Privacy . . . does it exist, or is it just a dream???
Perhaps you’ve heard about the court that ruled a teenager’s right to privacy had been violated when said teenager’s parent eavesdropped on a telephone conversation? ( http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41880 )
Well, here’s something that goes even further to demonstrate how rare an animal true privacy is becoming (italicized text copied from www.spychips.com — check it out for additional information regarding what I consider to be a huge indicator of Christ’s imminent return):
RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID “spy chips” have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, Target, or Tesco – and they are already being used to spy on people.
 Above: Magnified image of actual tag found in Gillette Mach3 razor blades. | Each tiny chip is hooked up to an antenna that picks up electromagnetic energy beamed at it from a reader device. When it picks up the energy, the chip sends back its unique identification number to the reader device, allowing the item to be remotely identified. Spy chips can beam back information anywhere from a couple of inches to up to 20 or 30 feet away. |
Some of the world’s largest product manufacturers have been plotting behind closed doors since 1999 to develop and commercialize this technology. If they are not opposed, their plan is to use these remote-readable spy chips to replace the bar code.
RFID tags are NOT an “improved bar code” as the proponents of the technology would like you to believe. RFID technology differs from bar codes in three important ways:
1. With today’s bar code technology, every can of Coke has the same UPC or bar code number as every other can (a can of Coke in Toronto has the same number as a can of Coke in Topeka). With RFID, each individual can of Coke would have a unique ID number which could be linked to the person buying it when they scan a credit card or a frequent shopper card (i.e., an “item registration system”).
2. Unlike a bar code, these chips can be read from a distance, right through your clothes, wallet, backpack or purse — without your knowledge or consent — by anybody with the right reader device. In a way, it gives strangers x-ray vision powers to spy on you, to identify both you and the things you’re wearing and carrying.
3. Unlike the bar code, RFID could be bad for your health. RFID supporters envision a world where RFID reader devices are everywhere – in stores, in floors, in doorways, on airplanes — even in the refrigerators and medicine cabinets of our own homes. In such a world, we and our children would be continually bombarded with electromagnetic energy. Researchers do not know the long-term health effects of chronic exposure to the energy emitted by these reader devices.
Many huge corporations, including Philip Morris, Procter and Gamble, and Wal-Mart, have begun experimenting with RFID spy chip technology. Gillette is leading the pack, and recently placed an order for up to 500 million RFID tags from a company called “Alien Technology” (we kid you not). These big companies envision a day when every single product on the face of the planet is tracked with RFID spy chips!
As consumers we have no way of knowing which packages contain these chips. While some chips are visible inside a package (see our pictures of Gillette spy chips), RFID chips can be well hidden. For example they can be sewn into the seams of clothes, sandwiched between layers of cardboard, molded into plastic or rubber, and integrated into consumer package design.
This technology is rapidly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Now RFID spy chips can even be printed, meaning the dot on a printed letter “i” could be used to track you. In addition, the tell-tale copper antennas commonly seen attached to RFID chips can now be printed with conductive ink, making them nearly imperceptible. Companies are even experimenting with making the product packages themselves serve as antennas.
As you can see, it could soon be virtually impossible for a consumer to know whether a product or package contains an RFID spy chip. For this reason, CASPIAN (the creator of this web site) is proposing federal labeling legislation, the RFID Right to Know Act, which would require complete disclosures on any consumer products containing RFID devices.
We believe the public has an absolute right to know when they are interacting with technology that could affect their health and privacy.
Don’t you?
Join us. Let’s fight this battle before big corporations track our every move.
A Scribbler & A Shutterbug 
I’ve been opposing it for half a decade, actually. One fun thing about it is that you can toss them in the microwave for a few seconds and they die. Still doesn’t excuse this sort of thing though.
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OK. Let’s not get too bent out of shape over this. First, the court ruling was NOT that mom couldn’t eavesdrop on her daughters’ conversation. The ruling was that the evidence thereby gained could NOT be used against the perp. Mom can still punish the daughter….if it were mine, she’d be out on her ear (right Gini?).
Products with RFID chips are used to track the PRODUCT, not you. As Intermodal just mentioned, they are easily destroyed. Labelling of products? Maybe. Do we need to get all “tin-foil-hat” over this? Not really.
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I agree with soliver. I don’t think there’s any reason to put on our tin-foil hats…..YET.
I think it is our job to keep our government in check. And, I certainly think it’s also our job to monitor companies and their practices, since we do buy their goods and services. Is it annoying that they track their products, or our purchases (through things like the Kroger Plus Card) so they can send us junk mail? Absolutely. But, I think that’s just going to be one of the downfalls of becoming a more “advanced” society.
