Manage updates with the Download App
Idea of implanting ID tags raises Orwellian fears
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 23, 2004 4:00 AM PT
Advocates of technologies like radio frequency identification tags say their potentially life-saving benefits far outweigh any Orwellian concerns about privacy. RFID tags sewn into clothing or even embedded under people's skin could curb identity theft, help identify disaster victims and improve medical care, they say.
Critics, however, say such technologies would make it easier for government agencies to track a person's every movement and allow widespread invasion of privacy. Abuse could take countless other forms, including corporations surreptitiously identifying shoppers for relentless sales pitches. Critics also speculate about a day when people's possessions will be tagged--allowing nosy subway riders with the right technology to examine the contents of nearby purses and backpacks.
"Invasion of privacy is going to be impossible to avoid," said Katherine Albrecht, the founder and director of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, or CASPIAN, a watchdog group created to monitor the use of data collected in the so-called loyalty programs used increasingly by supermarkets. Albrecht worries about a day when "every physical item is registered to its owner."
The overriding idea behind tagging people with chips--whether through implants or wearable devices such as bracelets--is to improve identification and, consequently, tighten access to restricted information or physical areas.
But on top of civil liberties and other policy issues, such technologies face visceral objections from many people who frown on the idea of being implanted with tags that can track them like migrating tuna. Complaints have led several companies to abandon plans to use RFID technologies in products, much less in human bodies.
The concept of implanting chips for tracking purposes was introduced to the general public more than a decade ago, when pet owners began using them to keep tabs on dogs and cats. The notion of embedding RFID tags in the human body, though, remained largely theoretical until the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when a technology executive saw firefighters writing their badge numbers on their arms so that they could be identified in case they became disfigured or trapped.
Richard Seelig, vice president of medical applications at security specialist Applied Digital Solutions, inserted a tracking tag in his own arm and told the company's CEO that it worked. A new product, the VeriChip, was born.
Applied Digital formed a division named after the chip and says it has sold about 7,000 of the electronic tags. An estimated 1,000 have been inserted in humans, mostly outside the United States, with no harmful physical side effects reported from the subcutaneous implants, the company said.
"It is used instead of other biometric applications," such as fingerprints, said Angela Fulcher, vice president of marketing at VeriChip, which is based in Palm Beach, Fla. The basic technology comes from Digital Angel, a sister company under the Applied corporate umbrella that has sold thousands of tags for identifying pets and other animals.
VeriChip makes 11-millimeter RFID tags that are implanted in the fatty tissue below the right tricep. When near a scanner, the chip is activated and emits an ID number. When a person's tag number matches an ID in a database, the person is allowed to enter a secured room or complete a financial transaction.
So far, enhancing physical security--controlling access to buildings or other areas--remains the most common application. RFID chips cannot track someone in real time the way the Global Positioning System does, but they can provide information such as whether a particular individual has gone through a door.
Latin American customers are looking at both technologies for security purposes, which partly explains why some of VeriChip's early clients included Mexico's attorney general, as well as a Mexican agency trying to curb the country's kidnapping epidemic, and commercial distributors in Venezuela and Colombia.
The value of these technologies was underscored recently by a CNET News.com reader who wrote from Puerto Rico to inquire about their development. In her e-mail, Frances Pabon said she hopes that RFID or GPS technologies can be used for her husband, who must travel through neighborhoods in San Juan that are infested with crack dealers.
"I think safeguarding his safety doesn't necessarily violate his privacy," she wrote. "And if I am made to choose between keeping him safe versus keeping him private, I'd rather keep him safe and then change private data such as credit cards, bank accounts, etc., after."
Safety has been a primary driver in some U.S. applications as well. An Arizona company called Technology Systems International, for example, says it has improved security in prisons with an RFID-like system for inmates and guards. The company's products came out in 2001 and are based on technology licensed from Motorola, which created it for the U.S. military to find gear lost in battle.
