ArrrImmaPir8!
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- May 13, 2004
- Messages
- 133
Gillette has been caught hiding tiny RFID surveillance chips in the packaging of its shaving products. These tiny, high tech spy tags are being used to trigger photo taking of unsuspecting customers!
Image Source: ID Tech Ex Magazine.
(Use for educational purposes protected under U.S. copyright law.)
The tracking system uses sensors hidden under Gillette shelves to detect when products are picked up.
Whenever a shopper picks up a packet of razor blades from a spy shelf, SNAP! A hidden camera secretly takes a closeup photo of the shopper's face. (And a second photo is snapped at the cash register to make sure the product is paid for!)
Image Source: ID Tech Ex Magazine.
(Use for educational purposes protected under U.S. copyright law.)
Gillette's spy shelves have been uncovered in England and we suspect they have been tested at various locations around the United States and other countries.
The Gillette spy shelf and the associated hidden camera application were developed at the MIT Auto-ID Center, during the time that Gillette VP Dick Cantwell was the head of the Center's Board of Overseeers. This industry consortium has produced documents, pictures, and video promoting the use of Gillette "smart shelves" to take secret photos of unsuspecting customers.
http://www.boycottgillette.com/spychips.html has pictures
Tags in packs of razor blades used to track buyers
Alok Jha Science correspondent
Saturday July 19, 2003
The Guardian
The supermarket chain Tesco has admitted testing controversial technology that tracks customers buying certain products through its stores. Anyone picking up Gillette Mach3 razor blades at its Cambridge store will have his or her picture taken.
The Guardian, alerted by Katherine Albrecht, director of US-based Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy and Invasion and Numbering, to the use of the smart electronic tags, has found that tags in the razor blades trigger a CCTV camera when a packet is removed from the shelf. A second camera takes a picture at the checkout and security staff then compare the two images, raising the possibility that they could be used to prevent theft.
"Customers know that there are CCTV cameras in the store," said a spokesman for Tesco. He went on to insist that the aim of the trial was to provide stock information and not security, but the manager of the Cambridge store, Alan Robinson, has already described how he presented photos of a shoplifter to police.
The trial uses radio frequency identification (RFID) in which tiny chips can communicate with detectors up to 20ft away. The chip can then return information - anything from a unique serial number to more complex product details. Or, as in Tesco's case, it could trigger a camera.
Retailers have hailed the technology as the "holy grail" of supply chain management but civil liberties groups argue that the so-called "spy chips" are an invasion of consumers' privacy and could be used as a covert surveillance device.
The technology is mostly used to track batches of products through the supply chain. But manufacturers want to go a step further and tag each individual product: everything from yoghurt pots to clothes.
One potential problem with RFID tags is that they can still work long after the product has been bought. If the tags become as ubiquitous as the manufacturers would like, people could be bristling with the chips in clothes and possessions. Anyone from police to potential thieves could work out exactly what they carry. Manufacturers, however, insist that the chips can be disabled at the point of sale.
"You can disable the tag by erasing the data on it and this can be done at the checkout," said Jon Parsell of Bedford-based RFID Components, which supplies RFID systems to retailers.
Transport for London is also using RFID-style chips in its new Oyster smart cards to allow users to travel around the tube network. The intention is that registered users will have information such as their names and addresses stored on the cards, which would eventually replace season tickets.
A spokesperson for TfL said that the entry and exit points of each journey made by Oyster users were recorded and that, technically, it would be possible to track people through the tube network. Nicole Carroll, marketing director for TranSys, the consortium responsible for implementing the system, told the Guardian that all the journeys made by a user would remain stored in a central computer for the lifetime of the card.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1001211,00.html
In light of this how far is too far with regards to privacy? Do you see a problem with marketing types potentially having access to a database of faces and payments unbeknownst to the consumers? I wasn't aware of the system contained within the Oyster network which is slightly alarming since it's almost impossible to paint this as purely a network improvement system (if it was it'd work on passenger numbers or some other arbitrary system). Either London Underground plans to use it for commercial purposes, or the Government wants it for some reason. The last may sound tinfoily, until you read the RIP Act 2000.
Unlike America we have no system in place to protect individual rights and generally a very apathetic population when it comes to such matters. Major abuses are fairly easy to stop, but hidden methods that people can't avoid due to not knowing about them seem to me to be way out of line.
Opinions?