Implantable chips get under skin of security experts

EE Times ^ | July 26, 2004 (9:00 AM EDT) | Charles Murray

[appalachian_dweller]

They have GPS, Lomax, OnStar,etc for carsand now they want to put tracking devices in people.

I'm with others on this thread. If they try to implant something in by body, I'll first implant something in theirs (and it only weights 125 grains).

[Junior]

Didn't need my SSN for my credit cards, nor for my drivers license. I had the option of putting my SSN on the license, but I forebore to do so. As for my membership in the credit union, all I had to supply were my address, drivers license and proof of employment.

You see, there were a number of lawsuits a few years ago about having to use one's SSN for identification purposes. To head off any more such lawsuits, most companies do not require it as identification any more.

But, hey, you knew that. You just didn't want to let facts get in the way of your lovely paranoid fantasy.

[longtermmemmory]

Talk about ease of theft.

Kidnap the person and keep them alive long enough to drag their body to various locations to aquire material.

If the person is uncoperative, chop off the body part.

(remember the scene in 6th day with Ahnold using a severed thumb to get into a secure area?)

[freeeee]

There would literally have to be scanners every few meters to make such tracking possible.

RFID-enabled license plates to identify UK vehicles

"The UK-based vehicle licence plate manufacturer, Hills Numberplates Ltd, has chosen long-range RFID tags and readers from Identec Solutions to be embedded in licence plates that will automatically and reliably identify vehicles in the UK."

"Chipped plates The plates are the same shape and size as conventional plates, and are permanently fitted to the vehicle in the same way. But each e-Plate contains an embedded tag with a unique, encrypted identification number that is transmitted by the tag for detection by RFID readers. Multiple tags can be read simultaneously by a single reader at speeds of up to 320km per hour (200mph), up to 100 metres (300 feet) away."

"The reader network, which includes fixed location readers (for use on the roadside) and portable readers (for use in surveillance vehicles and handheld devices), sends the unique identifier in real time to a central system where it is matched with the corresponding vehicle data such as registration number, owner details, make, model, colour, and tax/insurance renewal dates."

[monday]

""If people don't want RFID tags in their underwear or in their designer clothes, why would they ever want them under their skin?" said Mike Liard, an RFID analyst for Venture Development Corp. (Natick, Mass.)."

If I was rich and had kids that were in danger of being kidnapped, I would probably chip them with locators. I would at least think about it long and hard.

[freeeee]

Obviously you forgot your statement that a child can't leave the hospital without an SSN.

See post 35.

[longtermmemmory]

all true but the idiots that work for those companies will still make your life annoying because they don't know.

It may be the rule but they will deny you service unless you give your SSN.

[freeeee]

You see, there were a number of lawsuits a few years ago about having to use one's SSN for identification purposes. To head off any more such lawsuits, most companies do not require it as identification any more. But, hey, you knew that.

Actually I didn't know that. Do you have any links/sources I can look at?

[Freebird Forever]

Freeeee

Are you aware of this?

Michelin Embeds RFID Tags in Tires

[freeeee]

Thanks for the link!

Guess who just lost themselves a customer?

[Aliska]

Also her father was deceased from just before she was born, and I think she also had to have it for her mother to receive social security payments on her behalf. I'll ask my daughter if she remembers exactly how many different places required it.

For a short while back in the 70's I was on welfare, and I think I had to get each of my kids social security numbers in order to be able to receive it. All their numbers are sequential.

In short, unless you live on cash under the radar, you have to have a social security number in order to function in our society.

[Junior]

I'm doing the Google searches now. I specifically remember a suit brought against a college for using the SSN as an identifier. The problem is, I don't have access to the legal case search system.

[BlazingArizona]

IIRC, RFID needs to be queried by a scanner and doesn't necessarily send out a signal otherwise.

Yes, RFID is a passive technology: the chip broadcasts its presence only when a beam transmitted by the reader hits it. This is to cut the cost of the chip and reduce the 'cross-talk' you would get if a whole supermarket full of these chips yelled back at your scanner.

[Freebird Forever]

Guess who just lost themselves a customer

Just?

Many of us have been boycotting frog corporations for several years now.

[monday]

"I'm sure that some sort of "personal Lowjack" is being worked on, but it won't be RFID. It's going to have to be an active transmitter beacon that you will only want to use as a last-ditch alternative to torture and beheading, because it will microwave your body in the process of telling searchers where you are."

from the article: "To address personal-security issues, company researchers have also recently completed an implantable prototype unit that combines global-positioning satellite technology with a cell phone, identification chip and a battery. The unit employs GPS as a locator, then uses the cell phone to transmit a signal. The device, which measures 1.25 x 0.5 inch, could be surgically inserted beneath a user's collarbone."

Such low power wouldn't microwave your body but I wonder how they would turn it on? Surely it wouldn't be on all the time? You would have to re-open the wound every week to change the battery. Also, would it have enough power to transmit even if the kidnappers were to put their hostage in a basement?

[dljordan]

Applied Digital(IBM) will donate heavily to the usual suspects in congress in return for placing a requirement for the RFID in healthcare legislation. Anyone refusing the chip will be arrested for violating Federal law and forcibly implanted. It's all for the children.

[freeeee]

Ok. The point I'm trying to make here is the SSN has gone far, far beyond its inteded use. One of the major objections of those opposed to the social security system when it was first proposed was the abuse prone to numbering citizens.

Sure enough that abuse has occurred, despite heroic efforts to combat it.

While the damage done to privacy by SSN's was profound and unprecedented, it pails in comparison to the potential for abuse posed by these chips. IMO, the RFID is one of the most powerful data gathering devices ever invented. Today we are told we are in a post 9-11 world, and "everything is different" meaning security is paramount above all other concerns.

In light of this, why should we believe chips won't be abused?

[porte des morts]

I for one, think you have hit the nail squarely on the head.

[freeeee]

Many of us have been boycotting frog corporations for several years now.

Sorry, I didn't know they were French owned.

[NathanR]

I'm doing the Google searches now. I specifically remember a suit brought against a college for using the SSN as an identifier. The problem is, I don't have access to the legal case search system.

I believe that there were suits against having the SSN on driver's licenses as well

However, you need your SSN to open bank accounts and get bank cards and get a morgage and stocks and bonds. You probably don't need them to get a gas or store card. but, try renting a car with cash.