Are they chipping your Levi's?

[napi21]

I assume it's OK to post this whole article since I got it in an email! Interesting thing is, the person who sent it to me lives in New Zealand! Her comment was "I won't be buying any mre Live's in my lifetime!

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/04/levis_rfid.html

Spychipped Levi's Hit the U.S.
Levi Strauss Confirms RFID Test, Refuses to Disclose Location

April 27, 2006

It may be time to ditch your Dockers and lay off the Levi's, say privacy activists Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre. New information confirms that Levi Strauss & Co. is ignoring a moratorium on item-level RFID by spychipping its clothing.

What's more, the company is refusing to disclose the location of its U.S. test.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a controversial technology that uses tiny microchips to track items from a distance.

These RFID microchips have earned the nickname "spychips" because each contains a unique identification number, like a Social Security number for things, that can be read silently and invisibly by radio waves.

Over 40 of the world's leading privacy and civil liberties organizations have called for a moratorium on chipping individual consumer items because the technology can be used to track people without their knowledge or consent.

Jeffrey Beckman, Director of Worldwide and U.S. Communications for Levi Strauss, confirmed his company's chipping program in an email exhange with McIntyre, saying that a retailer "is testing RFID at one location ...on a few of our larger-volume core men's Levi's jeans styles." However, he refused to name the location.


More at link...


EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR FIVE
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[texastoast]

1. Oh No!! Peepers in my pants

I gotta learn to sew.

[napi21]

2. Heee. Funny comment Texastoast. I guess it is pretty paranoid

to worry about them being stitched into your clothes, when I know the initial intent is to track inventory, but it is a concern to me. ot only can they be put into clothing, but on the back of food labels...just to see how long the product sits on your shelf before you use it, etc.

I'm not usually a fan of the slippery slope theories, but this one is a bit frightening.

[derby378]

3. Nope - I'm wearing union-made jeans

Check 'em out:

http://www.unionjeancompany.com/

[Moderator]

4. Please trim your post to 4 paragraphs.

This is a copyright violation.

Thank you.

[napi21]

5. I'm sorry, but I thought if I received it in an email, it was OK to post.

What makes it OK? I really do appologize if this was wrong, but I honestly thought once it was in an email all was free!

[niyad]

6. I just got off the phone with them, and informed them that as long as

they persist in this, neither I nor any of my friends will be purchasing levi products:

Contact us by phone
Call us toll-free at 1-800-USA-LEVI. We're available Monday - Friday from 6AM to 4:30PM PST.

Contact us by mail
Levi Strauss & Co.
Attn: Consumer Relations
1155 Battery St.
San Francisco, CA 94111

[Jose Diablo]

7. Just plop 'em in the microwave

That pretty much 'kills' any RFID chip.

I wonder if maybe the chips are to prevent shoplifting, in this case, or maybe they are 'deactivated' at the checkout counter to stop the alarm at the door and also record the item for restocking purposes. How big are the chips anyway? Wouldn't they cause a lump in the fabric or seam?

I don't know, I'd kinda like to know more about what type of chips are being used before I get paranoid.

[napi21]

8. As far as I know, they are no bigger than the chips they put in your dog.

Have you ever seen those? They're very, very, small. Less than 1/2th inch wide and less than 1/4 inch long. They can very easily be sewn into a seam and no one would ever know.

I've had several of my dogs chipped so if they get lost or someone steals them, I can get them back. I love THAT use for these chips, but because I can no longer trust my Gov't, I don't feel secure that stores will only use them as inventory and theft control.

Thanks George, for making me such a skeptic!

[radwriter0555]

9. What would the government use a chip in jeans to do... actually... do

you think?

I need to understand what the potential for abuse is here.

[napi21]

10. Track you where ever you go, for one.

I have no idea why they'd want to do that, but then, I have no idea why they'd want to monitor my emails and net visits either!

[radwriter0555]

16. I'm just applying logic here. Why would a jeans co want to track your

movements?

[sproutster]

11. Expectation of privacy?

Let's see, in a worst case Religious Regime...

Swipe card at store and everywhere.

rfid pregnency test, doctors visit, rfid clothing, rfid sees ya go into a clinic, rfids show no weight gain.

OR rfid borrowed jeans, you do not have the licence to wear those jeans and you vote the wrong way

Jeeze name a senario that makes moral choices lawful or unlawful that shouldn't be law but freedom. rfid ensures you will be prosecuted for it in a totalitarian regime.

[radwriter0555]

17. Okay, now who would want to do that?

I just need to understand this concept.

[niyad]

15. don't know about you, but I would certainly notice a piece of metal or

whatever in my clothing that was 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch--hell, I notice a thread hanging. that would drive me nuts.

wonder what happens when one is removed??

[mondo joe]

12. How does the micowave handle the zipper and buttons?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

13. fireworks!!

not that I've tried it, but I have tried to microwave a mcdonalds wrapper, and I got sparks! What's up with that??! :scared:

[Rainscents]

14. I read this story on Coast to coast headline news today!

BIG BROTHER is watching every move we make!

[Hekate]

18. Big Brother is Watching You. Big Brother is a Corporation. Our Government

Our Government is a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of Corporations.

I'm surprised at the DUers in this thread who don't see the potential for abuse in this scenario.

The ONLY way I'd ever be comfortable with so-called inventory-tracking chips is if I knew I could disable them at the cash register. Microwaving at home, while an attractive-enough idea, unfortunately would not be safe for the huge number of items containing some percentage of metal.

Hekate