Customer Reviews

The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance

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It is a new day for commerce in America and if you thought those annoying marketing calls to your home are bad, wait to you hear what's in "store" for you. The corporate giants are not satisfied with making millions of dollars, they want more, much more. Imagine the next time you enter a supermarket for a loaf of bread your identity, financial standing and buying habits enter as well. That is the vision many corporations see in implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips into their products. The slogan "to hawk you're wares" used to mean the peddling of one's goods. Now it is more apt to describe a bird of prey hunting your every purchase when RFID technology enters the fold.

As a freelance journalist whose work has been fortunate enough to appear on websites such as WorldNetDaily.com I have been absolutely amazed at the scope, detail and evidence Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre have unveiled in their book, "The Spychips Threat". Imagine a world where all products, goods and possibly yourself have been injected with a tiny Radio Frequnecy Identification (RFID) tag? Think that scenario is impossible? Not only is it possible but as Albrecht and McIntyre explain in their book, it is heading towards reality unless people stand up and make their voices heard!

The reason why RFID use is especially important for Christians to understand is best summed up in the authors own words:

""We believe it is essential for Christians to consider the implications of the industry plans we have uncovered and share in this book. These plans include tracking people around stores, following their movements in public places, and even spying on them in their own homes. What's more, the end point of all this tracking could be the implementation of an RFID device in people's flesh to number and identify them for a multitude of reasons, including buying and selling. This plan should raise a red flag for everyone familiar with the last book of the Bible."

The reference is in regards to the Book of Revelation and the vaunted mark of the Beast as found in Revelation chapter 13. The authors never assert that RFID technology is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. However what they do present in their book is compelling evidence at both the corporate and government level that this scenario is possible. I highly encourage ALL Christians to get this book and examine the evidence for themselves.

I mention that I am a non-Christian only because I think this is a book everyone should read, and not because of the biblical end-time parallels the authors make (likening implanted RFID to the 666 'Mark of the Beast'). I think everyone--Christians and non-Christians--should read this book because this is a frightening technology.

Like a gun, the technology itself is not "evil". But as the authors point out, just imagine if an evil man, such as Hitler, had lived in a time when every item manufactured on the planet was tagged with its own RFID chip & number--a time we are fast approaching*. How would anyone have ever escaped Nazi Germany? Imagine if a new megalomaniac decides that some segment of the population is a threat--how would that population evade extermination? If you didn't live through WWI or II, don't be fooled into thinking 'it can't happen here'. As Joe Conason pointed out, "It CAN Happen Here". The point is, it is irresponsible for us to stick our heads in the sand and allow a technology like this to germinate unchecked until one day a new Hitler does arise, seizes power, and uses this technology to wipe out his "enemies".

A note concerning the two negative reviews on the site. The first, written by Rafael A. Collantes Bellido, states that the author doesn't have a clue as to what she is writing. RFID is real, it is already out there, and those "databases" he mentions will take on a new life entirely when they are capable of tracking the full lifespan of a product even after it is purchased and taken home by the user. So to say that the authors do not have a clue as to what they are writing is nonsense.

The fact is, this technology is real. Go into any store--Wal Mart, Target, where have you--and look around, and you will already find this technology on store shelves. You know that little square white tag that is sometimes sewn in to clothing or taped to a high-end electronic item's box--the one that if you hold it up to the light looks like it has a computer chip inside? Well, most of those are simply magnetized anti-theft tags that will simply trip up the sensor when you walk out of the store. But if there is a little square in the middle, THAT indeed is a computer chip, capable of sending out a 'ping' to identify itself when it comes into proximity with an RFID sensor. Somewhere, a database, or perhaps many databases, is storing this information.

Imagine your right and left shoes "pinging" thier own specific location in time and space every time you walk or drive past a sensor, and then imagine someone somewhere in government deciding that you are an enemy who needs to be tracked, and you start to get an idea of the invasion of privacy--and danger--this poses. And for those of you who are thinking "but hey, they'll only use this against the terrorists"--consider the fact that some future dictator might shift away from genuine terrorists to American groups they deem a threat (if you define yourself as a Conservative Republican, just imagine the current administration deciding to track everyone who protests against Obama; if you define yourself as a Liberal Democrat, consider that Bush did exactly that.)


The second negative review, written by S. Ellis, is nothing but a vitriolic tirade that ends by comparing the book to something written by Anne Coulter. THAT will sure turn off a lot of people who lean towards anything other than the far, far right that Anne Coulter represents. Other than the fact that these authors profess to be Christians who believe that RFID fits the bill for the Mark of the Beast (which, if I were to entertain the reality of the devil and of end-times prophesy, I would agree with), there is nothing right-wing about this book. For the life of me I can't figure out why "S. Ellis" wrote such a meaningless review, unless of course he simply saw the cross on the cover, figured because of the religious overtones that it was right-wing trash (of the type spewed out by Anne Coulter), and wrote a negative comment without actually reading the book.

Read this book. Give it to friends and family to read. Get active, and just say no to this dangerous technology. Do not allow government, either Democrat or Republican, to try to put the stamp of respectability on this technology. If you do, odds are very good that some day this technology will be used against you or someone you care about.

* RFID chips were slated to be put into our Drivers Licenses under the Real ID Act in 2009, but the legislation has mercifully been delayed. For how long may well depend on you.

I found this book by chance, while doing research on invasive corporate marketing schemes. RFID, radio frequency identification, is a present reality, found throughout many large supermarkets and computer stores. Its benefits are many, ranging from stocking and recall control to anti-theft issues, but the possibilities for privacy abuse are alarming.

"The SpyChips Threat" is a bit dated, and I'd love to hear some of the newer research, technology, and applications, but this is an important subject, and I'm glad someone has tackled the governmental and corporate abuses of this technology. I'm no conspiracy theorist, and I believe money is the main thing pushing these agendas, but it's no mistake that the lowest ethics scores in universities show up among students with marketing majors. When humans become nothing but numbers and dollar signs, there is always room for abuse and trouble. Violations of privacy do exist, as seen with some of the recent revelations about iPhones and the information they gather on owners. A previous reviewer of this book called it "fictional," but apparently hasn't read the recent newspaper articles that not only verify this stuff but show it has been used in even wider spread ways than detailed by the authors.

If you care about consumer privacy and want to educate yourself regarding these issues, "The SpyChips Threat" is an eyeopening and important addition to your research. While the focus toward the end has to do with Christian and biblical concerns, it's really an issue for all peoples who value personal freedom.

This book was very informitive, detailed and accurate. The price was great as well.

The author really doen't have a clue about what she's writing. It is more a science-fiction book than anything else.
Books like this do not help the cause of privacy. The real threat to our personal lives is in the uncontrolled databases that marketing companies keep of our purchasing habits, not a particular technology such as RFID.

Do NOT buy this book.

I was not surprised that this book was worthless - but I am surprised at how many presumably intelligent people seem to find it plausible. For me, this book belongs in the same trash can along with anything written by Ann coulter.