NCOM CHRISTIAN UNITY e-NEWS Jan 2009

 

Happy New Year to all. We have added many more to the mailing list of the NCOM Christian Unity mailing list, so in way of introduction, CU  E-news is published and sent via email quarterly.  We are the Christian arm of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists. Louie Nobs is the Christian Unity Liaison and board member of NCOM and I, Denise, his wife, hold the title of Christian Unity Coordinator.  We as a team travel across the country ( and sometimes foreign countries) to attend motorcycle events, NCOM conferences and Christian Unity regional events gathering and sharing information relative to the freedom and rights of bikers and their lifestyles, as well as bringing information about Christian bike clubs and ministries. If you are reading this on the www.aimncom  website, you may sign up to receive the e-news as well as read our archives by clicking on the links.

2008 was a great year for promoting the vision of CU.  We set up our first regional meetings in Denver, Oklahoma City, Atlanta and Ohio with large crowds in attendance.  When we reported the results of the meetings to the NCOM board, they were eager for us to continue the regional meetings this year.  So we look forward to meeting more of you when we come to areas we haven’t been yet. We plan to tie our meetings in with NCOM regional meetings across the country in order to familiarize Christian groups with the overall vision of NCOM, while providing opportunities to attend some of their excellent workshops as well as attending the Christian Unity meeting.  For us it is like holding mini- NCOM conventions, giving us more time to visit with groups in each region.

The New RFID chip technology for motorcycle events

A new technology that promoters say will change motorcycle events forever was introduced in Texas for the Lone Star Rally in Galveston, this past December.  In order for a bike to come onto the strand, a parking pass had to be purchased. Each numbered pass was embedded with an RFID chip.  RFID (radio frequency identification) is a technology that incorporates the use of electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency (RF) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify an object, animal, or person. The link on the Lonestar website said this, “The Chip technology will allow us to pinpoint you and produce a DVD of the entire rally event with personalized footage of you and your bike on the Strand!”

This is how it worked - there were video cameras and chip contact points at different stations in the rally. When the bikers crossed the contact points, that were also time stamped, the cameras captured them through the RFID tag and videoed them.  If you wanted to order the DVD, you could go online as instructed on the tag, and enter your parking pass number.  Any video taken with that tag number could then be accessed, downloaded and then embedded into a DVD of the rally. 

The South Texas Confederation of Clubs held its meeting during the Rally. When members were told that the parking passes which they purchased and volunteers had hung on their bikes were embedded with passive RFID chips, they proceeded to take the passes off their bikes and throw them in a bonfire. Others cut the chips from the passes but kept them on in order to still park at the event.

A search of websites with regard to RFID technology offered information about the capabilities to track people and their habits; government agencies and law enforcement officials could use the technology to violate the Fourth Amendment. The federal government has repeatedly expressed a desire to consolidate transaction information from commercial databases into a single, centralized database under its control. Once such transaction data includes unique EPC serial numbers linked to the identity of purchasers, RFID tags could be scanned at strategic locations and used to identify people that pass by as well as surreptitiously scan their belongings. Wal-Mart and Target Stores have been implicated in the past of using RFID tags to monitor by camera the kinds of people purchasing different cosmetics.

This technology is also being used for implanting in convicted felons to monitor their activity and there are plans for the very near future for everyone in the country as a ’security measure’ and linking to a centralized database and financial system. 

To summarize the applications of RFID technology as it relates to you as a biker: it is capable of seeing what is in your saddlebags, identifying who you are associating with, eating, smoking, drinking and your whereabouts during a rally.  Information downloaded from videotaping could be sold to marketing firms or passed on to law enforcement, anti- gang taskforces, etc.