TSI's wristbands for inmates transmit signals every two seconds to a battery of antennas mounted in the prison facility. By examining the time the signal is received by each antenna, a computer can determine the exact location of each prisoner at any given time and can reconstruct prisoners' movements later, if necessary to investigate their actions.
 | ||||
|
| | ||
|
Related analysis RFID: Logistics meets identity  Release 1.0 examines the promise of tracking technologies. |
| ||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
Since the technology was installed at participating prisons, violence is down up to 60 percent in some facilities, said TSI President Greg Oester, who says the wristbands are designed for the "uncooperative user."
TSI, a division of security company Alanco Technologies, has installed the system in four prisons and will add a fifth soon.
"Inmates know they are being monitored and know they will get caught. The word spreads very quickly," Oester said. "It increases the safety in facilities."
In a California prison that uses the TSI technology, an inmate confessed to stabbing another prisoner 20 minutes after authorities showed him data from his radio transmitter that placed him in the victim's cell at the time of the stabbing, Oester said. A women's prison in the state has begun a pilot program to test whether the technology prevents sexual assaults.
Conversely, at an Illinois prison, Oester said, convicts have pointed to this sort of data as a way to prove that they weren't involved in prison incidents. Guards have similar tags, embedded in pagers rather than wristbands, which set off an alarm if they are removed or tampered with.
Tagging hospital patients...and alumni?Beyond law enforcement, the technology is drawing interest from a variety of industries that have pressing security needs. Companies that operate highly sensitive facilities, such as nuclear power plants, are looking at TSI's technology.
Hospitals in Europe and the United States are also experimenting with inserting tags in ID bracelets. The Jacobi Medical Center in New York, along with Siemens Business Services, has launched a pilot program that will outfit more than 200 patients with radio bracelets.
This technology is designed to enable various health care professionals to obtain patient information such as X-rays and medical histories from a database securely and more quickly. The system will also use antennas to track individuals as they walk about the hospital and send alerts if a patient begins to collapse. Other pilot systems are being tested specifically to monitor patients with Alzheimer's disease.
As such tagging systems become more widely known, some industries that hadn't been expected to use the technology are considering innovative applications of it. A South Carolina firearms maker, FN Manufacturing, is evaluating the technology for use in "smart guns" equipped with grip sensors that would allow only their owners to use them.
In a less violent but practical application, Ray Hogan of Princeton University's alumni association has contemplated distributing RFID bracelets among meeting attendees to track attendance at events that have multiple components. The technology would let organizers see which programs attendees find most valuable by virtue of how long they stay. Like others, however, Hogan says privacy issues may well keep the idea from becoming a reality.
When such technologies are employed, they can be even more effective if implanted in the body. Supporters and critics both say RFID tags under the skin would invariably increase the volume and quality of personal data, with the benefit of, at the very least, reducing the margin of error for misidentification in the event of a disaster.
The problem, detractors say, is that the vast quantities of accumulated data would be vulnerable to theft and abuse. They cite historical practices of retail establishments, which for years have listened in on customer conversations and viewed consumer behavior on remote cameras to improve sales. Supermarkets routinely collect data about individual shoppers' purchases and buying habits through "loyalty programs," along with credit card and electronic banking transactions.
Even random individuals could spy on those with tags, because today's RFID technologies do not yet have the processing power to encrypt information. "I don't see how you can get enough power into those things" to encrypt data, said Whitfield Diffie, a fellow and security expert at Sun Microsystems.
Some consumers have described scenarios in which a hacker could extract a person's identification number with an RFID reader, create a chip with the same number and then impersonate them. But even if such chip forgery were possible, alerts would probably be sounded as soon as a system detected that the same person was in two different places at once.
Still, implanting RFID chips could vastly increase the potential for police surveillance of ordinary citizens. Conceivably, every wall socket could become an RFID reader that feeds into a government database.
Critics contend that if tagging gets out of control, the day will eventually come when the cops will be able to trace junk thrown in a public trash can back to the person who tossed it.
"Do you want the people in power to have that much power?" Albrecht asked rhetorically. "The infrastructure obstacle has been overcome. It is called electricity and the Internet." 
Under-the-skin ID chips move toward U.S. hospitals
Portuguese pooches to get radio-tagged
RFID: Logistics meets identity
Release 1.0
Wireless World: RFID to thwart terrorism
United Press International
RFID: Getting under your skin?
