Pixelated Semantics

The Panopticon is here, but who cares?

An alarming text-book case of manipulating consumer behaviour is developing with the introduction of RFID tags as a universal item-level tracking solution for all consumer products. However, some activists are trying to bring the issue to the public against the interests of the corporations, and are obviously having some effect. One engaged PR firm has suggested renaming them "green tags", which is about as cynical and dishonest as it gets. Especially when research shows consumer concern over the "electrosmog" associated with RF technologies. Relating environmental sensitivity to loss of liberties follows the path of the War on Terrrism exactly - pretexts for greater authoritarianism that the public can easily swallow. These firms openly wish to encourage the public to be "apathetic" and "resign themselves to the inevitability" of RFID chips - which is also an indicator that fostering apathy and resignation in the face of tyranny is a preferred and common behaviour. The research conclusion is beautifully put: "On balance they [consumers] are negative but apathetic" - but stops far short of the obvious truth, that this is an unwanted, intrusive technology that benefits only corporations at the expense of individual freedoms.

Images posted at the Spychips website give a clear idea of the growing saturation of these tags, and the extremes of censorship corporations are prepared to engage in. RFID is widely regarded as a "powerful and insidious" surveillance technology and it is not reassuring that these companies are operating RFID systems in great secrecy, and likewise the spin doctoring of the PR firms provides no confidence for ethical outcomes. And perhaps the swastika-like design of some RFIDs is not an accident - after all, seeking apathy and resignation in response to a new surveillance technology does not gel with any kind of corporate resonsibility for upholding social values or human rights. The intention of these corporations is to tag all objects manufactured on the planet with RFID chips and track them via the Internet, which happens to also mean it will physically track the user or wearer of the objects.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 11:27 am ::