J.D. Abolins on RFID tagging and privacy [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Follow-up Re: [Politech] Activist starts petition to oppose 
RFID tagging of homeless [priv]
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 22:49:18 -0400
From: J.D. Abolins <jda-ir () njcc com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>, Sheri Grutz <sgrutz () yahoo com>
CC: Katherine Albrecht <kma () nocards org>
References: <416CA6B8.6060707 () well com>

Sheri (and Declan & Katherine),

Here's a long follow-up to the thread and a cure for insomnia...

The extensive email here is

The particular UPI story is deemed as most likely an April Fool's joke text
from some yet unknown source because of the 1 April 2004 date and, more
important, the lack of any info on a specific Health & Human Services 
plan or
proposal to implant RFIDs in homeless *currently or in the very near 
future*.
This does NOT mean that there aren't people in the government and elsewhere
who would want some method of extensive tracking and control, be it via
implants or other means. Later in this email, I'll get to some current
documentable proposals and legislation that pose threats to liberties and
privacy.

There has been, indeed, a program churning for the trackign of homeless 
people
in the USA. The Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has
established a program for "Homeless Management Information
Strategies" (HMIS). The degree of cataloguing and tracking of homeless 
people
has raised privacy concerns and objections to extensive tracking.

The Congress had mandated data collection to know the extent of homeless 
but
the HMIS goes further than that job. Local people collect data including
names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The data is stripped of
identifying information and sent to HUD.  Chris Hoofnagle, deputy 
counsel for
the Electronic Privacy Information Center, had stated that "It's a tracking
system.... It's not just an enumeration. They take unique identifiers, link
them to other personal information and track it over time." In some 
areas of
the USA, local services to the homeless declined to collect certain info 
such
as SSNs and settled for first and last initials plus gender.

HUD HMIS References:
   HUD HMIS Main Page:
   http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/hmis/index.cfm

   HUD HMIS Data and Technical Standards Final Notice; 30 July 2004 
Federal
Register (PDF):
   http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/rulesandregs/fr4848-n-02.pdf

   Federal Computer Week - "Homeless system raises privacy concerns; HUD
collecting data about homeless population' (25 Aug 2004):
   http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0825/pol-homeless-08-25-03.asp



Future Prospects for RFIDs as Human Implants:
RFID implants in humans have been done in various ways and for a variety of
purposes, more outside of the USA than within the USA. With the FDA 
approval
of the Verichip this week, one speedbump for wider use of human implants 
has
been removed. This does not mean that the government and other entities 
will
be demanding to implant us all... not right away. Legal, social, and 
economic
factors bump around. For many of the RFID implant possibilities, there are
alternative s such as smart cards, cell phone tracking, and biometrics.

Elsewhere in the world, RFID implants are more likely to increase. Among 
the
recent examples are an optional RFID-for-access-and-payments system in a
Spanish resort and Mexican federal prosecutor's office using RFID implants
for access control.

For some thoughts on where human implants might show up, see "Getting Under
Your Skin", Government Technology, September 2004 at
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.print.php?id=91402 .
(NOTE: The above URL doesn't seem to work well. If you have problems , 
try the
Google cached version at
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:8PENUlrJk-MJ:www.govtech.net/magazine/story.print.php%3Fid%3D91402 
)

It is likely that RFID human implants will simmer for while while other
identification and tracking methods are attempted, with the implants 
showing
up intensively at some point further down the road. Some like Scot McNealy,
the CEO of Sun Microsystems, take shots against privacy concerns with 
quote's
like this from McNealy in 2003: "They're going to slap that baby's bottom,
then slip an ID chip in their neck or between their shoulders so you can 
keep
track of your kid. That's not Big Brother; that's dad..."
Reference: http://hardware.silicon.com/servers/0,39024647,10003014,00.htm
(McNealy echos the "that's not Big Brother, that's dad theme with familial
electronic tracking in a Sun newsletter at
http://wwws.sun.com/software/sunone/boardroom/newsletter/0303mcnealy.html )

So I am very interested when solid documented leads for human implant and
tracking schemes show up. There have been a lot of false leads and media
hoaxes in this area. Sometimes, I've gotten "burned" by hoaxes over the
years. (One I followed all the way personally back to the source was the 
"ID
Sniper" rifle shown on http://www.empirenorth.dk/ and presented at a 
Chinese
police equipment expo a couple of years ago. The rifle is a art project --
and a fake -- by a Danish artist Jakob Boeskov. I got to meet him at an art
show in New York City this spring. See http://www.jakobboeskov.com/ )

Sampling of Some Current Documentable Privacy & Liberties Issues (RFID and
non-RFID):

* Virginia state government is considering RFID and biometric 
technologies for
its drivers licenses.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65243,00.html?tw=wn_6polihead

* National ID and checkpointing prospects in some recent "9/11 Commission"
legislation legislation such as HR 10.
http://www.cdt.org/action/patriot2/

* Proposal to extend the current voluntary frequent flyer pre-screening 
to a
mandatory requirement for air people who'll fly in the USA. (Yeah, that 
will
make us safe, right! <sarcasm>) (I was looking for an online reference but
it's going to take a while. A rpint version was published in a recent issue
of Privacy Journal.)
Also see the Practical Nomad site for more on travel privacy issues such as
"Secure Flight" passenger data analysis : http://www.hasbrouck.org/

Finally, for some info on RFIDs (although a different viewpoint than 
Declan's
<grin>), Sheri, take a look at the Spychips site. http://www.spychips.org/

Thank you for your zeal, Sheri, even if we have differnce on the particular
homeless tagging item.

J.D. Abolins
Meyda Online Info Security, Privacy, and Liberties Studies
Lawrenceville, NJ  USA


> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 20:37:34 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Sheri Grutz <sgrutz () yahoo com>
> To: declan () well com
>
> Dear Declan,
>
> As you may very well know, its not just UPI's
> credibility on the line here; the government can make
> your life a living hell for exposing truths like this,
> the least of which is watching you by satellite, the
> most, electronic torture.  Perhaps that is why you
> declared this article an April Fool's joke.  This does
> not help me as I inform coalitions for the homeless of
> the perils of this brave new world.  I really wish we
> had something to back this up.  Nonetheless, I have
> started a petition which can be read at:
>
> www.petitiononline.com/sg061169/petition.html
>
> -Sheri

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