Are nappies and baby formula next to be RFID chipped?

The furore over the mystery clothes maker set to put RFID tags in all clothes by next year has taken a new turn.

Photos taken by Katherine Albrecht, founder of consumer group Caspian (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering), at a recent trade fair show the tags and labels of big name brands including Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch equipped with RFID tags.

The organiser of the show, Frontline, has requested Albrecht remove the photos from the public domain and accused her of taking the snaps secretly.

“You surreptitiously took pictures of the exhibitors’ booths and products and posted those photographs on your websites without obtaining the permission of the exhibitors,” an email from Frontline’s Group Director Mary LaSelva to the privacy advocate says.

It’s a charge Albrecht denies. "I was wearing a press badge [Albrecht was covering the event for a UK publisher] and prominently carrying a camera,” adding there was signage at the event telling members of the press they were welcome to take photos and she was encouraged to do so by several of the exhibitors.

Albrecht also believes the industry will be worried about the photos surfacing. “I think they’re sweating that the public and the lawmakers and regulators… are going to get a hold of those images and raise holy heck,” she said.

As well as the various chipped clothing labels, Albrecht photographed a number of other FMCGs (fast moving consumer goods) – items such as toiletries – with RFID chips on, as part of a ‘smart shelf’ project, where sets of supermarket shelves recognise what goods are removed from them and which remain on the shelves by means of RFID tracking.

The Caspian pictures show a selection of items, including boxes of tissues, bottles of vitamins, nappies and baby formula and other products carrying chips, all from big name manufacturers.

Putting the products on display was a tactical error for the conference organiser, Albrecht said. “[They] got a little over-aggressive in displaying their products, thinking the only people that would see it would be their cronies in the industry.”