Fortune
Wave your RFID card to get a burger
The Inquirer
Copy editor: Zoë Barton
Design: Ellen Ng
Production: Mike Markovich
have to disagree with such technology. The beast and the
dragon (I suppose England and US) are apart of this, and with
such detailed prophecy made thousands of years ago, and with
strikingly accurate details of what will happen. The only thing
that it doesn't say is exactly what year or when it suppose to
happen, but there are many warning signs.
And so, in the end, I would rather commit suicide to save my
soul than to have such device ("mark") embedded on me.
For those who do not know what I'm talking about, grab yourself
a bible and read the Revelation (the last section of the 2nd
Testament) before the government decide to change the bible
like Henry once did.
fundamentalists within any denomination will jump, and already
have, on this news. ( It is after all, not new information) One of
the core psychological features of religious fundamentalism is
the need to be the embattled minority. Throughout history
literalist religious interpreters have always found the enemy ,
whether it was the physical manifestation of the devil, the U.N.,
or now, this digital tracking system. Look at the recent news
about fundamentalist churches being, in their words, attacked
for thinly disguised political support from the pulpit. Of course,
liberal churches have been found equally guilty, but that fact is
conveniently overlooked by conservative pundits.
Revelation 16:2: So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl over the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.
You may think that it will make the world a safer place now, but in the end I would wrather be in the safest of all, with God.
I don't know much about the Bible. However, I have been reading about Revelation recently and it is amazing (really amazing) how much of it lines up with modern times. From the destruction and rebuilding of Iraq (Babylon), to the fact that no one will be able to purchase something without the 'mark' on their arm.
No one could have had enough insight 2000 years ago to simply make this stuff.
Anyone can get a few things right if you give enough wrong answers also.
Rev. 13:18 says, "Here is wisdom. Let him (or her) who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six."
We'll have a choice to take it or not. Don't take the mark! I'm lookin' for the return of Jesus!
Brian Mullins
can't be seen.
the mark of the beast is something that would be visible.
so again... this chip implant is no where near the mark of the
beast.
personally, i would not get it for privacy issues.
Do I believe that this particular device is the “mark of the beast” in revelation 13? No, I do not. These devices are still huge in size and would not be able to implanted in the right hand let alone the forehead (imagine an 11mm long pill shape under the skin of the forehead). But, like all good technological products, they will become smaller, faster and cheaper with time. When it becomes small enough to implant in the forehead, look out. But by then it may already be too late.
This product is just part of the on going acclimation process. First it was cats and dogs, next prisoners and terrorists and finally you will have choice of your right hand or your forehead.
Choose wisely.
Yet western society is based on fear. Christians are taught to fear God. Intellect and reason are not virtues, yet those are the ideals which have promoted a more civil and free society. Religion, on the other hand, has brought nothing but dissention and hatred.
If everyone is tracked, and the tracking is known to everyone, a more open society will be the result. When computers and the internet became popular, people were worried about Big Brother watching them. Yet the internet has had the opposite effect. It is now possible for everyone to communicate, and the government is watched. Imagine if a black person is imprisoned because they were discriminated against. Now imagine a device that says that not only was he not at the scene of a crime, but that it was a white man. This is an extreme example, but it makes a point. Even though technology can be misused, the benefits should not be used out of fear or mistrust.
It's very easy to the gorvenment invade your privacy they just need one photografy that they can scan your face that kind of technology is really advanced nowadays.
I just think that implanting a chip in my body is to invasive, i rather prefer use a bracelet or something that i can take off if i want.
Can't anyone see how beneficial this life-saving technology can be? It can pinpoint your location in a matter of seconds - so that the government can quickly find you for:
1) Medical Assistance
2) Determining your location in the event of a hostage crisis (1 in 100 million chances)
3) Verification so that you cannot be consorting with anyone deemed to be a terrorist
4) Tracking potential terrorists (though they might have easily removed or nullified their RFID)
5) Used to pinpoint your time/date/location stamps for court (such as if you are accused of murder.
Sure, there are concerns. Menial concerns such as:
1) Unknown cancerous growths due to continuous radiation
2) Overt intrusion of privacy - hey, the government SHOULD know how often you are with your family/spouse/lover/etc.
