LEVIS spychip

[denimdestroyedmylife]

I can't find the old thread, but i thought it has been too long since the last discussion.

here's the article for those that may have missed it:

SPYCHIPPED LEVI'S BRAND JEANS HIT THE U.S.

Levi Strauss Confirms RFID Test, Refuses to Disclose Location

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 violating a call for 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 "a retail customer is testing RFID at one location [in the U.S.]...on a few of our larger-volume core men's Levi's jeans styles." However, he refused to name the location.

"Out of respect for our customer's wishes, we are not going to discuss any specifics about their test," he said. Beckman also confirmed the company is tagging Levi Strauss clothing products, including Dockers brand pants, at two of its franchise locations in Mexico.

McIntyre was tipped off to the activity by a mention in an industry publication. The article indicated Levi Strauss was looking for additional RFID "test partners."

Albrecht believes the companies are keeping mum about the U.S. test location in order to prevent a consumer backlash. Clothing retailer Benetton was hit hard by a consumer boycott led by Albrecht in 2003 when the company announced plans to embed RFID tags in its Sisley line of women's clothing. The resulting consumer outcry forced the company to retreat from its plans and disclaim its intentions.

Levi Strauss can little afford similar problems with consumers. It is one of the world's largest brand-name apparel marketers with a presence in more than 110 countries, but has suffered through several years of declining sales as younger consumers gravitate to new brands. The company has also been hurt by Wal-Mart's decision to cut back on inventory in a bid to shore up its own declining sales.

While Levi Strauss reports that its current RFID trials use external RFID "hang tags" that can be clipped from the clothes and the focus is on inventory management, not customer tracking, the company isn't guaranteeing how it will use RFID in the future.

"Companies like Levi Strauss are painting their RFID trials as innocuous," observes Albrecht. "But this technology is extraordinarily dangerous. There is a reason why we have asked companies not to spychip clothing. Few things are more intimately connected with an individual than the clothes they wear."

"Once clothing manufacturers begin applying RFID to hang tags, the floodgates will open and we'll soon find these things sewn into the hem of our jeans," Albrecht adds. "The problem with RFID is that it is tracking technology, plain and simple."

Albrecht and McIntyre point out that tracking people through the things they wear and carry is more than mere speculation. In their book "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID," they reveal sworn patent documents that describe ways to link the unique serial numbers on RFID-tagged items with the people who purchase them.

One of the most graphic examples is IBM's "Identification and Tracking of Persons Using RFID-Tagged Items." In that patent application, IBM inventors suggest tracking consumers for marketing and advertising purposes.

"That's enough to steam most consumers," says McIntyre."But IBM's proposal that the government track people through RFID tags on the things they wear and carry should send a cold chill down our spines."

IBM inventors detail how the government could use RFID tags to track people in public places like shopping malls, museums, libraries, sports arenas, elevators, and even restrooms.

"Make no mistake," McIntyre adds. "Today's RFID inventory tags could evolve into embedded homing beacons. Unchecked, this technology could become a Big Brother bonanza and a civil liberties nightmare."

consumer reaction

[tony_hige]

this is a joke, right?

[denimdestroyedmylife]

i wish it were

here's a link to the boycott/letter-writing campaign page

this company is like a giant tentacled monster stomping through our cities, eating our people and defecating on our upturned faces

but they are doing it nearly invisibly

[Superstar]

what would levis get out of this spychip deal ?

money from the government ?

[blm14]

Actually RFID technology is really scary in general. Of course, it wont be long before someone creates a handheld pen-sized device that lets you screen yourself for RFID chips so that you can remove them.

[blm14]

what would levis get out of this spychip deal ?

money from the government ?

Well most uses have to do with inventory control (did someone pay for something when they walk out with it) but in this case it could be used for just about anything if the chip stays in forever.

[jilla82]

dang, and I wanted to get a pair of LVC's...guess that will never happen

[sycamore no more]

I already told myself not to buy anything from Levi's anymore but is this really believable? Why would Levi's want to track you down and find out what you're doing? I mean I could understand if they were trying to track people down that steal a pair of Levi's but do they necessarily need to go that far? Security devices and things like these will cost them money to put on their products. Those aren't cheap. But I'm glad you posted this, and I hope this makes people not want to support such a monopoly of a company.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

so weird that i can't find the original thread

i suspect LEVIs hackers

[Superstar]

levis, what the hell....

where's is all the love for the quality of the denim ? seems like all you greedy jerkoffs are wanting is the money and then too hell with the happiness of consumers...

god, i wish you some day will be paying your dues and then starting too realize that theres more in this world than money, and that not everyone is wanting too wipe your asses....

god, lifes a bitch....

[minimal]

This has become F-Levis week. It's crazy how fast things can change. I wonder what other dirt people will dig up now that everyone's got Levis under the microscope.

[homi29]

levi's only gets respect from me for its OG status in the denim world..

its historical achievements will never fade, but today's levi's company is a sad shell of what it was.

common, who really wants to wear shit thats sold @ wal-mart. Or their terrible retail stores, which have some of the worst tees, and shirts ive seen

[emmitbrown]

I garuntee that this is just for inventory management. I did my senior design on RFID, we researched into "tracking" of peole using RFID. It's not like they can track you with a satellite or something like that. And someone wanted to track you with a satellite don't you think they would do it using your cell phone.

Tiny RFID tags use the power in the radio signal that is trying to detect them to power themselves. The only way that someone could track you, if if you were walking in and out of RFID fields. Like they could possibly tell that you went to what stores at certain times.

But once again our project focused on inventory management, so i'm sure they are doing this to work with companies that use RFID to manage their inventory.

[snugglepony]

two words:

lead underpants.

[trinket]

RFID is great for the tracking of stock in factories and warehouses. In a fraction of a second you know know all of the individual items in a crate or container without needing to open it. For logistics - it kills barcode technology.

[giantsdrink]

RFID at this stage is great for inventory management (as everyone else has said), but second and third generation applications are where I think the waters get a lot murkier.

For instance, chips are being developed to be much more efficient in using their miniscule power to emit much stronger sensory fields. One application for this, is to track and find some of the tens of thousands of cargo containers jettisoned from transport ships, which can float around in the ocean for years (and beyond the lifespan of a lot of current, and more expensive GPS sensors).

Anyways, a company like Levis could use stronger RFID chips, and read them from a much greater distance, to get much more robust customer data. Particularly, the IBM part of the original post is the more insidious (potential future) application of RFID. For instance, companies like Levis could track the lifespan of certain jeans, where most wearers live, other stores they shop at, the routes they travel (public transportation or the roads they travel on), and then sell such information to other companies to use in creating more targetted advertising campaigns.

Granted the technology to hold, track, emit and collect such info is a few years down the road, but that kind of represents the future of market research.

[tangerine]

Actually RFID technology is really scary in general. Of course, it wont be long before someone creates a handheld pen-sized device that lets you screen yourself for RFID chips so that you can remove them.

Also looking forward to RFID jamming and spoofing technology, as well as devices that well detect and destroy them outright, if they cannot be removed without destroying the garment, etc.

[Roulette]

I don't like the sound of this.

[Icarus]

In Ur Jeans

Sn00ping Ur Peen

[Dogfarm]

You guys are babies. Put your jeans in the microwave. Problem solved. Science versus Science its a fact. (I have an arts degree so I use a special kind of science )

[thelion1856]

yes this is real but its kinda old. this was on cnn months ago!