(Updated) Police are putting GPS trackers into countless retail items

image credit: RFID journal

Imagine, going to a store to purchase cough syrup and finding out, the police put a GPS tracking device inside the bottle and tracked you every where you went.

Now imagine, going to another store to purchase a pair of sneakers and finding out the police also put a GPS tracker inside them.

What's even more disturbing is how store owners are letting cops put GPS trackers into all sorts of things. An LA Times article, reveals that store owners are letting cops put GPS trackers inside retail items of every description.

Companies like eAgile, Purdue Pharma, Pegasus Technologies and Vitality have created RFID-enabled caps and chips that can be attached to prescription bottles and other items. eAgile uses an ultra-high frequency RFID chip called eSeal to track items.

"Purdue donated 100 hand-held RFID scanners to law enforcement and cargo theft investigative agencies throughout the country."

Can you say job security? Once police begin using a "donated" product from a manufacturer where do you think they'll go to purchase more?

According to SpyGadgets "Pill bottle GPS trackers" cost $295.00 a piece and use GPS satellites and cell phone triangulation to pinpoint a suspects' exact location in real time. Vitality's caps also report a patient's drug usage to doctors and family members. Would anyone like to bet, that cops also have access to a person's drug usage?

Updated 12/9:

RFID spying is getting worse
An article in Inverse.com says, "it’s becoming normal for employers in the transportation, logistics, and healthcare industries to require that workers carry RFID devices so they can be efficiently tracked."

..."RFID technology allows a supervisor or anybody else with access to monitor a healthcare worker’s every move" says Dr. Thomas G Winston an assistant professor at George Mason University.

Police use GPS trackers to secretly spy on everyone
When someone attempts to steal an item, with a GPS tracker hidden inside, a silent activation signal is sent to the police, who begin tracking you the moment they get the signal.

Ask yourself, how many times have you purchased an item and the store alarm was accidently tripped? Now imagine, that same scenario, being played out thousands of times a day across the country. A computer glitch automatically notifies police of a possible stolen item, the cops don't have the time to check with each store to verify whether it's a false alarm or the real thing. Instead, the police will activate a GPS tracker and start building a case against you. Can you see where this is going? Can you guess what's going to happen next?

Imagine, police secretly using a GPS tracker to spy on you for months without a warrant.

"If somebody steals an object and the police don't arrest them for six months and just collect information about how they're living their life, that could be problematic" said Jay Stanley, a policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.

A recent Appeals court ruling said, police don't need a warrant to use 'Stingray' surveillance equipment to spy on innocent Americans.

Do you really think, GPS trackers are any different?

Police use GPS trackers to build a database on everyone
According to an article in the NY Daily News, police use GPS/RFID trackers to create a database on everyone.

The "bait bottles" are part of what Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly calls "Operation Safety Cap." It also includes building a database of almost 6,000 licensed pharmacists in and around New York City.

Police are putting secret GPS trackers into everything
According to an article in Tech.Mic, police are putting GPS trackers, in purses, bikes, boxes of Air Jordans, bottles of prescription drugs, etc. all without a warrant.

"Police all over the US have used GPS trackers for some time on a variety of vulnerable objects -- anything from bikes to boxes of Air Jordans."

“The technology allows us to secrete the system in a variety of items and is only limited by our imagination,” the Tustin Police Department said.

An Associated Press article warns, police in 33 states are putting GPS trackers into everyday objects.

The AP article also revealed this sad fact. Police are putting GPS trackers into items, because most people plead guilty and don't challenge the legality of GPS trackers.

Nestle put GPS devices inside candy bars

Liquor bottles equipped with RFID tags

In the near future, consumers can expect to see ThinFilm RFID tags on just about everything, unless we stop it.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled GPS trackers are a form of search and are illegal without a warrant.

“It doesn’t matter what the context is, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a car or a person. Putting that tracking device on a car or a person is a search,” said Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The Supreme Court's ruling will force lower courts to consider whether attaching a GPS tracker to someone or something is a reasonable search, Lynch said.

Imagine a future, where police use facial recognition to identify you in real-time the moment you enter a store and every purchase you make has a hidden tracking device implanted on it.

This has to stop, Big Brother has no business tracking everything we purchase!