3) The fact that the RFIDs can be duplicated and used to pin an innocent person at the scene of a crime
4) Any well-funded company can easily set up their own information collecting antennas. Sure the government won't share out the RFIDs, but once a person buys something at a shop, you've pretty much given them your RFID + name + credit card number!
No! I say TRUST your respective government. They need to know what you are doing at all times, and where you are so that they can quickly render "assistance" to you.
Companies and criminals are also bound by a moral code not to hack, impersonate, or tamper with STATIC RFID security measures.
Have faith in the government and companies folks! Because if it is good enought for your dog, Spot, it certainly is good enough for YOU!
Trust the government? Trust big business?
Not on your life.
Not on my life.
Not on my kids life.
Not ever!
of the media and only allow you to hear what they want you to
hear. Half lies and no truth is what it is.
Evil will say anything to tempt you to do what he wants.
Oh, and here's a secret. Those powder anthrax that came about
after 9/11 was developed by the US NAVY, powder anthrax are
not a natural form.
1) Unknown cancerous growths due to continuous radiation
2) Overt intrusion of privacy - hey, the government SHOULD know how often you are with your family/spouse/lover/etc.
3) The fact that the RFIDs can be duplicated and used to pin an innocent person at the scene of a crime
4) Any well-funded company can easily set up their own information collecting antennas. Sure the government won't share out the RFIDs, but once a person buys something at a shop, you've pretty much given them your RFID + name + credit card number!
No! I say TRUST your respective government. They need to know what you are doing at all times, and where you are so that they can quickly render "assistance" to you.
Companies and criminals are also bound by a moral code not to hack, impersonate, or tamper with STATIC RFID security measures.
Personally I find the menial concerns more than menial. I find unknown cancerous growths due to radiation unfit for my body. The government has no right to know my every action. We supposedly live where your assumed innocent untill proven guilty. The fact that no matter how advanced the technology is, it can always be hacked, just as everything else is susceptible. As you said, any company could put up antenna's and get your info anyways so whats the use? Trust our government & our major corporations? You've got to be mad. After the unmoral conduct by several of our highest politicians & corporations (such as the Clinton's him & her, Gary Condit, Enron to name a few.) I find trust a very strong word for to use for who & what your suggesting. Then there is that little known 2000 year old document called the Bible, that speaks about this very subject. Kind of makes me think that this is a BAD IDEA! Have you ever needed the government to come & save you? If you did, I bet it took some time before they got there. Now if you get lost out in the woods because your an idiot, thats called natural selection and the government is not my babysitter nor should it be. People don't need a babysitter waiting to save them every time they do something stupid (as you suggest in the benefits section). People need to be responsible for their own actions & suffer the consequences whatever they may be.
The Carlye group and Citibank Group have secretly masterminded this for awhile and allowed Congress to influence the FDA to approve this to continue their plan for total economic domination and control of world economy. This is modern day slavery engineered by corporate psychopaths.
For more info on the Carlye group and why we are heading into this apocalypse: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3995.htm" target="_newWindow">http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3995.htm</a>
Watch out for that Atlantic tsunami engineered by the Pentagon. This is Black magik at its finest.
Why were Bush Senior, Carlye Executives and Bin Laden watching 9/11 in a conference room together? Maybe we should take another look at Enron and see why.
And you go on speaking aboute the goverment as if the where doing something good and thinking aboute whats best for you, well, sweetheart you are sadly mistaken.
If you go around trusting the wrong people, listening to the wrong words and followiong the wrong paths then I feel sosorry for you, and I wont let my self be taggged and let the worthless govermet take my dignity and my pride away.
This situation has more meaning that waht you think!! you got to analyze your descitons before making them, I allready made mine, I rather die than to have some one do this kind of monstrosity to me. I wont let my idiot and hypocrit goverment treat me this way and then say that they care aboute us, and they'll protect us.
The goverment thinks we are theyr pets but if you let your self be treated like one, you will become one in no time, but I will breake out of my leach and breake free and show them what I really am.
The goverment promises you freedom, do you trust that? Look above you and tell me, is that what feedom is all aboute?
Im with God and I obey his word, I am a faithfull servent and I trust him because he doesnt let me down, but your goverment wont take that away from me and if they try to, I wont let them, being aware of the concequences.
