NoSSN - News on RFID Chips& Cash

News on RFID Chips& Cash
March 10, 2003

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Contents:

+ Euro banknotes may have RFID chips by 2005

+ Update: European Central Bank plays coy on chipping cash

+ CASH: United States Currency changing colors this month

+ RFID chips in pills, hidden readers in carpets

+ How to kill an RFID chip

+ Volunteer web designers/graphic artists/researchers/authors needed

EURO BANK NOTES TO BE EMBEDDED WITH RFID DEVICES BY 2005

The European Central Bank is quietly working to embed RFID tags in the

fibers of Euro bank notes by 2005 -- barring citizen protests. The tags

would allow money to carry its own history by recording information about

where it has been, thus giving governments and law enforcement agencies a

means to literally "follow the money" in every transaction.

Hitachi Europe wants to supply the tags. The company has developed a

smart tag chip that -- at just 0.3mm square and as thin as a human hair --

can easily fit inside of a banknote. It has been predicted that

mass-production of the new chip will begin this year.

If and when RFID devices are embedded in banknotes, the anonymity that

cash affords in consumer transactions will be eliminated.

Europeans: there is still time to prevent this, but you need to take the

message to the streets soon. NO SPY CHIPS IN OUR CASH!

Sources:

Cheryl Rosen & Mathew G. Nelson, "The Fast Track: Radio-frequency

Devices Promise to Make it Easier to Monitor the Flow of Inventory

Across the Supply Chain," INFORMATIONWEEK, June 18, 2001

http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle?doc_id=IWK20010618S

0001

Junko Yoshida, "Euro Bank Notes to Embed RFID Chips by 2005"

EETIMES, Dec. 19, 2001

http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011219S0016

UPDATE: EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK PLAYS COY ON CHIPPING CASH

In February we received this email update on RFID chips in the Euro from a

French journalist. He writes:

"I just asked the Banque Central EuropÃ©enne about the use of RFID in

bankes notes in 2005, they answered: - Our project are confidential now -

We will use the needed technologie in time

I asked: RFID?

They said: No comment

I spoke with Mr Rispal Philippe

service de presse : tÃ©l from Paris : (00) 49 69 13 44 74 55

- site Internet banque centrale europÃ©eenne:

http://www.ecb.int/

CASH: UNITED STATES CURRENCY CHANGING COLORS THIS MONTH

In just a few weeks, the U.S. federal government will unveil new $20

bills in a new, as-yet-to-be-announced color scheme. Called "Monopoly

money" by its critics, the new bills will be introduced into broad

circulation this fall.

Apparently, more than just the color of the bills is changing. CNN tells

us that "other changes will include new images of Andrew Jackson and the

White House, as well as other adjustments that are being kept secret."

Many have voiced concerns to CASPIAN that those "secret adjustments"

might include RFID identification and tracking stripes, similar to

those proposed in Europe (see story above). Though the rumor that

"secret devices" in cash render it remotely trackable has been

circulating as an urban legend for years, events in Europe suggest there

may now be cause for real concern here in the United States. While we

have yet to see any hard evidence of actual tracking devices being placed

in US currency, such fears are no longer completely unfounded.

Of course, the worry is that "spy chips" in cash could be remotely

scanned, giving anyone with access to a reader the ability to inventory

the contents of someone else's wallet from 30 feet away. The implications

of this would be chilling. Investigators (or criminals) could

surreptitiously scan for money as people walked through airports, bus

stations, courthouses, gun shows, anti-war rallies, low-income

neighborhoods -- indeed, anywhere.

Even if this round of modifications to US currency does not include RFID

chips, Americans should be vigilant for the future.

Source: Jonah Freedman, "The (new) color of money: Unveiling the new $20

-- an effort to thwart counterfeiters -- is set for March 27" CNN/Money,

March 5, 2003

http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/05/news/money/index.htm

RFID CHIPS IN PILLS, READERS EMBEDDED IN FLOOR TILES AND CARPETS

With all the happy predictions for RFID floating around the business

press this week, we thought it might be helpful to remind our readers just

how INVASIVE this technology is. This week's focus is on proposed health

care applications, particularly plans to use RFID to track the location,

movements, and bodily functions of individuals in the health care system

-- up to and possibly including putting RFID tags into the pills people

take.

The following passages are quoted verbatim from an Auto-ID Center white

paper titled, "Smart Medicine: The application of Auto-ID technology to

healthcare."

