Tesco Big Brother?
8 Aug 2003 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karohemdA colleague forwarded this:
Call to Action
** Give the TESCO big brother chip the flick **
TESCO’s Cambridge is carrying out a pilot program of RFID tracking technology on their Gillette razor products (see below)
We will hold an information action to encourage shoppers to refuse to be guinea pigs in this privacy eating experiment.
Join us. 10 – 12 noon, Saturday, August 9, 2003 @ TESCO Supermarket, Newmarket Road, Cambridge
We need to stop them now, before this spreads like a virus to other products and shops.
Concerned Cambridge Residents
WATCH OUT !
This supermarket is using RFID tags on certain items.
By shopping at TESCO today, you may be a guinea pig in an experiment.
When you pick up GILLETTE razor blades off the shelf, you will be tagged by an eletronic device. Not only that, the hidden ship communicates with the camera system that stores your picture in a database!
"The supermarket chain Tesco has admitted testing controversial technology that tracks customers..." - The Guardian, Saturday July 19, 2003.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are tiny electronic circuits which can be embedded in almost anything you can think of: packaging, clothing, electronics, vehicle parts etc. The device is triggered by a radio signal on a specific frequency. Each RFID tag has a unique dentification number and will respond by transmitting that number. The tag’s unique number can then be looked up in a database to find out any information that the owner of the system cares to attach to it.
TESCO is experimenting in this store with RFID tags on GILLETTE packs. If this trial is successful a broader range of goods will be tagged. This system, apparently inoffensive, can easily intrude in your personal privacy. Tags can be buried in your clothes and consequently you would be transmitting without your knowledge personal information that can be retrieved by anyone who has the proper equipment.
STOP this electronic dog collar in its infancy!
If we act now,we can stop this tagging spreading to other products and shops
:
* Raise your concern about the RFID at the store management and write a letter to TESCO.
* Don’t shop at TESCO and tell them why you won’t shop there anymore
(Freephone: 0800 505555, Email : customer.service@tesco.co.uk
* Don’t buy GILLETTE products and tell them about it
* If you must buy GILLETTE products, ask a shop assistant to remove the chip before you leave TESCO's.
* Ask your local MP Anne Campbell to raise this issue in Parliament (Tel: 0118 987 5222) campbella@parliament.uk
If you would like more information on this concern, log on to:
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/cambridge/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0%2c3604%2c1001211%2c00.html" \t "_blank"
Call to Action
** Give the TESCO big brother chip the flick **
TESCO’s Cambridge is carrying out a pilot program of RFID tracking technology on their Gillette razor products (see below)
We will hold an information action to encourage shoppers to refuse to be guinea pigs in this privacy eating experiment.
Join us. 10 – 12 noon, Saturday, August 9, 2003 @ TESCO Supermarket, Newmarket Road, Cambridge
We need to stop them now, before this spreads like a virus to other products and shops.
Concerned Cambridge Residents
WATCH OUT !
This supermarket is using RFID tags on certain items.
By shopping at TESCO today, you may be a guinea pig in an experiment.
When you pick up GILLETTE razor blades off the shelf, you will be tagged by an eletronic device. Not only that, the hidden ship communicates with the camera system that stores your picture in a database!
"The supermarket chain Tesco has admitted testing controversial technology that tracks customers..." - The Guardian, Saturday July 19, 2003.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are tiny electronic circuits which can be embedded in almost anything you can think of: packaging, clothing, electronics, vehicle parts etc. The device is triggered by a radio signal on a specific frequency. Each RFID tag has a unique dentification number and will respond by transmitting that number. The tag’s unique number can then be looked up in a database to find out any information that the owner of the system cares to attach to it.
TESCO is experimenting in this store with RFID tags on GILLETTE packs. If this trial is successful a broader range of goods will be tagged. This system, apparently inoffensive, can easily intrude in your personal privacy. Tags can be buried in your clothes and consequently you would be transmitting without your knowledge personal information that can be retrieved by anyone who has the proper equipment.
STOP this electronic dog collar in its infancy!
If we act now,we can stop this tagging spreading to other products and shops
:
* Raise your concern about the RFID at the store management and write a letter to TESCO.
* Don’t shop at TESCO and tell them why you won’t shop there anymore
(Freephone: 0800 505555, Email : customer.service@tesco.co.uk
* Don’t buy GILLETTE products and tell them about it
* If you must buy GILLETTE products, ask a shop assistant to remove the chip before you leave TESCO's.
* Ask your local MP Anne Campbell to raise this issue in Parliament (Tel: 0118 987 5222) campbella@parliament.uk
If you would like more information on this concern, log on to:
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/cambridge/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0%2c3604%2c1001211%2c00.html" \t "_blank"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 8/8/03 10:58 am (UTC)Damn Right!
Date: 16/8/03 06:31 am (UTC)> assistant to remove the chip before you leave TESCO's.
.... from what I hear this has been going on for over six months now, and it didn't take very long for some poor unsuspecting customer to slice their hand on one of theses chips when they opened the packet.
Speaking as someone who has already managed to slice my own hand on a Virgin Megastore security tag in the past (which have sharp blades in them to prevent tampering, I might add)... ALWAYS insist that such things are removed by a member of staff before you leave the shop. If they refuse make it perfectly clear you will hold the company responsible if you get hurt removing the tag yourself.... and watch them bend over backwards to accomodate you. If they don't.... insist on speaking to a manager. :-)