My word is firm, and Im standing tall.
The problem with chips is they would be on all the time. If they are imbedded there is no way to turn them off. If they are external, they can be stolen.
However, if when you go into a store and use your credit card, they scan your fingerprint or retina, it's voluntary and appropriate. If you pay with cash there is no reason to do either.
It would be appropriate to the situation instead of a continual tracking.
And, by the way, I distrust what companies are going to do with the information way more than what the government will do.
Identity verification and security will always struggle with two main conserns, storage of data and the ability to block misuse. Many agree that in order for technology like chips to work, they will need to be balanced with bio-authentication of some sort and that the two combined allow for decryption of information.
Good article.
-Anthony Hogan
lives, the government will persuade us to use those implants on
us. If we don't fear, we have nothing to worry about death, and I
know that government will soon execute (yes, kill them) those
who refuses.
Its softer now that they only require you to have a social security
number, if you do not have one, either you are an illegal alien or
a terrorist. They'll change that later.
into Heaven about A.D. 30. It was written by John, a man who
eyewitnessed Jesus with his own eyes.
Jesus was not a philosopher. He didn't leave the option open to
that. He publicly declared that he and the Father were one and
the same, John 14:7-11. Now what would you think of me if I
proclaimed on here that me and God were one and the same
person, equals.
A decision has to be made about the man who said,
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
Was Jesus either God in human flesh or a raving madman?
When I look at history EVERY man to declare themself God is
completely devoid of any love and usually ends up going down
in violence, taking all their followars with them. Jesus went down
alone, leaving his followers.
Say if Jesus was a just a man, then how come we have never
seen a man before or after with that much humility, that much
love - willing to get brutally killed, so that every person could be
capable of loving again.
least one of the theives that was crucifixed with Jesus, because
he asked to be forgived and be in paradise with him.
email I found on a website
There is a USA based company called Applied Digital Solutions which seems to be intent on selling the creepiest and most threatening versions of RFID tags - ones which are implanted under the human skin.
These VeriChips work on 125KHz which copes better than the High Frequency 13.56MHz or Mobile Phone frequency range (868 - 930 MHz) Ultra High Frequency RFID tags, with absorbtion by the mostly saline liquid human body. Their range is limited, but seems to be sufficient for door scanners. Naturally, although these RFID tags contain a unique serial number, this is not compliant with even the weak EPCglobal standards for privacy, and they are too "stupid" to be "killed" or deactivated even temporarily. Obviously removal of the tags requires another surgical operation.
These so called "security" chips are the 21st century version of permanent cattle brands (indeed the original market for Verichips is for prize cattle and pet cats and dogs) or tattoos.
We find the concept completely unethical, bordering on actually evil. What is there to prevent this technology being used by exploiters of slave labor, pimps and brothel keepers, religious cults, abusive or pedophile parents or police states in order to control the movements of their victims and to prevent escape via actual alarm systems or the fear that "we will track you down if you try to escape" ?
They are being sold to the Latin American and Russian markets, aimed initially to exploit the fears of rich parents who fear that their children may be kidnapped, and who are therefore willing to electronically brand them in the vain hope that this will somehow make it easier to trace kidnap victims.
The alternative market to the forced branding of children who are in no position to object is to electronically brand vulnerable adults, e.g. those with Alzheimer's disease, again, a process likely to happen without fully informed consent. The company is also selling the concept of access to online medical records via the VeriChip RFID serial number.
If we have expressed doubts about the security and privacy implications of the EPCglobal back end "internet of things" databases, then these worries are multiplied by orders of magnitude when it comes to VeriChip databases containing details of children or vulnerable adults with, in some cases their online medical records.
The VeriChip distributor in Mexico Solusat, is proudly claiming links with the Mexican Red Cross for access to Medical Records, and the National Foundation of Investigations of Robbed and Missing Children
Why then, is Solusat not using SSL/TLS session encryption on the website through which the VeriChip RFID tag registration details and medical records can be accessed?
Why is the SQL Server administrator account and password apparently visible to any hacker or corrupt employee, simply by inspecting the HTML source code of this website?
