The brits are hands-down the best headline writers in the world, so i had to leave this one intact. It's from an article about the new Quality Food Designations in the EU.

Here's the quick summary:

PDO: Produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how
PGI: The geographical link must occur at the production, processing or preparation stage
TSG: Highlights traditional character, either in ingredients or means of production

I went to see a showing of Ceský sen (Czech Dream). There's so much to say, both good and bad, about this film. But i'll make this brief.

First, it's clear to me that state-funded filmmakers in the Czech Republic have way less rigorous ethics standards than any North American social science department. In order to make their statement, the two gonzos behind this film tricked thousands of (mostly poor) consumers, all seeking the consumer paradise that's supposed to be found at the end of the EU rainbow, to show up to the opening of their nonexistent big-box supermarket called "Czech Dream" (a would-be competitor to the UK supermarket Tesco that is rapidly coming to dominate European retailing).

The filmmakers' condescending attitude towards the consumer hordes seemed to get transferred to the liberal Madison audience with whom i was sitting. Just as 20 years ago tourists in Prague would snap photos of Czechs lining up to buy bananas (a vignette that is retold by one of Ceský sen's disappointed would-be customers), here were 1000 film-goers getting entertainment value from watching people of a different nationality ache longingly for cheap mineral water and other things we take for granted.

Caspian (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasian and Numbering), an American privacy advocacy group, is taking issue with Tesco, the UK's largest Supermarket chain, over their trials of RFID tagging on individual food items, as opposed to just the cases involved in shipping. Wal-mart, who pioneered the retail sector's mass adoption of RFID tags, has also been criticized for this.Here's the article

While i don't think that gleaning information from consumers is the primary purpose for RFID tags, it certainly represents a major threat, and once instituted, represents a major technological wedge that could help ratchet down privacy laws. It would be a truly golden opportunity for many a market research firm. Here's an article by Katherine Albrecht, the founder of Caspian, about the imminent use of RFID in supermarkets, in the context of other supermarket information gleaning technologies. The privacy advocacy groups, such as Caspian, also represent a potential ally against the dark lords of transnational commodity chain governance.

It's a real tragedy that the brightest minds in animation and video production technology work for marketing departments. Eurepgap's new "motivator" video, shown at their conference in Paris October 17-19, is a case in point. Are you ready to be un-impressed?

Includes awkward interventions from technocrats of Europgap, and delegates from McDonald's, Sainsbury's, Tesco, etc. Also contains a brief but flashy history of EurepGAP since 1999, which begins with Christian Moeller, the secretary of EurepGAP, reading this bizarre introduction off a teleprompter: "I would like to invite you now ... on a short journey... on (sic) our milestones, and values, and find out how you can benefit and share our common vision ... the vision of Eurepgap: global partnership for safe and sustainable agriculture."