Fw: Walmart Computer Chips Defeated

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Friday, August 06, 2004 3:22 PM

Fw: Walmart Computer Chips Defeated

> >

 

> > >Fri, 6 Aug 2004 12:28:45 -0700

> > >

> > >Here's a newspaper article, from a year ago so I guess it's not new

news

> > >July 2003

> > >-------------

> > >Wal-Mart to forgo tracking chips

> > > <<Picture (Metafile)>>

> > >By Chris Baker

> > >THE WASHINGTON TIMES

> > >

> > >Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will not track inventory by selling products

tagged

> > >with tiny computer chips, a technology that one day could allow

> > >retailers to " follow " merchandise from the store shelf into a

customer's

> > >home.

> > >Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and Gillette Co., the world's

> > >largest shaving-supplies maker, had planned to conduct a " smart shelf "

> > >trial at a Wal-Mart store in Brockton, Mass., this summer.

> > >Under the plan, Gillette would have embedded microchips in the

packaging

> > >of its products sold in the store. The chips would have transmitted

data

> > >to the store's managers, allowing them to know if its stock of the

> > >Gillette products was running low.

> > >The chips would have been part of a radio-frequency identification

> > >system, called RFID, the same technology that opens office doors for

> > >employees who carry " smart ID " cards and allows motorists with an " EZ

> > >pass " tag to breeze through highway toll plazas.

> > >Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN),

> > >an industry-watchdog group, organized a letter-writing campaign against

> > >Wal-Mart after the retailer confirmed plans for the trial last month.

> > >Several hundred e-mails were sent to the retail giant, according to

> > >Katherine Albrecht, the group's founder and director.

> > >Earlier, CASPIAN called for a worldwide boycott of Italian clothing

> > >making Benetton when it announced plans to attach RFID chips to its

> > >clothing. Benetton later abandoned the program.

> > >Wal-Mart did not bow to pressure when it shelved its smart-shelf trial

> > >plans, spokesman Tom Williams said. The retailer simply decided to use

> > >RFID to track inventory in its warehouses, not in its stores, he said.

> > > " We didn't cancel anything. We just didn't follow through with this

> > >particular idea, " said Mr. Williams.

> > >Other retailers, including Target and Home Depot, are testing RFID at

> > >distribution centers and in storerooms, according to David Hogan, a

> > >senior vice president for the National Retail Federation trade group.

> > > " People are going to play in it, but I don't think you're going to see

> > >mass adoption of it until the end of the decade, " Mr. Hogan said.

> > >Privacy advocates fear RFID will one day be pervasive. They say it is

> > >possible the chips could be embedded in clothing, carpeting and

> > >furniture, allowing retailers and other businesses to track everything

a

> > >person purchases and brings into his home.

> > > " If you have these devices in everything, all things have the potential

> > >to be tracked at all times, " Ms. Albrecht said.

> > >Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy

Information

> > >Center, a nonprofit research group, said retailers should be concerned

> > >about the implications of the chips.

> > > " I think the privacy rights of customers is looming in the background

as

> > >the largest issue. I think the retailers are a little bit concerned, "

> > >Mr. Rotenberg said.

> > >Other retailers have tested RFID in limited trials. Two years ago, for

> > >example, the Gap Inc. tested radio-frequency tags on denim clothes at a

> > >store in Atlanta, according to published reports.

> > >Industry executives say they are interested in using RFID technology to

> > >track products from the factory to the store, making inventory

> > >management much more efficient. The technology has not been perfected:

> > >Cellular telephones and other telecommunications equipment can

interfere

> > >with RFID signals, and the cost of the microchips is prohibitive.

> > >Mr. Williams said Wal-Mart plans to install the technology in its 103

> > >distribution centers across the nation by January 2005.

> > >RFID will allow the Wal-Mart warehouse workers to scan a single pallet

> > >of products rather than having to count the items individually.

> > >A spokesman for Gillette said the company has not decided if it will

> > >team with another retailer to test RFID in stores. Gillette is testing

> > >the technology in Europe, and it wants to wait until it has completed

> > >those trials, Eric A. Kraus said.

> > > " We're trying to gather as much information as possible on the

viability

> > >of this technology, " Mr. Kaus said.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> >

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