This would be bad enough if the only thing that they were putting at risk was credit card details, but to put Children's details and Medical Records at risk over the internet or to corrupt employees in this way is criminal negligence.
The latest nonsense from the company is VeriPay, an attempt to try to convince people that electronic payments could be safely authorized using their crude technology which does not employ encrypted authentication handshakes, instead of a normal credit card.
Of course, many fundamentalist Christians see RFID technology, but especially VeriChips as the Mark of the Beast:
"Moreover, it caused everyone, great and small, rich and poor, slave and free, to be branded with a mark on his right hand or forehead, and no one was allowed to buy or sell unless he bore this beast's mark, either name or number. (Here is the key; and anyone who has intelligence may work out the number of the beast. The number represents a man's name, and the numerical value of its letters is six hundred and sixty-six.)
(Revelations chapter 13: verses 16-18)"
Any reputable companies deploying RFID tags would be well advised to help get these evil RFID human implants banned, or risk getting tarred with the same brush.
chips? At what price security? Not that price.
Given the government's response in unnecessarily severely
limiting personal civil liberties after 9/11, no reasonable person
can really believe the government won't use these devices in
ways that violate basic human rights. Even if the government is
prevented from using these devices, directly, they will get the
data from commercial operators and use it, "for our own good."
Personally, I have never believed, the phrase, "We're from the
government and we're here to help." I see even less reason to
believe that, if they are given a lojack to trace my every move,
they use it for anything positive.
Time to move off the grid.
It's too late: you already have a SSN (assuming you live in the U.S.).
That number was only for "our own good" too. But look at what SSNs are actually used for today (a HECK of a lot more than providing SS "benefits").
"knowledge" (hear-say) within the "evangelical church", or from
without the organization coming against religion. I understand
the distaste for religious verboseness. It is always empty and
from a conceptual head knowledge and without life and hence
incredable.
What is credable, is a religion free personal experience with the
life that is based entirely upon the tenants of the Bible and
outside of any organized "church system". The gathering of
believers is the church that is within the hearts and souls of
believers.
Also, the Mark of the Beast that brings fear to so many is
foundless. If you are a believer (in my context), then it should
not concern you. There is already a mark upon all believers and
non-believers! Ez 9.4 "... set a mark upon the foreheads of the
men that sigh and that cry ... " Rev 9.4 Hurt only those who ...
"have not the seal of God in their foreheads." The Mark of God
and the Mark of the Beast are manifested by the lives that we
live - our nature coming out of the type of life that we are living.
It is clearly visible to all.
So it doesn't matter. We all are all marked in open witness of all
eternity. An implant is not that which "Marks" us. It is the life
that we live that "tags" us with one of two marks.
Coincidently, I am concerned about my rights of freedom and
privacy and am not interested in the implants nor any of the
other violations of my will. But I realize that I will have to pay the
price and remove myself from system control that will without
question come into existance. Within three to five years it will
be sustantially in place.
Believers are now making decisions and preperations for that
which "will shortly come to pass."
of the Beast are manifested by the lives that we live - our nature
coming out of the type of life that we are living."
as a christian and believer, it is not by the live i live, not by my
actions or works (so that no man can boast,) but by my faith in
God and in Jesus.
=o)
ivon
years of professional emergency medicine on three different
continents, I can think only one or two instances where knowing
the information supposedly to be supplied by these chips would
have changed the outcome or course of a patient's treatment. In
reality, the majority of the world lives in places where medical
care is largely unavailable. No amount of information is going to
save you when you are bleeding to death from trauma and there
is no surgeon there who can stop the bleeding. In many parts of
the USA, you are much more likely to die becasue of lack of
available medical care than you are because of lack of
information. In large, urban areas, now - without the chip - in
most instances I can obtain the pertinet information promised
by the chips from a medic alert bracelet.
The claim of "Better medical care" due to RFIDs is a falacy. The
manufacturers of these chips, after having amazed themselves
with their perceived technological acumen, are now looking for a
market for their do-dad. In doing so, they have hit on two highly
sensitive areas - children and medical care. Areas they believe
people will adapt their technology without addressing the
overwhelming concerns of individual privacy and civil liberties. It
is not so much the technology of human-implantable RFIDs that
worries me as the incredible breaches of ethics and individual
human rights committed by the manufacturers of RFIDs in the
name of getting rich.
