Walmart tracking your underwear?

[Alicia Leonard]

Hmmmmmmmmm..............:shock:


Wal-Mart to Begin Electronically Tracking Your Panties

Starting next month, Wal-Mart will put radio-frequency ID tags on all its garments. By waving a wand, they can identify the location of every product, down to size and color. When you bring it home, the tag goes with you. The removable tags are similar to the ones traditionally used to track large-scale shipments. Wal-Mart's decision to implement the technology will be the first adoption of RFIDs for a major retailer. And naturally there are privacy concerns:

While the tags can be removed from clothing and packages, they can't be turned off, and they are trackable. Some privacy advocates hypothesize that unscrupulous marketers or criminals will be able to drive by consumers' homes and scan their garbage to discover what they have recently bought.
They also worry that retailers will be able to scan customers who carry new types of personal ID cards as they walk through a store, without their knowledge. Several states, including Washington and New York, have begun issuing enhanced driver's licenses that contain radio- frequency tags with unique ID numbers, to make border crossings easier for frequent travelers.
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According to a privacy expert the Wall Street Journal interviewed, civilization is utilizing RFID technology in exactly the dumbest way possible:

"There are two things you really don't want to tag, clothing and identity documents, and ironically that's where we are seeing adoption," said Katherine Albrecht, founder of a group called Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering and author of a book called "Spychips" that argues against RFID technology. "The inventory guys may be in the dark about this, but there are a lot of corporate marketers who are interested in tracking people as they walk sales floors."
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Basically, the scene in Minority Report where Tom Cruise has to rip out a guy's eyeballs to evade the omnipresent human-tracking strategies of the government-capitalist marketing complex? Almost there! [WSJ, image via Getty]
Wal-Mart to Begin Electronically Tracking Your Panties

 

[30ashopper]

The tags can be disabled when you exit the store, not sure if walmart is doing that. Generally speaking though technology like this will save consumers billions (trillions even?) over the long haul. There's always a conspiracy theory or two but those are really pretty over blown. (Remember the outcry over bar code scanners in the 80s?)

Supply chain management sounds kinda boring, but it's really quite cutting edge for companies like WM and major drug companies. It can keep shelves stocked, produce fresh, drugs authentic, and it will simplify our lives and save us money. (Granted, there's always the chance it can be abused as well.)

Disclaimer: I've done some software work in this area, the technology is pretty darn cool. So I might be biased.

 

[happy2Bme]

Boy, won't they be surprised!?!

 

[Douglas the Intrepid]

Hmmm...so with the right technology I will be able to tell exactly what kind and what color of underwear any woman is wearing? Sweeeeeeet! ;-)

 

[Bob Wells]

No more underwear or white pants for me.

 

[LuciferSam]

The tags can be disabled when you exit the store, not sure if walmart is doing that. Generally speaking though technology like this will save consumers billions (trillions even?) over the long haul. There's always a conspiracy theory or two but those are really pretty over blown. (Remember the outcry over bar code scanners in the 80s?)

Supply chain management sounds kinda boring, but it's really quite cutting edge for companies like WM and major drug companies. It can keep shelves stocked, produce fresh, drugs authentic, and it will simplify our lives and save us money. (Granted, there's always the chance it can be abused as well.)

Disclaimer: I've done some software work in this area, the technology is pretty darn cool. So I might be biased.

What I'll do is I'll remove the tags, bring them back into walmart, and put them in different places. They'll go crazy wondering why there's a bunch of underwear next to the Castrol GTX.

 

[Minnie]

Will their be a toll free number to call to locate them when I can't find them, in the laundry.

None of this bothers me, I figure they already know more than I am aware and I know we have bar codes in our state license plates now that the officers can read your registration info, outstanding warrants, etc before leaving the car.

After two officers in West Memphis, being gunned down during a routine traffic stop I have no problem with it.

 

[30A Skunkape]

The only people who have something to fear are the anti-Wal-Mart hippies fixing to be busted with their Wal-Mart acquired goods.

 

[Beach Runner]

RFIDs are everywhere -- your credit cards, college IDs that track which buildings you enter and allow you to enter only certain buildings, just as two examples. One of my students got an M.D. to implant an RFID into his forearm so he could enter his dorm and dorm room without having to bother with getting out a card.

 

[Koa]

In case some of you are behind the times, Walmarts have numerous cameras outside and inside their stores, and they can track your every move. This marketing idea sounds more like a way to easily computerize customers patterns and to track how they shop as they go through a store. Grocery stores have done this for years, but with low tech, human observations. Grocery stores also make money from product displays. Different shelves get different amounts of attention.

There are numerous ways to track many people as they go about their day. Facebook, Twitter, GPS coordinates from your cell phone, credit card/debit card charges, highway cameras tracking your car, security cameras at various stores, IP address, etc. People just don't realize that they are already being followed.