With all new technology, there are ethical issues that should be addressed involving the rights or infringement of rights of the public. Informing people that a surveillance chip that would be videotaping them was in their parking pass should have been protocol for the event. Without consideration of informed consent, rally promoters and the cities of venue can expect lawsuits waiting to happen. None of the people that we interviewed were aware of the chip or its capabilities in their parking pass.  A query of volunteers who were putting the passes on the bikes, also confirmed our suspicions that informed consent was not a priority.  The volunteers had not been instructed to tell anyone there was an RFID chip in their parking pass.

Because there are plans to bring RFID technology to other bike events such as Sturgis and Daytona Bike Week, we will continue to monitor this. A word to the wise, if you don’t want to be chipped, be cautious of any parking passes or other promotional items given to you at an event. There might be an RFID chip in it. And if your motorcycle club or association provides a service to rallies around the country, such as parking or handing out materials and promotional items, for the sake of the biker community, inquire if RFID technology is being used.

It is our hope that the promoters of the Lone Star Rally would not involve the rally in this invasion of privacy rights. If you would like to offer your opinion of RFID chip technology to the promoters of the Lone Star Rally, please exercise your right to do so by email :  rl@lonestarrally.comm  and the DVD company - wgpsinc@yahoo.com 

If you would like the report with footnoted links that was presented to the NCOM board on the chip, you may request one by email and we will send it to you.

In Protection of Trademarks

The National Coalition of Motorcyclists is continuing to mobilize in defense of the Biker Community against the Federal Government's move to seize Club Insignia as an asset.   This is a complicated case involving law enforcement being instructed to take any club insignias of the Mongols motorcycle gang.  As long as this threat exists, all motorcycling groups regardless of background risk forfeiture of anything it has its emblem on, such as bikes, clubhouses, etc., if the Government decides to target them.  In August of 2008, Phil Aguilar, founder of Set Free Soldiers motorcycle club, which was originally founded as a Christian ministry, was arrested with other members of his group.  Property such as clothing, motorcycles and cars were also seized by government agents.  Although we may not be in agreement with some of the practices of these groups, the rights of all bikers are under scrutiny when precedents using the RICO act are used on motorcyclists.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

First Christian Unity Event of 2009

On Saturday, Feb 21st, Pastor Ron Baptiste and Covenant Confirmers will be hosting a Confederation of Clubs and NCOM Christian unity meeting in Springfield, Tennessee just north of Nashville.  Along with sharing Christian Unity information, NCOM Board member Louie Nobs will also be s giving an update on the Mongols Trademark battle.  Denise will share information on RFID technology and the potential for intrusion of biker’s rights.  If you are close to this area, we encourage you to attend. To view the flier with directions to the meeting click on this link: http://tenncoc.homestead.com/Fliers/COCANN-1.pdf

NCOM Convention Reno May 7 – 10

The next NCOM convention will be held in Reno, Nevada on May 7 – 10, 2009 at the Nugget Casino and Resort.  Mark your calendars and plan to attend. If you want to be involved in the Christian Unity events at next year’s NCOM convention, there are a lot of opportunities to serve.  Soldiers for Jesus mc hosts a hospitality room, other groups are welcome to do the same, each year there is a bike blessing, people are needed to shuttle conferees to and from the airport, help is needed to man the Christian unity table and sign up new members, and help is needed to set up the meeting rooms. Those are just a few examples that Christian groups can participate in.  If your group would like to serve at the next NCOM convention, contact us at ncom.christianunity@gmail.com   The pre-registration form is on the AIM/NCOM website.  Rooms disappear in a hurry, so if you are planning to attend, consider reserving your room now.

http://www.aimncom.com/ncom/convention/pdf/2009_24th_annual_ncom_preregistration_flyer.pdf

And lastly, a few pieces of news – Is it worth a trip to Wisconsin to buy a new Harley?

Editor’s note:: with the reasoning used by the feds for seizing trademarks, it’s a wonder that AIG signs haven’t been taken down and their property seized…or can you imagine a bowling league being stripped of their league shirts because a member got a dui on his way home from the bowling alley?

Serving Him with joy,    Denise Nobs Editor    ncom.christianunity@gmail.com