Besides health risks and the constant monitoring there is the little problem of TECHNOLOGY BECOMING OBSOLETE! I cannot buy a laptop without it becoming 'old' in two months, why would I want a chip that will have to be 'upgraded' or replaced every two years to meet the current technology trends?
The chips will go from 11mm to 6mmm and then one or two. Then they will have transmitters, encryption, remote programming and updating software and every time there is an upgrade off to the doctor to get a new one. And who will pay for all this? I mean with all the Americans without health insurance who is going to pay $1ooo dollars per doctor visit to upgrade a tracking chip?
Sure your medical history can be stored but what if you have no medical history other than the chip implant?
Sure if a hurricane or earthquake were to kill me here in Kansas then they could find the part of my body with he chip easier. Like I care if I am dead.
It's like the schmucks that believe when the police fingerprint children 'for their protection in case they are kidnapped' that information is not saved over for when little billy starts smoking pot and his fingerprints match a bag from someone they arrest. sure it's for the children.
Here soon there will be a kidnapping or missing child that is 'found' because of RFID and every ignorant parent in the world will have their child chipped for 'their safety'
Fear will make this work.
_squid
the long run, is have them finger printed and submit samples of
their DNA. The belief this is for the "good" of the parent and the
child is shallow, especially compared to the abuses providing
such information to the government can foster.
You may read elsewhere in these responses some of the more zealous replies referring to blisters and soars. So far, medical testing of these devices in humans indicates there is no harm done. However, the testing of these devices has been limited in nature (entrance to a building, a club, etc). Once the devices go into full-fledged use (used for every financial, security, and social aspect of our lives... many multiple times per day), there will be a late "discovery" that prolonged exposure to electromagnetic fields on a daily basis, and the reaction of the devices to those fields, does 'cause "harm" in that the body will ultimately "reject" the technology.
It *is* coming folks. Bank on it. ;o)
implanted. While it has always been "voluntary" to procure
checking accounts, credit and/or debit cards and to provide
huge amounts of information to both the government and
private enterprise in the normal course of living, it is hardly
convenient not to do so. If you want to participate, fully, in
modern society, you have to play the game by the rules set by
the government and big business. Read "From Freedom to
Slavery" by Jerry Spence. Large corporations have infringed on
our personal civil liberties more in the recent past than the
government.
If it gets to that point, having the chip implanted will be
"voluntary", if you consider food, clothing, shelter, medical care
and other amenities of modern civilization "voluntary". I live in a
remote area of the Rocky Mountains. I can hunt for food, gather
my own fuel and build my own shelter. Even I cannot live
completely off the grid, though, because I - like most people in
the US - will require medical treatment at some point in my life.
No chip, no medical care. People who live in urban areas, which
now make up 60% of the world's population, can not hunt for
their own food, gather their own fuel nor build their own shelter
- and, mostly, they depend, either directly or indirectly, upon
large corporations to provide them with ways to earn the money
that pays for the necessities of life. When you live in Manhattan
and your employer says, "No chip, no work", how is having the
chip implanted voluntary? Are you going to go hunt squirrels in
Central Park with a rock? I have eaten squirrels, believe me, they
are not something you would want to have to count on for your
primary source of nutrition.
considered to take away our rights.
It may have been said that it's "the land of the free and home of
the brave", but these days, it is saying "guilty until proven
innocent".
exclude those who some define as "believers" or "terrorists". One
man's religion is another man's heresy. One man's "terrorist" is
another man's "freedom fighter". When we start deciding,
individually or as a nation, who has the "right to be free" on the
basis of some entirely subjective concept, we have become the
oppressors.
The reason we, as a nation, can have this discussion is because
we respect the rights, as set forth by the constitution, of others
and are not willing to brand them criminals simply because they
disagree with us. Let's not change that.
Does God want his people cussing? Even if it is a "minor" cuss word when used in this context, I don't think it is appropriate for Christians to speak like that. Yes, we are blasted with it day in and day out on TV, radio, co-workers, etc... Make a stand and stand up for what's right.
