[privacy] The American Express patent: Watching our every move with RFID

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/american-express-tracking-patent.html
 
American Express  patent application #20050038718
"Method and System for Facilitating a Shopping Experience"

Read
<http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p
=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220050038718%22.PGNR
.&OS=DN/20050038718&RS=DN/20050038718> the full patent on file with the
Unites States Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Patent Application #20050038718 details the use of RFID readers that
American Express calls "consumer trackers" to closely watch people in
stores. The idea is that RFID-embedded objects carried by the shopper would
emit a "consumer identification signal" when queried by consumer tracker
devices in the environment.  Businesses would pick up this signal and use it
to identify shoppers, track their movements, and observe their behavior.

Fortunately, in a meeting last week with CASPIAN, American Express senior
executives  vowed not to engage in RFID-based consumer tracking without
providing notice to consumers. See our press release, American
<http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/american-express-conference.html>
Express Addresses RFID People Tracking Plans for more on this.

Here are a few troubling excerpts from the patent:


"...consumer interface [configured to...provide a consumer identity signal
to a radio frequency identification reader via a radio frequency signal] may
also collect and transmit time and location information regarding the path
traversed by consumer within the merchant's facility. Such information may
be acquired by consumer trackers situated at specific locations throughout
the merchant's facility..." [Section 0212; Bracketed information from
Section 16]

"...different aisles and/or checkpoints throughout the stores may be
equipped with RFID readers to facilitate tracking the shopper's
performance....By facilitating the shopping experience, the shopping
identifier may be used to track a shopper..." [Section 0195]

"For example, in a hardware store, a fob [an RFID-tagged item carried by the
customer] may be used in conjunction with RFID readers at the beginning and
end of each aisle. Thus, when a shopper passes RFID reader, a performance
tracking request [designed to identify the shopper] may be initiated and
recorded..." [Section 0196]

"...it may also be desirable to acquire information about consumer behavior
and their actions in response to specific stimuli. For example, suppliers of
goods may wish to test the effectiveness of specific targeted offers, which
may be tailored to individual consumers..." [Section 0004]


In an application reminiscent of a scene from Minority Report, the American
Express patent would not only track and observe shoppers, but it would also
spam them with purchasing "incentives," advertisements, and even odors:


"In another exemplary embodiment, the system may include an incentive
administrator... configured to receive the consumer identity signal and to
emit an offer ...based at least in part on that consumer identity signal."
[Section 0194]

"[I]ncentive information may be specifically tailored for presentation to
consumer based on consumer identification signal .... incentive information
may also be configured to trigger a corresponding presentation to be
perceived by consumer. For example, the presentation to consumer may be
configured as any combination of an emission of a printed advertisement, a
display of a moving or static video image, a performance of a sound
recording, or even an emission of a scent." [Section 0213]


Identifying people through RFID-tagged items is not limited to stores. The
patent document suggests that RFID readers be placed in other public places
as well: 


"In an exemplary embodiment, consumer may obtain incentives outside the
merchant location. For example, consumer may interact with a self-service
incentive administrator that may be located in a common area of a school,
shopping center, bus station or other place of public accommodation."


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