Recommended Books
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Buy Katherine Albrecht’s Spychips to delay RFID chips in stores, people and drivers licenses
Last night I ordered two books
Spychips -- The authors Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre were on Coast last week and she’s right, the best way to prevent this atrocious invasion of privacy is to get this book on the bestseller lists, create awareness and hopefully some legislation prohibiting many abuses.
I may not have time to read it right away, but the word needs to get out.
My old passports have the visa stamps, you can see when I entered and left various countries. That’s “normal”—I never gave it a thought, other than how cool it is see where I’ve been.
Today’s kids consider it “normal” that they go through metal detectors when they go into their schools, everybody knows that our phone calls and e-mails are monitored and our credit card and bank statements provide a detailed purchase history.
Cell phones can be located by law enforcement even when turned off. OnStar gets you some extra security and the FBI a way to listen in on your conversations in your car. The court ruled they can’t do it ONLY because it made the system not function for the user while the FBI listened. If the FBI got over that technical problem, they can listen to anyone in any OnStar car.
Every city has THOUSANDS of cameras monitoring the population.
Already our pets are chipped (so is my dog), but more and more PEOPLE get the tracking chips.
From Mexico law enforcement to concerned American parents who have their kids chipped to American governments requiring that certain people be chipped.
You’ve probably read about Wal-Mart and many other retailers utilizing the RFID chips to track merchandise.
*Supposedly* they are deactivated when you leave the store, but how would you know?
It’s the retailers’ dream to know your buying habits the moment you walk into the store. RFID readers at the door will tell them what kind of clothes you are wearing, which credit cards you carry and how much credit you have available.
If you think that’s illegal, think again. A few years ago we discussed at CreditForum.org how doctors make sure that you can pay for treatment by running your credit card for a certain amount (not charging, but authorizing a deposit, similar to rental car deposits) BEFORE providing services. There is NOTHING you can do to prevent a store from requiring a minimum available credit BEFORE you enter.
The merchants will argue that this is how they’ll keep out shoplifters. When you enter the store, it’ll beep when you’re not qualified just like it does now when someone leaves the store without paying. You may then pull out your wallet and flash some cash and you’re asked to leave if you you’re not deemed a potentially profitable shopper.
“We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.”
And then of course there’s national security. Apparently some government people are getting chipped passports and it won’t be too long until every drivers license has a chip. Just about every bank and store and of course government buildings will have the readers and with a few keystrokes a detailed history of your whereabouts will be produced.
Tomorrow’s kids will accept the tracking just like I accepted the passport stamps without question.
The criminals will tremendously appreciate the chips - they’ll know which house to rob and which wallet is worth stealing.
They’ll be the first to have RFID readers. They’ll cut the chips out of the kidnapped victims. I’d rather not have a chip in the first place.
You probably read about the FAKE ATMs put up by creative crooks—the RFID readers owned by criminals will be everywhere. Just like guns.
At this time we’re mostly talking about passive chips with a very short range, just a few feet. However, it’s not a big step to the transmitting chips.
I heard Katherine talk about chips that can actually transmit all your conversations.
How would you like that? Especially, since you might think you got a flu shot and not even know that you have been chipped because you happened to end up on some list by mistake. A criminal or an agent for a competing corporation might drug you and inject the chip.
Already corporate bug sweeps and detection of spyware is a huge business. However, just like your spouse might install a keystroke logger on your computer, your spouse might inject you with a spychip to make sure you’re not cheating or to find out who you’re cheating with. Parents can make sure their kids don’t smoke a little weed with 24/7/365 monitoring.
Trust means nothing—control is everything.
Nicaragua Footprint -- For me it’s time to get out while I can and I’ve been impatiently waiting for the new release. I really enjoyed reading the previous edition, also by Richard Leonardi.
Of course I’m aware that Wal-Mart has been invading Mexico and Central America and you really can’t get “away” anymore, especially with so many investor expats exporting the American consumerism, values and lifestyle.
I’ve been an Amazon affiliate so long, my ID is “bayhouserealesta”—way back when Amazon started they just used the name of your business and apparently mine was too long. I have yet to get a check - mostly used it for my own orders.
Yes, I’m aware that Amazon is a huge Republican supporter, that’s in part why I never put up any links before.
But I sure appreciate their reviews. I look up any book I consider buying at Amazon and usually I can tell within a few minutes whether it’s what I’m looking for. And you don’t even have to order at Amazon. Since the nearest bookstore is over 100 miles away, Amazon works for me, especially with the free shipping and I never had a problem with my orders.
Here’s more info from CASPIAN (I subscribe to their newsletter) on Spychips, reviews, the websites, etc.
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Privacy - what happened to it? • Recommended Books • (0) Comments • Permalink
