Seems that American Express was a more than a little chagrined when CASPIAN published their patent which included readers in all sort of public places (like supermarkets, schools, etc) that would read data from the passing citizen and push advertising and marketing crap at them BASED ON BOTH THE AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD and what they are wearing. So they agreed to meet with CASPIAN to try to come up with a solution that would, um, STILL allow them to TRACK and TRACE people. Oh, they'll notify people, probably in small print or some stuffer in the envelope that people won't be paying attention to, that the new card is going to TRACK THEM.

The meeting was organized after CASPIAN called attention to one of the company's more troublesome patent applications. That patent application, titled "Method and System for Facilitating a Shopping Experience," describes a Minority Report style blueprint for monitoring consumers through RFID-enabled objects, like the American Express Blue Card.

According to the patent, RFID readers called "consumer trackers" would be placed in store shelving to pick up "consumer identification signals" emitted by RFID-embedded objects carried by shoppers. These would be used to identify people, track their movements, and observe their behavior.

The patent also suggested such people-tracking systems could "be located in a common area of a school, shopping center, bus station or other place of public accommodation."

What happened at the meeting?

One outcome of the meeting was a promise by American Express to review its entire patent portfolio and ensure that any people-tracking plans be accompanied by language requiring consumer notice and consent.

"We are pleased that American Express responded to our concerns," said Albrecht. "It's clear the company is thinking about privacy issues and wants to address them constructively. However, we had hoped that American Express would renounce its people tracking plans altogether and be more sensitive to the fact that placing RFID tags in consumer items, like credit cards, puts consumers at risk for surreptitious tracking by others."

In response to CASPIAN concerns, American Express also promised that it would make a chip-free version of its credit card available to concerned consumers who ask for it.

"Offering a chipless credit card is a positive step and should serve as an example to the rest of the industry," said McIntyre. "Consumers don't like RFID technology. Contrary to American Express ads, most people would rather leave home without it."

NOT GOOD ENOUGH, American Express. Do people really have to ask for a Chip-free card to not be tracked???????? How about you have to ask if people want to be tracked???? And then those people who are happy being seen as merely consumers can get their own special American Express tracking device.