August 26, 2003
Chipping Away at Privacy
As I mentioned recently, the Government are planning to install tracking microchips in cars within four years. But it isn't just the Government that wants to know where you are. Businesses are interested as well.
Marks & Spencer are planning to insert tiny chips in each of its suits, beginning this autumn. These Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices will send out radio signals which can be tracked by scanners. Initially the signal will have to be read from no more than 5 metres distance. The chips are about the size of a grain of sand and available for just a few pence each, so the wearer will notice nothing either in the clothing or its cost. Tesco and Asda have similar plans for their products.
There is nothing to keep the Government from tuning into the same frequencies and tracking the wearer. Initially, this would not be difficult in cities, since an individual already isn't much farther than 5 metres from the Government's CCTV at any time. Just add a little scanner to the side of the camera and presto! Big Brother is watching you in two ways at the same time.
This is not just idle speculation. According to The Times, the Government has been sponsoring RFID trials. As soon as Gordon Brown decides its time to ditch the pound and join the Euro, as long as you have money in your wallet, you will be tracked everywhere. The European Central Bank plans to put the RFID granules in euro banknotes.
RFID is not something that is confined to Europe. In fact, it is much further along in the US. A pressure group, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (Caspian), has already forced Gillette, Benetton, and Wal-Mart to back down from RFID. Gillette has actually been setting up cameras to take mug shots of customers who picked up the Mach3 razor. They have been doing this in the UK as well, as reported in the Guardian last month:
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.
But back to the US, as reported in The Times today:
Companies such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are working with the Auto-ID Centre, part of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, to develop the common standard that would allow RFID tags to gain widespread adoption.
It would appear that Government and big business have a keen interest in knowing what we are buying, when we are buying it, where we are going with it, and what we are doing with it.