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Harvard Medical School's chief information officer, Dr. John Halamka, had himself injected with a VeriChip identification microchip in December, the company announced on Friday.
Dr. John Halamka
The rice grain-sized chips, designed to be injected into the arm's fatty tissue, can be scanned like a bar code to call up personal information such as name, blood type and medical records.
The devices can also be linked to financial information such as credit card numbers and buying habits, which is why a nightclub in Glasgow, Scotland, recently began offering to implant its patrons with the chips. The club, called Bar Soba, said the chips let customers leave their wallets at home and count on their favorite drink being ready as soon as they walk through the door and get scanned.
VeriChip is a subsidiary of a Palm Beach, Fla., company called Applied Digital, which also makes implantable chips for tracking livestock and identifying lost pets. All are based on technology called radio frequency identification, or RFID.
The technology is commonly used in quick-pay toll systems and building access cards. It's also being used by Wal-Mart and other major retailers to monitor inventory and deter theft.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared VeriChip for medical use in October. The company is targeting patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other conditions requiring complex treatment.
Harvard's Halamka, a practicing emergency room physician, said the chips may also be useful for speeding care in emergency situations in which patients are often unconscious or nonresponsive. The technology could also help prevent errors in treating and administering medication to patients, he said.
"I'm not endorsing the product, yes or no," Halamka said. "I'm evaluating the product. So far there've been no problems."
Halamka said he has no financial relationship with VeriChip or its parent company.
Others who've had the devices implanted include Mexico's attorney general and some of his staff. A nightclub in Spain beat the one in Scotland; it's been offering chip implants since last April. At last count, in July, VeriChip had sold about 7,000 of the devices; about 1,000 of those have been inserted in humans, the company reported.
The practice has drawn criticism, however. Privacy advocates worry the technology would make it easier for the government to spy on its citizens and for marketers to identify customers and bombard them with sale pitches. Others object at a gut level, equating human RFID chips with the "mark of the beast," a demonic symbol described in the Bible.
See more CNET content tagged:
VeriChip, RFID, Scotland, patient, Dr.
Prisons are evaluating it too, but they keep it quiet. Auschwitz was only 60 years ago ...
Insurances are evaluating it too, but they keep it quiet. Prioritization of rescue work according to *their* priorities might not be too popular ...
Repressive regimes are evaluating it too, but they keep it quiet. Permanently tagging political opponents and social "deviants" is such a temptation ...
Who knows, some governments could even impose it pretending it helps ... fighting terrorism, or spreading freedom.
This, or something like it, will be pushed in ways that most people won't argue with (keeping track of kids etc.) and most people will actually want it ("walking into a bar, you're scanned, your favorite drink is waiting at the table...").
It will be touted as convienient, for safety, for the public good, anything but what it actually is and that's a system to keep track of every man, woman, child, pet, vehicle, part, etc, on earth.
And many, many people will refuse to see it for what it is. "No one will be able to buy or sell except those that receive the mark..."
As you ride the incoming tram, a few facts about Gordon Freeman fade in and out much in the format of a personal file.
Note the line:
DISASTER RESPONSE PRIORITY: DISCRETIONARY
Wouldn't that be fun? Wouldn't that be just swell to find on *your* life insurance policy?
As previously stated, these things might very well be forced on us before long for "national security reasons" those who refuse to get them are sure to recieve hardship and will be treated as if they were terrorists or worse.
I'm not going conspiracy theory here, just trying to anticipate the next move and the moves after that, in this game of chess we call life.
If you are interested in what the Bible says about the Mark, read Revelation 13:11-18. Maybe you'll see what I am seeing. If that day comes, DON'T GET THIS THING! I'd rather starve than submit.
Can I have two, one for each hand?
Map one to work, and one for home/car?
I love it, no more keys to carry!
http://www.freedomtofascism.com
http://www.freedomtofascism.com
NO CHIP, NO FOOD!
All of a sudden because some people me included want to have certain information located on our person maybe to save a life its to much for you NORMS you who don't have to worry about will i have a Dibetic episode today will i walk down the street looking like i just tied one on or passout behind the wheel of a car or just collapse minding my own business and no one having a clue my sugar just tanked and i maybe mintues from a Diabetic Coma.
Because that happened to me not once but twice i was caught by a dang sickness i didn't ask for nor want but i got it you don't have to deal with me and my family do.
If not of 2 on the ball police i could have ended up in a drunk tank and slipped deeper in to a coma what do you say to a wife that is suffering with her own problems (OCPD) oh we are very sory we didn't know he was a diabetic we thought he was drunk we are very sorry for your lose.
But as far as you people and i use the term very loosely seem to think that this is something mandatory its not you don't have to deal with it your a NORM you and yours don't have a need as it allways is remember this when you or yours ever get a sickness that imcompassatates you to the point you can not respond to a simple question or God forbid you lose your memory ask someone that suffers with Alzheimers or the worry or fear of a family member of one.
Stay on your high horse and denie someone the resources to help and protect them go on be selfish.
After all its not you or your family is it or maybe a friend ????
- by Rachelweston July 3, 2009 4:34 AM PDT
- After not going to church for 20 years I am beginning to wonder whether in fact the bible is true after all. I would never be chipped and would certainly not let my children be either. I would rather die. I think it is the mark of the beast. for sure.
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