Welcome to Call to Decision 

 To: caspian-press-l@nocards.org
 Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:53:43 -0400
 Subject: [Caspian-press-l] Protest today against RFID in clothing and shoes


 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 August 13, 2008

 Protest Today Against RFID in Clothing and Shoes
 RFID WHERE? You'd better look at your shoes, socks and underwear!

 Protesters will gather today in Manhattan to greet attendees of the
 third annual "RFID in Fashion" conference, an event organized to promote
 the use of RFID in clothing and footwear. Dr. Katherine Albrecht, the
 Harvard-educated privacy campaigner featured in the film "Freedom to
 Fascism" and co-author of the bestselling book "Spychips," will be
 on-hand to speak to attendees arriving for the opening keynote this
 afternoon at NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology.

 The conference features two days of speeches and events to advance
 apparel-industry uses for controversial Radio Frequency Identification
 or RFID technology. Past attendees include New Balance Athletic Shoes,
 Reebok, Levi Strauss, American Apparel, Liz Claiborne, and Jockey, along
 with retail outlets The Limited, Timberland, and Dillard's.

 Albrecht planned today's protest after discovering the conference would
 promote the use of RFID in individual clothing items. Known as
 "item-level tagging," the practice of placing RFID tags on consumer
 items (rather than on crates or pallets in a warehouse) has been widely
 condemned by privacy and security experts.

 Experts caution that such tags pose huge privacy and safety risks to the
 public. Used to track inventory in warehouses, RFID tags can easily be
 used to track people as well – a fact that can be exploited by
 marketers, government agencies, and criminals. IBM, for example, has
 patented RFID "person tracking units" for placement in walls and floors
 to allow marketers and government agents to secretly monitor people's
 movements. They suggest using the devices in public spaces like shopping
 malls, theaters, elevators, and restrooms once RFID is implemented at
 the item level.

 "Consumers shouldn't have to worry about tracking devices being sewn
 into the seams of their clothing or pressed into the soles of their
 shoes," said Albrecht. "We are putting apparel and RFID companies on
 notice that consumers will protest any item-level use of RFID on
 apparel."

 In 2003, Albrecht's consumer group CASPIAN led a successful boycott
 against Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton. The resulting worldwide
 opposition forced the company to cancel plans to sew millions of RFID
 tags into women's garments.

 "Consumer awareness and opposition to RFID has grown exponentially since
 2003," Albrecht said. "Any U.S. company foolish enough to use RFID on
 apparel will face stiff repercussions."

 The RFID in Fashion 2008 conference website can be found at:
 http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/fashion/

 ================================================================
 ABOUT CASPIAN

 CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)
 is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes
 since 1999 and irresponsible RFID use since 2002. With thousands of
 members in all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries worldwide, CASPIAN
 seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their
 privacy and encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the
 retail spectrum

 OUR WEBSITES:


 Human Chipping: http://www.AntiChips.com
 RFID Tagging: http://www.spychips.com
 Shopper Cards: http://www.nocards.org
 Boycott Gillette: http://www.BoycottGillette.com
 Boycott Tesco: http://www.BoycottTesco.com
 Boycott Benetton (2003): http://www.BoycottBenetton.com


 ================================================================
 ABOUT KATHERINE ALBRECHT

 Dr. Katherine Albrecht is widely recognized as one of the world's
 leading experts on consumer privacy, retail issues, and RFID, or "Radio
 Identification Technology." She holds a Doctorate in Education from
 Harvard University, was appointed by NH Governor John Lynch to serve on
 that state's two-year RFID study commission, and is the director of
 CASPIAN, a 20,000 member consumer privacy organization she founded in
 1999.

 Since 2003, Katherine has led the fight against unethical RFID use in
 products and in people. She regularly testifies before lawmakers around
 the globe and has given over two thousand television, radio and print
 interviews to news outlets like CNN, NPR, Good Morning America, Business
 Week and the London Times, to name just a few. Executive Technology
 Magazine calls Katherine "perhaps the country's single most vocal
 privacy advocate" and Wired magazine calls her the "Erin Brockovich" of
 RFID."

 ================================================================
 CONTACT // LINKS

 Dr. Katherine Albrecht
 Founder and Director, CASPIAN Consumer Privacy
 (877) 287-5854, kma@spychips.com


 =====================================================================
 ABOUT CASPIAN

 CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes since 1999 and irresponsible RFID use since 2002. With thousands of members in all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries worldwide, CASPIAN seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their
 privacy and encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum.

 http://www.spychips.com/
 http://www.antichips.com/
 http://www.nocards.org/

 =====================================================================