Motion-sensor chips inserted as part of survey to study children's health, says soap manufacturer
- VM Sathish
Expatriate Indian consumers have become suspicious of a brand of bath soap manufactured by a multinational company after consumers back home complained about an electronic chip embedded in the soap.
Reports from India suggest that a bathing soap-related survey being conducted for Britain-based organisations in Beemapalli near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, was called off after residents, who had earlier agreed to the survey, panicked.
Based on police complaints filed by residents, local police took two officials of the surveying agency, Socio Economic Unit Foundation (SEUF), an NGO, into custody, but released them later.
The survey was being conducted for the stated purpose of finding out the health and hygiene habits of the people living in coastal areas, to which the residents of Beemapalli consented. However, once the realisation of an embedded chip in the bathing soap dawned upon the locals, they feared that the soap might 'eavesdrop' on them or even film them in the shower.
The multinational soap company's representatives say the motion-sensor chip was inserted as part of a behavioural survey to study individual hygiene. The same type of soaps implanted with electronic chips were spotted by customers in Bajpe near Mangalore in Karnataka state, according to reports quoting police officials in Kerala.
According to the soap manufacturer Hindustan Lever, part of the Unilever group, the chips were inserted into its 'Lifebuoy' brand of soap to help the company determine actual soap usage by children. The survey conducted among the fishing community of Beemapalli were suspended after residents started a protest march and filed a police complaint.
The health and sanitation survey involved distribution of soaps with embedded electronic chips to respondents near Beemapally. Those who promised to use the soap for five days and return the remaining portion were rewarded with Rs400 (Dh28). This incentive attracted many customers to take part and surveyors made consumers participating in the survey sign documents agreeing for the survey.
According to a sub-inspector who handled the case, a research organisation was entrusted with survey on health and sanitation for more than one Britain-based organisation. After surveyors explained to consumers that a chip was kept inside the soap, they also got declarations from them that they were aware of the chip.
The respondents were supposed to use the soap for five days. The survey team planned to return after five days and collect the used soaps from respondents to download information about soap using habits. The chips were to be inserted in a card reader to generate a graph.
"I am really shocked about these reports coming from India. What is the guarantee that the soaps that we buy from the supermarket are not embedded with similar electronic chips for eavesdropping? The company should speak out and stop using people as guinea pigs. It is an unethical practice," said Mohammed Ali, an expatriate living in Dubai.
Other expats too had the same view. "I don't know what all products are now embedded with such electronic chips," said Menon, another expatriate.
The topic is being widely discussed by the Indian media, community members and social network media.
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