Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID) are useful tiny radio transmitters that can be placed on (or in) almost anything. While very useful for tracking animals and keeping inventory in order, there is a stark danger to privacy and freedom if this technology is allowed to be implemented on humans as well.

Not only is there a great interest in using them this way, the technology is being actively developed. If you want to know all there is to know about what companies plan to do with RFID, Spychips by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre is an excellent resource.

Each hypothetical situation is backed by company brochures, filed patents, and trade show information that shows exactly what companies plan to (and are) doing with RFID. Make sure to get this book and become more informed about why you should cringe the next time they want to put RFID on or in you.

Tags: Books, RFID, Spychips

Here’s a new book on my list: “Unscrewed. The Consumer’s Guide to Getting What You Paid For”. The Consumerist has a great interview with the author that describes some of the techniques in the book. Check this one out:

BURLEY: As you know, none of the techniques require anyone to scream or yell or spit at great distances. As a matter of fact, those are disqualifiers. There’s an old-school belief, yes, walking into the middle of a showroom and screaming at the top of your voice, “They cheated me!” These days that will get you escorted out by the security guard. A lot of the techniques in the book put a twist on the old techniques of being a squeaky wheel. Such as writing a letter. Writing a letter to the president of the company these days is not going to get you anything. They’ve got legions of people and the president of the company is never going to see that letter. But I have a letter-writing technique that’s called “Spokesperson For The Competition.” You don’t write a letter to the company that’s causing you a problem, you write a letter to the president of the company that is their number one competitor, telling your true story and offering to become their number one spokesperson, and giving them permission to give a copy of your letter to every one of their sales people. Now before you send that letter to the competitor, you send a copy of that letter to the president of the corporation that’s causing you a problem. And now they do the math. They say, ok, instead of losing just that one customer, our competitor is going to have evidence of just how poorly we treat our customers. And since we’re in a highly competitive business, and we’re trying to get those business accounts and fleet accounts or whatever, if every one of their sales people have evidence of how badly we treat our customers, how much business will we lose? You see what’s happened there, it’s the same technique, you’re writing one letter, but you have somehow multiplied the effect, because you’re not now one individual against the company that is causing you a problem. Using this technique of writing a letter to the competition, and offering to become a spokesperson for the competition, you’ve now multiplied your impact, your effect, a thousand fold? Ten-thousand fold? And suddenly, once again, it becomes more cost-effective for the company to take care of you than to ignore you.

That’s quite brilliant actually. I should definitely get a copy and see what it’s like. Tags: Books