this meme that "it's unconcievable RFID's can transmit with any range"

            It does seem to work in pacifying people. All kinds of chickenheads now trying to "debunk" the concept of RFID past a couple feet. It's pathetic because this continues after the RFID people came right and spoke at length about several disinformation campaigns that are being implemented.

            [ Parent ]
          • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
        • by SuperBanana (662181) on Monday July 07 2003, @11:13PM (#6388679)

          You've fallen victim to some of the strategies outlined in the articles this whole story is about. You've been pacified into believing radio waves are severely limited in range.

          Actually, they are. Like any other form of radiation, unless tightly focused(by, say a ham's antenna?), RF quickly disappears in all the background noise as distance increases.

          If you want to think of it in a crude sort of way, you can think of a can of paint exploding on the space station. Who gets covered in more paint, the guy 5 feet away, or the guy 50 feet away? This whole idea is also why ENORMOUS radio dishes are required to conduct radio astronomy- you have HUGE amouns of surface area, and you still get really, really, really weak signals.

          I believe the relationship is exponential- I'm probably wrong on the exact numbers(so grab a physics book), but I think that one radian is equal to the angle covered by one square meter at one meter- or 4 square meters at 2 feet, 9 square meters at 3 feet, etc. So as distance increases, the power available to an antenna, no matter how good it is, decreases radically. The energy needed to excite an RFID device, which is practically microscopic(and hence can't have that big an antenna!) has to be either VERY high, VERY focused, or VERY close. Then there's the matter of recieving the VERY weak reply from the RFID tag...

          [ Parent ]
        • Re:disabling? by zentigger (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @11:40AM
        • Re:disabling? by Effugas (Score:3) Tuesday July 08 2003, @01:36AM
        • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
      • Re:disabling? by BJH (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @10:56PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:disabling? by Flying-Cow-Man (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:15PM
      • Re:disabling? by DuckDuckBOOM! (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:35PM
    • Re:disabling? by Farmer Jimbo (Score:1) Monday July 07 2003, @09:19PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:disabling? by jerkychew (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:35PM
    • Re:disabling? by Piquan (Score:3) Monday July 07 2003, @10:26PM
    • Re:disabling? (Score:5, Funny)

      by drayzel (626716) on Monday July 07 2003, @10:34PM (#6388501)
      Disable?

      Nah... too easy.

      What I want to do is reprogram the suckers so when they scan my clothing I will be wearing a alarm clock on my head, have a 12 pack of Gillete Razors hidden in my shoes, answer to the name of Rover, have my shots for distemper, but due for a booster on rabies.

      ~Z
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:disabling? by vuud (Score:1) Monday July 07 2003, @11:40PM
      • Re:disabling? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @12:17AM
        • Hijinks by Schezar (Score:2) Tuesday July 08 2003, @08:27AM
      • Re:disabling? by Rich0 (Score:2) Tuesday July 08 2003, @09:45AM
        • Re:disabling? by JUSTONEMORELATTE (Score:3) Tuesday July 08 2003, @10:06AM
      • even better by geekoid (Score:2) Tuesday July 08 2003, @12:57PM
    • Caveats for implementors by Ayanami Rei (Score:3) Monday July 07 2003, @11:08PM
    • Re:disabling? by qengho (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @11:10PM
    • Re:disabling? by Jeremi (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @11:44PM
    • Re:disabling? by smkndrkn (Score:1) Monday July 07 2003, @11:52PM
      • Re:disabling? by Theatetus (Score:2) Tuesday July 08 2003, @12:29AM
    • Re:disabling? by RALE007 (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @04:07AM
    • Re:disabling? by DanDwig (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @10:17AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Personal Electronic Countermeasures by Alidar (Score:1) Tuesday July 08 2003, @10:39AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • umm (Score:5, Funny)

    by greg987123 (677841) on Monday July 07 2003, @08:54PM (#6387980)
    "Who needs conspiracy theories, when you can hear it from the horses mouth?"
    Well, I can't now, thanks to Slashdot. Good job Slashdot, covering up RFID tag conspiracies. :)
  • Exactly! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mr. Sketch (111112) * <mister.sketch@nOSpaM.gmail.com> on Monday July 07 2003, @08:54PM (#6387981)
    Who needs conspiracy theories when we have conspiracy facts!
    • Re:Exactly! by kurosawdust (Score:2) Monday July 07 2003, @09:57PM
  • They forgot something (Score:5, Funny)

    by gooberguy (453295) <gooberguy@gmail.com> on Monday July 07 2003, @08:56PM (#6387992)
    From communications.pdf:
    - Identify potential consumer road blocks/fears.
    - Construct a proactive framework to minimise negatives arising.
    - Assess consumer reaction if press develop scare stories and develop best messages to pacify.


    Sounds like they forgot one step: PROFIT!
    • Re:They forgot something (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Stiletto (12066) on Monday July 07 2003, @09:32PM (#6388205)
      (http://existens.org/)
      Assess consumer reaction if press develop scare stories and develop best messages to pacify.

      This may have been modded "Funny" but it's actually quite informative. Of course us anti-corporatists have known this all along, but it's interesting to see these guys being so open and honest about their intent to "PACIFY" the "CONSUMERS". Look at any and all marketing today. It's all designed to pacify us in one way or another... to stun us, blind us, or numb our minds to what is really going on. The goal is to get us to be a bunch of nice passive cows, buying and believing everything we are fed.

      When someone brings up a concern, or protests the action of a large corporation or government, the powers that be go into spin mode, "developing the best message to pacify" the people.

      I'd love to see these Adolf Hitler try to run for president today. I imagine he'd hire these very same people to "construct a proactive framework to minimise negatives arising" and try to best pacify the pesky human rights folks...
      [ Parent ]
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Not so bad (Score:5, Insightful)