![[Externer Link]](../img/ex.gif)
Have a look at what else we do...
Bielefeld / Verden (Germany). The foundation "Stiftung bridge" will support the FoeBuD e.V. with another 6,000 Euros in their development of a spychip detector. The so-called DataPrivatizer is to enable citizens to detect hidden RFID-chips (see below) and RFID-scanners. "Here we see the big chance to influence a potentially dangerous technology which is still in its development phase towards a respect for digital civil rights," says Rena Tangens from the FoeBuD, and padeluun enthuses: "The prototype of the DataPrivatizer is complete." Within the next two months the box, which now is about the size of a walkman, will be brought down to the size of a cigarrette-lighter and be available to the public.
RFIDs (Radio Frequency IDentification) are tiny chips with an antenna which contain a unique serial number that can be read out through radio waves. According to the wishes of the industry and the retail business, RFID-tags are to replace bar-codes on wares and goods in a few years. They are even supposed to be embedded in certain goods, e.g. woven into clothes. The problem is: RFIDs can be attached to things in hidden places, they can be read out without line of sight from a certain distance (and that means: without the knowledge of the person carrying them with him or her), and enormous data bases are being built up through which it is possible to create movement profiles of the people. Data protectors and civil rights protagonists have fears of a totally new dimension of watching, tracking, control and manipulation.
History: The FoeBuD e.V., an organisation of technically interested and politically engaged people based in Bielefeld, Germany, has been concerned with RFID technology for a long time and considers it to be problematic because it is introduced without control and without a public discourse. In October 2003 the FoeBuD gave the "Big Brother Award" to German Metro AG for their uncontrolled field trials of RFID. The retail giant (operating the chains "Galeria Kaufhof", "real", "Praktiker", "Extra", "Saturn", "MediaMarkt" and others) propagates RFID technology offensively and is testing it at the moment on some products in its supermarket "Extra Future Store" in the small town of Rheinberg near Duesseldorf. In February 2004 the FoeBuD exposed them as using RFID chips in the "Payback" customers' cards used at that shop - illegally and without telling their customers about it. Through this it was possible to create profiles of movement and interests of every customer who had such a card on him or her. The FoeBuD made this case public. Owing to a great number of reports in the press and the protests of citizens the retail giant had to withdraw its "Future Store" loyalty cards.
With their "DataPrivatizer" project, the FoeBuD had won the ideas-contest of the foundation "Stiftung bridge" in November 2003 and received 15,000 Euros as prize money. The additional 6,000 Euros now awarded constitute a follow-up financing measure. The foundation "Stiftung bridge" wants to further changes in society brought about by social movements and supports projects that strengthen civil rights in the digital society.
Frank Hansen, founding member of the Stiftung bridge:
"I am glad that the foundation's board of directors has decided to support
the 'Stop-RFID' campaign again this year. Not least, it was the FoeBuD
through whose work it was made possible to make the potential misuses
of this technology public right in time. The best example was the secretive
use of RFID chips in their 'Payback' loyalty cards by the Metro AG. The
German Federal Data Protection Officer is now demanding a legislation for
the regulation of RFID. Nevertheless, the Federal Government answered a
related request by the FDP (Free Democratic Party) in the Bundestag
by saying that it did not see any need for action in the question of RFID.
This means that there is yet much to be done, and I hope that the FoeBuD
will be able to work successfully for a long time to come."
The foundation "Stiftung bridge (BürgerRechte In der Digitalen Gesellschaft)"
was founded in 2003 under the roof of the foundation "Bewegungsstiftung".
The "Bewegungsstiftung", in turn, was founded by a number of wealthy individuals
who have contributed part of their fortunes to the foundation, following the
maxim of the German Constition that "property obliges", in order to support
politically active individuals and projects devoted to a change in society.
The "Stiftung bridge" itself is devoted to a point of its own:
Within the realm of the analogous, civil rights, such as informational
self-determination, inviolability of one's home, or freedom of speech,
are guaranteed by the Constition. Through increasing digitalisation and
interweaving of data in our society arise totally new and ever increasing
possibilities of control and misuse with the use of digital media.
In the slow-paced process of regulation, however, citizens' rights are
respected far less than the economical interests of multinational enterprises,
or the government's wishes for ever more control over the people. "bridge"
therefore supports social movements that are engaged in working on topics
relating to its main issue, so that civil rights will have their due place
also in the realm of the digital.
At the moment, "bridge" has a capital of over 220,000 Euros and gives out 15,000 Euros a year in supports. As this sum can, for the time being, only be covered by the donations of the founding members, the foundation is looking for more donours in order to be able to go on giving out this significant sum of supports in the future.
The FoeBuD e.V. has been noted by the public in the near past especially through organising the German "BigBrotherAwards". The FoeBuD was founded, however, already in 1987, as the "Verein zur Förderung des öffentlichen bewegten und unbewegten Datenverkehrs" (approximately: "Association for the furtherance of public moveable and unmoveable transfer of data"). This association gained public recognition through its "Zerberus-MailBox"-network when computer-networks and the web were still in their nursing states, the peace-network "ZaMir" during the war in former Yugoslavia, their German handbook for the e-mail encoding tool "PGP" ("Pretty Good Privacy"), and their monthly series of lectures on various topics known as "Private Domain". The FoeBuD wants to strengthen civil rights and a "creatively critical" approach to science and technology.The DataPrivatizer is also to be understood as part of this tradition.
For further information:
FoeBuD e.V.
Contact persons: Rena Tangens & padeluun
Marktstr. 18
D-33602 Bielefeld
Germany
Phone: 0521-175254
Fax: 0521-61172
E-mail: mail@foebud.org
On the web: www.foebud.org and www.bigbrotherawards.de and www.stoprfid.de
Stiftung bridge / Buergerrechte in der digitalen Gesellschaft
c/o Foerderverein Bewegungsstiftung e.V.
Artilleriestr. 6
D-27283 Verden
Germany
Phone: 04231-957-540
Fax: 04231-957-541
Contact person: Joerg Rohwedder
E-mail: bridge@bewegungsstiftung.de
On the web: www.stiftung-bridge.de and www.bewegungsstiftung.de