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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.
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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RFID Industry Confidential Memos
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So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Insightful)
So just dont buy anything you're not willing to throw in the microwave for 10 seconds.
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:4, Funny)
Just turn the tin-foil hat inside out after you buy it. That way the mind-control device is on the outside and you can control the world.
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.secondlif...b0f3b0ab103e22c595ea | Last Journal: Thursday March 20 2003, @07:55PM)
that rules out pet shops...
'sorry timmy, poor lassie didn't make it through the deactivation procedure'
Pulsed EMF (Score:5, Interesting)
Do we have any engineers in the house??
Three standard frequency bands (approx. 13MHz appears to be the longest range band) and a physically accessible antenna.
This sounds like a perfect opportunity for any engineers out there to create a tri-band transceiver with a "snort" function to cycle through the used bands, detect the feedback/absorbtion from the RFID antenna and then give it a very localised, high powered pulse or thousand at the appropriate frequency.
If you don't manage to fry the tiny componentry in a tag, it ain't turned on.
Any and all defensive mechanisms (micro-faraday cages, zener diodes, gas chambers, etc.) should either prohibitively raise the price per RFID or be easily overcome with a minor modification (slow ramp up times, gaussian (white noise) frequency distributions).
A far more interesting concept is surely the use of "throw-away" RF interference devices that could interfere with the use of RFID tags to such an extent that it is not viable for it's users (Walmart, I'm looking at you).
Perhaps you could even use their electrical wiring as your antenna (c.f. electronic vermin repellers).
Time to break out the soldering iron.
Quinkin.
Re:Pulsed EMF (Score:4, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/~Asprin | Last Journal: Wednesday November 05 2003, @03:24PM)
What stops me from walking through Wal-Mart wearing one of these things zotting tags left and right?
(***) [I am kidding and fully aware that the E/M waves radiated by this thing would be difficult to absorb in sufficient quantity at frequencies that would pose much of a health risk, so please, no flaming the cancer ref.]
Re:Pulsed EMF (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
So just dont buy anything you're not willing to throw in the microwave for 10 seconds.
I can assure you that soon they wil starting putting metal strings in clothes to render them 'damaged' if you try to expose them to microvaves ...
And if the practice becomes common thw US will pass a law forbidding the act of damaging RFID tags (To fight crimes and terrorism, you understand ...)
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:4, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday August 25 2004, @05:55PM)
And what if there is not opt-out?
Or you actually need to walk into the store to opt-out. But by walking in you opt-in?
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with opt-in is that nobody would ever opt-in. Even if you don't they will just say you did. Take all the opt-in spam I get. I never opted in for penis enlargement e-mail yet it says I did. Who are they to believe? The spammer said I opted in so I must've right? Yes, yes, I know, that's the point. Nobody would opt-in so the thing dies, but tell that to businesses. That's why opt-in will never be accepted by THEM.
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:4, Insightful)
We as consumers probably would have the best luck getting congress to require a RFID tag to be clearly marked or in some way removable, like most bar codes are now. I myself wouldn't have any problem with them while inside the store, but they should be disabled like the security tags are now when I check out.
I can see a lot of 'urban myths' popping up about this technology. It'll take rational (read non-paranoid crackpots) citizens contacting their congressmen or anything to get done tho.
I've been wondering if there would be HIPPA problems if this kind of technology ever is applied to healthcare.
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/)
Such a device would be illegal under the DMCA. After all, a RFID tag is a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work, and burning them would be circumvention. Your "bug scanner" doesn't even have substantial non-infringing uses.
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:4, Insightful)
As broken as the DMCA is, it only discusses circumventing controled access to copyrighted works. Last time I checked you couldn't really copyright a bottle of laundry detergent. And another thing, the RFID tag couldn't possibly provide controlled access to anything it was attached to, it's embedded into the item, not surrounding it, so there's nothing to circumvent.
