Since 12-06-06
Senate
Banking Committee Member Denounces"No-Swipe" Credit Cards
Since 12-06-06
From: caspian-newsletter-l-bounces@nocards.org
[mailto:caspian-newsletter-l-bounces@nocards.org] On Behalf Of Katherine
Albrecht
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 12:56 PM
To: newsletter
Subject: [Caspian-newsletter-l] Senate Banking Committee Member Denounces"No-Swipe"
Credit Cards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2006
SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE MEMBER DENOUNCES "NO-SWIPE" CREDIT CARDS
"It's About Time," says CASPIAN
A member of the Senate Banking Committee denounced RFID "no-swipe"
credit cards at a press conference Sunday. Senator Charles Schumer
(D-NY) said contracts for the cards should have warning boxes disclosing
"the known weaknesses of the technology." He cautioned cardholders about
their vulnerability to identity thieves, commenting you "may as well put
your credit card information on a big sign on your back."
"No-swipe" or "contactless" credit cards contain RFID microchips that
communicate account information silently and invisibly by radio waves.
These microchips have earned the nickname "spychips" because the
information they contain can be read without an individual's knowledge
or consent.
While Congress is just waking up to the dangers of RFID technology,
privacy and civil liberties organizations like CASPIAN have been
sounding the alarm for years.
"It's about time for Capitol Hill to recognize the dangers of RFID,"
said Dr. Katherine Albrecht, Founder and Director of CASPIAN (Consumers
Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering). "Perhaps now
members of Congress will listen to their concerned constituents and work
to pass long overdue bipartisan RFID labeling legislation not only for
credit cards, but other RFID-tagged consumer items as well."
CASPIAN has had model RFID labeling legislation titled "The RFID Right
to Know Act" available to federal lawmakers since 2003. (See
http://www.spychips.com/right-to-know-bill.html. ) The legislation was
authored by by Zoe Davidson of the Boston University Legislative Clinic.
While CASPIAN supports free-market solutions to the problems of privacy
invading technologies like RFID, the group believes consumer notice is
needed so the free market can work. "We believe consumers have a right
to know when the things they wear, carry, and interact with contain
tracking devices--especially credit cards that can leak sensitive
personal information," said Liz McIntyre, CASPIAN's communications
director.
McIntyre, a former federal bank examiner, points out that vulnerable
"swipeless" technology not only poses a threat to customers, but to the
financial institutions that have issued millions of contactless cards,
as well. "What excuse will organizations like JP Morgan Chase make if
consumers are harmed financially because they have their personal
information siphoned by identity thieves? These issuers stand to lose
millions of dollars."
CASPIAN demanded a recall of RFID credit cards last month after the New
York Times reported that a team of security researchers found that
virtually every one of the "no-swipe" credit cards it tested was
vulnerable to unauthorized charges and put consumers at risk for
identity theft.
Researchers demonstrated how thieves could secretly skim information
from the cards, right through purses, backpacks and wallets. The data
included the cardholder's name, credit card number, expiration date and
other information that could be used to make unauthorized purchases.
Albrecht and McIntyre are offering to testify before Congress about
their extensive research into the dangers posed by RFID, and to send a
copy of their book "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan
to Track Your Every Purchase and Watch Your Every Move" (Penguin/Plume
Oct. 2006) to interested federal legislators.
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TO LEARN MORE
"NY Sen. Schumer warns of no-swipe cards"
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8LPMID00.htm
New York Times article about "no-swipe" credit card vulnerabilities:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/business/23card.html
Security researcher's detailed report on "no-swipe" cards:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20061023_CARD/fc2007-submission.pdf
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ABOUT CASPIAN
CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering)
is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes
since 1999. 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.
==========================================
ABOUT THE BOOK
"Spychips" is the winner of the 2006 Lysander Spooner Award for
Advancing the Literature of Liberty and has received wide critical
acclaim. Authored by recent Harvard graduate Dr. Katherine Albrecht and
former bank examiner Liz McIntyre, the book is meticulously researched.
"Spychips" draws on patent documents, corporate source materials,
conference proceedings, and firsthand interviews to paint a convincing
-- and frightening -- picture of the threat posed by RFID.
Despite its hundreds of footnotes and academic-level accuracy, the book
remains lively and readable according to critics, who have called it a
"techno-thriller" and "a masterpiece of technocriticism."
“"A chilling story about an emerging future in which spychips run amok
as Big Brother and Big Shopkeeper invade our privacy in unprecedented
ways.”"
- Chicago Tribune
“"Paints a 1984-ish picture of how corporations would like to use RFID
tags to keep tabs on you."”
- The Associated Press
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CASPIAN: Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
Opposing supermarket loyalty cards and other retail surveillance
schemes since 1999
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may find it of interest.