However, the potential IS there for someone(s) to misuse this technology. I think we should continue to monitor these new developments and speak out when we see a problem sprouting…and I don’t mean after we notice the white van parked down the street, lol!
But, I just don’t see this being something to really get wound up about right now. Maybe I’m wrong…it happens! :O)
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don’t tell me you actually put your real name on that thing…I gave the name “Abraham Simpson” and my old workplace address in California.
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I thought that story about the mother eavesdropping on the daughter was ridiculous. As far as I am concerned, as long as the kid lives under my roof, then I have every right to know what the heck they are up to, especially if they hang around little purse-snatching, hoodlum boys. Privacy laws for kids??? I don’t think so. The RFID chip sounds a little suspicious to me. Why must everything be tracked? It is kind of strange.P.S. Ahh yes, the wonderful world of intellectual property…that is certainly an interesting coincidence!
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I think intellectual property law is excessive in its current state too, actually.
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Well Mom – here’s where you go for the real skinny on these chips.https://secure.endtime.com/apstore/prod_det_2.asp?ProdID=79247The fight is there, but there’s more of a fight at a different level. Big Brother ain’t the enemy, the enemy is the emeny, and this dovetails into his plan against God’s church in the endtime. Just so ya know.
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Oh, believe me — I’m well aware of the spiritual ramifications of this technology. That was my main point in bringing this up — the technology is finally catching up to Biblical prophecy. This little chip that can be inserted into a human being via injection, and subsequently scanned for medical information in an emergency is also being used as currency. Apparently, at some resorts clients pay for drinks at the bar, etc., simply by having their wrists scanned. Cashless society anyone???
If Jesus has been tugging at your heart and you’re still dragging your heels, I urge you to accept Him as your Savior now. Time is spinning faster and faster, and you may not have as much time left to make a decision as you think . . .
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As Christians, we should recognize the folly of looking for “signs of the endtimes”. It just isn’t going to be so obvious. “Thief in the night” and all that. The comment about injected chips being scanned for payment appears false (http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/mondex.asp)
And it doesn’t pass the logic test. Current technology can’t stop hackers from getting into a computer network. Now you’re walking around with this rf chip that allows your every move to be watched, but won’t be strong enough that someone else can’t get into your bank account information? I just don’t see it. Call me crazy. I probably am.
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*shudder*Boy, is it scary! I guess all we *CAN* do is trust the Father.
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Soliver571 — I understand some of what you’re saying . . . it IS folly to spend all our time trying to pinpoint His return. But I truly believe that we are much closer than we may, in our human logic, realize. And because of that, it is critical that people get their hearts right with God.
Your Snopes documentation may disprove for the time being the thoughts being tossed about on the Net. But all technological advances have to start someone, and it seems that things are falling into place for this to become a reality in the not-too-distant future, if not today.
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Oops — I meant “all technological advances have to start SOMEWHERE . . . “
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This reminds me of my neighbor who told me that the bar-coding on the back of the stop sign on the corner was to allow UN troops to figure out where they were when they came to take over. (They’re used to inventory the signs before they’re put up).
That not withstanding, I trust you’ve gotten rid of your cell phone and will now quit using the internet. It’s much easier to track you that way. We’re getting way too “tin-foil hat” over this.
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Actually, I never have had a cell phone because I just don’t like people being able to intrude on my every waking moment. I prefer to be able to go out for a nice dinner with my family without the phone ringing every 5 minutes (and think it’s incredibly rude when people carry on cell phone conversations while ignoring the people that they’re physically with at the time). I still use the internet, even though it does cross my mind occasionally how many “footprints” I’ve left in cyberspace. I am not anti-technology. I love how technological advances have made many things in life so much easier. The point I’m trying to make is that advances in technology can be misused by less than Godly people to fulfill Biblical prophecy.
I’m not “tin-foil hat” over anything. I just thought it was interesting information. I’m posting another article regarding the VeriChip from CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) that some might find thought-provoking. Despite what Snopes says, I think there is some truth to this. The knowledge, the technology, in itself is not necessarily evil. It is how men use it that is. I think this is one of those slippery slopes — the technology starts out innocently enough . . . “Here’s a great way to ID your dog if it ever becomes lost.” “Here’s a great way to ID your kid if he/she is ever kidnapped . . .”
Do you not see or not admit how this technology could eventually be misused to ID people (and their loyalties)?
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I have a cell phone, I just usually leave it at home unless I’m on business, will be out all day, or have a specific need. I turn it off in church, in meetings, and in restaurants, too. And my car when I remember, but I usually forget I have it at all.
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