Destroying the tags would be a simple case of property rights. If you own it, you can destroy it, and although I would expect a bit of "you didn't really buy the tag, but you are leasing it forever" slipperyness here, that won't hold up in the courts for long.
Seems like the new "a Beowulf cluster of these" tagline is becoming "would be illegal under the DMCA"
Re:So when you walk into a store... (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Thursday October 05 2006, @10:36PM)
I've been wondering if there would be HIPPA problems if this kind of technology ever is applied to healthcare.
That is a damned good point. The HIPAA regs require encryption of electronic patient information. This would mean that if RFID tags are used for normal hospital operations, the data must be encrypted or the hospital is criminally liable.
Fulltext of post (Score:5, Informative)
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."
Download ALL PDFs from MIT by yourself! (Score:5, Informative)
(http://dantams.sdf-eu.org/)
Hopefully, the psyche will be turned-around... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://205.205.253.95/Crackster | Last Journal: Wednesday September 22 2004, @09:57PM)
And MAYBE they will take back democracy from those who have stolen it.
Re:Hopefully, the psyche will be turned-around... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.usermode.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday September 04 2005, @07:28PM)
This is not the fault of corporations, but of governments, which have decided to offer up portions of their power to the highest bidder. One way they have done this is to charter corporations. This allows the ownership of companies to be diluted to the point of meaninglessness, so that the owners' accountability for their companies' actions are zero.
p.s. This is not a US problem, but a world problem. The two richest women in the world are European heads of state with nationalized petroleum corporations.
Amish Folk == Textile Pirates! Run for the hills! (Score:5, Funny)
Well, the original article did say that...
Now, I was just about to post something to the effect that while it may well be a privacy negative, anyone who thinks it's a health hazard has probably caught Alzheimers from the aluminum in their tinfoil hat. (Which would be pretty hard, considering the Aluminum-Alzheimer's link has been largely debunked, but never underestimate the power of the placebo effect on a dedicated conspiracy theorist!)
But reading your post... I just realized... who are the real clothing pirates? Who's the greatest threat to WalMart and Chinese Hegemony? Who's the biggest threat the CIAA (Cotton Industry Association of America, oh what an appropriate acronym!)
My God! The friggin' Amish! Of course! The Amish are engaged in the rampant PIRATING of TEXTILES, and they're doing it RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES, RIGHT HERE IN AMERICA!
So yeah, if the research company did the polling in Pennsylvania, you can bet your ass that 61% would fear the health consequences of RFID tags. Hatch! Utah! Mormons! It's a MORMON CONSPIRACY to ERADICATE the AMISH! Gotta get the word out on Slashdot! Hey, check out that horse and buggy across the street, but that's weird, it's got two clean-shaven young drivers in white shirts, damn nice buggy, but the drivers sure don't look Ami{$4[[4][NO CARRIER
disabling? (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.buffalonews.com)
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)
(Last Journal: Friday May 07 2004, @11:35AM)
Hopefully the thing the device is embedded in won't be harmed by the microwave.
Re:Microwave oven. (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Thursday September 18 2003, @07:29PM)
Be careful what you nuke.
Re:Microwave oven. (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Microwave oven. (Score:4, Informative)
(http://www.gfunk007.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday May 27 2006, @04:33AM)
Mr Microwave (Score:5, Funny)
- 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.
Re:Microwave oven. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Are you kidding? (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://rapture-cms.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday June 24 2003, @02:11PM)
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.
Re:disabling? (Score:5, Informative)
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
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.
Re:disabling? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
someone doesn't understand radiation... (Score:4, Interesting)
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...
Re:disabling? (Score:5, Funny)
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
umm (Score:5, Funny)
Well, I can't now, thanks to Slashdot. Good job Slashdot, covering up RFID tag conspiracies.
Exactly! (Score:5, Funny)
They forgot something (Score:5, Funny)
- 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)
(http://existens.org/)
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...
Not so bad (Score:5, Insightful)