If we accept that why not accept them ourselves, in our bodies. After all we are like dogs and cats wholly owned property of the federal government, so they should be able to track and indentify their property right?
Also since the entire country is now one big USA- PATRIOT act prison, we are all inmates. I fail to see the objection to haveing the RFID's implated in every citizen. At least it's not an unnattractive barcode tattoo on our foreheads.
Come on John Ascroft, its for our safety and protect our freedoms right? Sign me up
(note: the problem wouldn't arise with the removable bracelet type design)
Your concerns are practical. The government and large
corporations will not be interested in the few that will be
affected in a negative manner by the presence of this
technology. They are interested in the millions who will buy into
this and provide an unparallel level of access to personal
information that can be used in whatever way will benefit
government and large corporations.
The FDA has determined that Verichip is incompatible with MRI. (And other things that are horrible to think about!)
Maybe, we should start in the areas where voting systems are being automated. Then you would know how many people are not going to be able to vote because the couldn't easily read or count dots on a white paper like the time before...
RFID is a great idea, It will make it easier to do a bunch of stuff and,,,, it will be just as secure as your mail-box right outside your house.
timm2000
BugMeNot.com was created as a mechanism to quickly bypass the login of web sites that require compulsory registration and/or the collection of personal/demographic information (such as the New York Times). You can search for logins by pasting the entire url or just the domain name (e.g. www.foobar.com). And no, you do not need to register to use BugMeNot.com.
It doesn't work all the time, but it's usually always worth the try!
turns human energy into electricity? THAT is scary, if this ever
became widespread, or mandatory, i would not want microsoft
to be behind the technology, at all.
the technology does come in handy, but im not sure if i would
want somehting like this in me. im terrified of large coporations
and the government (same thing, right?) abusing their power...
you know someone will abuse the power, and thats is why i dont
like this technology. other than that, its great, in my opinion.
Whining about privacy, and other such things, is exactly the reason why technology is advancing at the slow pace that it is.
How many good, useful technologies have been destroyed or dropped, simply because people felt the need to complain. Face it, deal with it, if someone wants to invade your privacy badly enough, they will, you won't need an RFID tag for that.
You can defend yourself ONLY if you know who your enemy is. And universal identification is the key to controlling terrorism, or so we are told.
As liberal elements in our government and media industry (Global-ists) condemn racial profiling, I'm convinced the only politically correct alternative will be a world-wide move for bio-implant ID chip implants to control terrorism. The chips will be subcutaneous devices in the right hand or forehead for convenient scanning (<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.wired.com/news/mediaplayer/0,2108,50783-50783-implantation1,00.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.wired.com/news/mediaplayer/0,2108,50783-50783-implantation1,00.html</a>). Scanner/readers will be web-linked to a world-wide data base and used for controlling access to everyday activities. Most notably will be financial transactions.
Terrorism will not diminish and universal implants will be pushed even more. Intense debate will rage accusing this technology of being predicted in Revelation 13:11-18. Many good people will refuse to participate for religious or civil liberty reasons. They will be labeled religious fanatics or "terrorists" by the Globalists.
Revered religious leaders, and finally the Pope himself (try adding up the Roman numerals of "Vicarius filii Dei"), will pronounce the ID implant technology good for humanity to control terrorism, and the Revelation 13 interpretation is incorrect.
To see what happens next, think Revelation 14:9-10 and Russia's 100 missing small-yield tactical (suitcase) nuclear bombs detonated in as many large cities.
Who dies?, those who got the implant and live comfortably in the cities. Not because God was upset at them for getting the "Mark of the Beast" but because they were in the cities when nukes went off.
Who escapes?, those who didn't get the implant. They adopted a rural, subsistence/barter lifestyle because they couldn't function in the cities being unable to buy or sell.
I am becoming very sick because of the rejection, I have been to more than 12 Doctors that includes the VA Hospital. Inorder to Treat me they have to either Xray me or give a cat scan, for which I am denied. I have developed stomach problems, since I have more than 12 wires exposed in my feet it is becoming painful to walk.
These implants I personally have is not so much crime prevesion, but more to limit your income, health care, any quality of life. It is a matter fact that any thing I do to expose this there always ahead of me.
I really need help on what to do.