Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Purchase and Watc h Your Every Move

Katherine Albrecht, Liz McIntyre

Penguin, Sep 26, 2006 - Technology & Engineering - 304 pages

Winner of the Lysander Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty

As you walk down the street, a tiny microchip implanted in your tennis shoe tracks your every move; chips woven into your clothing transmit the value of your outfit to nearby retailers; and a thief scans the chips hidden inside your money to decide if you’re worth robbing. This isn’t science fiction; in a few short years, it could be a fact of life.

Spychips takes readers into the frightening world of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). While manufacturers and the government want you to believe that they would never misuse the technology, the future looks like an Orwellian nightmare when you consider the possibilities of surveillance and tracking these chips embody. Combining in-depth research with firsthand reporting, Spychips reveals how RFID technology, if left unchecked, could soon destroy our privacy, radically alter the economy, and open the floodgates for civil liberty abuses.

Contents

• Spychips 101: 9
• The Master Plan: 23
• The Spy in Your Shoe: 37
• Theres a Target on Your Back: 55
• The RFID Retail Zoo: 71
• Bringing It Home: 85
• Yes Thats Your Medicine Cabinet Talking: 109
• This Is a Stickup: 119
• Downshifting into Surveillance Mode: 135
• The Chips That Wont Die: 145
• Adapt or Die: 153
• Are You Next?: 167
• Your Tax Dollars at Work: 191
• The Nightmare Scenario: 207
• Pull the Plug: 221
• Epilogue: 235
• Endnotes: 245
• Index: 271

About the author

Dr. Katherine Albrecht is the founder and director of CASPIAN, an international consumer group. Dubbed the "Erin Brockovich" of RFID by Wired magazine, she is one of the leading voices for privacy in today's fast-changing, high-tech world. Katherine holds a doctorate in education from Harvard University.

Liz McIntyre is an award-winning investigative writer with a flair for exposing corporate shenanigans and bureaucratic misdeeds. She serves as CASPIAN's communications director and has been the master strategist for many of the organization's most successful media campaigns.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Purchase and Watc h Your Every Move
• Authors: Katherine Albrecht, Liz McIntyre
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Penguin, 2006
• ISBN: 0452287669, 9780452287662
• Length: 304 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / Civil Rights; Political Science / Privacy & Surveillance; Technology & Engineering / Social Aspects