"Electronic tags, when coupled to a reader network, allow continuous

tracking and identification of physical objects. Reader arrays have

been fabricated and integrated in floor tiles, carpeting, shelf paper,

cabinets and appliances. Similar to cellular phone grids, the reader

network may provide seamless and continuous communication to tagged

objects." (p. 6)

"The vision of the Auto-ID Center -- to provide direct and continuous

access to the identity, location, and state of physical objects -- has

immediate application to medicine practice and healthcare." (p. 7) "Just

as the medical ID bracelet has for years provided positive identification

of the patient, the proposed electronic tagging system may be used to

provide accurate, automatic, and real-time identification of the person

under medical care. The physician, for example, could know where the

patient was at all times...[and track] patient movement. " (p. 9)

Then, "tags equipped with...low-cost sensors could be adhered to the

patient and provide continuous measurement of temperature, respiration,

EKG, movement, and pulse rate [which would] be transmitted wirelessly to

the hospital reader network where it could be stored..." (p. 12) It is

explained that this will work equally well in the hospital or home.

A section titled "Healthcare at Home" continues:

"As we go about our daily lives, we are generating a wealth of

physiological and medical data. We step on a bathroom scale that

measures our weight, a urine analysis (from a presumably 'smart toilet')

indicates potassiuym levels, our movements about the house (or on exercise

equipment) provides general activity level (and energy expenditure) and

the foods we consume give the caloric intake. Couple these with any

number of envisioned wearable sensors and the result is a composite of

specific physiologic state and general health." (p. 13)

Finally, in the section on "Compliance" we read:

"Electronic tags in the [prescription] bottle and readers in the cabinet

would identify the removal of the container, but would not know if the

drug were actually ingested. Tags in the individual sections of a blister

pack could determine if a dosage were removed. Still further, it has been

suggested placing small electronic tags IN THE PILL itself." (p. 12)

[emphasis in the original]

Hundreds of similar pages have been written on everything from

transportation to food. These documents describe in chilling detail

RFID developers' Orwellian plans for total worldwide surveillance. If you

believe these guys have only been thinking of "supply chain" issues, think

again.

HOW TO KILL AN RFID CHIP

We've fielded a lot of questions lately from worried consumers asking how

to disable RFID chips. According to sources on the web, one surefire way

is to pop them into the microwave for 5-10 seconds. (At least until one

of the RF wizards on our list comes up with a better method.)

Some have suggested you can test this as follows: Take a CD-ROM you

don't mind destroying (say, an AOL freebie). Put it on a plate in the

microwave for 7 seconds. You will see sparks and hear a sizzling, popping

sound. When you remove the CD, the outer surface will appear undamaged,

but the inner "shiny part" will be crackled like marbled paint.

Apparently, the same things happens to RFID chips in the microwave.

While this would not be a practical solution for RFID tags embedded in

automotive tires and suitcases, it will work for smaller, non-metal items

until a hand-held disabler is developed.

COMMON SENSE PRECAUTIONS: Any item you put in the microwave, including a

CD, may get hot. Don't burn yourself. A hot CD could leave a mark, so

use an old plate you don't mind ruining. Obviously, microwave ovens are

not intended for this purpose, so be sensible. Metal items should not be

microwaved.

Finally, cash will turn black if microwaved too long, so be sure to

experiment on a few $1 bills first. CASPIAN takes no responsibility for

damage you do to yourself, your microwave oven, or your cash if you try

this.

VOLUNTEER WEB DESIGNERS/GRAPHIC ARTISTS/RESEARCHERS/AUTHORS NEEDED

CASPIAN is putting together a new RFID-Opposition website. We need a

project manager and talented people to collaborate on this effort. If

you're interested in working with us, please send your name, email

address, phone number, and a link to some samples of your work to:

RFIDsite@nocards.org

CASPIAN - Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering A

national consumer organization opposing supermarket "loyalty" cards and

other retail surveillance schemes since 1999

http://www.nocards.org

We encourage you to duplicate and distribute this message to others.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CASPIAN mailing list, click the

following link or cut and paste it into your browser:

http://www.nocards.org/cgi/mojo/mojo.cgi

If you have difficulty with the web-based interface, you may also

subscribe or unsubscribe via email by writing to:

admin@nocards.org

For CASPIAN's overview of RFID product identification and tracking

technology, please see:

http://www.nocards.org/AutoID/overview.shtml

". . . this vast right-wing conspiracy conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President. A few journalists have kind of
caught on to it and explained it, but it has not yet been fully revealed to the American public." -- Hillary Clinton on NBC's "Today Show" (Jan. 27, 1998)

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