Posted on 02/12/2006 4:28:09 PM PST by wagglebee
An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees - the first known case in which US workers have been “tagged” electronically as a way of identifying them.
CityWatcher.com, a private video surveillance company, said it was testing the technology as a way of controlling access to a room where it holds security video footage for government agencies and the police.
Embedding slivers of silicon in workers is likely to add to the controversy over RFID technology, widely seen as one of the next big growth industries.
RFID chips – inexpensive radio transmitters that give off a unique identifying signal – have been implanted in pets or attached to goods so they can be tracked in transit.
“There are very serious privacy and civil liberty issues of having people permanently numbered,” said Liz McIntyre, who campaigns against the use of identification technology.
But Sean Darks, chief executive of CityWatcher, said the glass-encased chips were like identity cards. They are planted in the upper right arm of the recipient, and “read” by a device similar to a cardreader.
“There’s nothing pulsing or sending out a signal,” said Mr Darks, who has had a chip in his own arm. “It’s not a GPS chip. My wife can’t tell where I am.”
The technology’s defenders say it is acceptable as long as it is not compulsory. But critics say any implanted device could be used to track the “wearer” without their knowledge.
VeriChip – the US company that made the devices and claims to have the only chips that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration – said the implants were designed primarily for medical purposes.
So far around 70 people in the US have had the implants, the company said.
750 gr too
Hell, if the company wanted to vivisect them, that would be A-OK, since they knowingly signed on the dotted line.
God help us all.
Man, turn your left blinker off, will ya! Blackbird.
Did this person wander on to a nominally conservative forum by mistake? I wonder if he ever heard Sam Adam's quote about licking the hands that feed you and chains resting lightly. Or patrick Henry's quote on liberty. Hell I wonder if he ever heard of Sam Adams or Patrick Henry.
This will only lead to mandatory dog tags for soldiers, licenses for drivers, bank account numbers etc. The horror.
Try seeing the chip as a yellow Star of David (1939 - Germany).
Actually it would be analogous to the number tattooed on your arm during that same time period.
230gr
As he presents himself, we should all lay down at the feet of his perfection. He's just another lunatic, best I can tell. Blackbird.
lunatic = liberal = jackboot licker
Actually, not. See http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/aa031298.htm
ACLU people? So, anyone who believes that privacy is more important than automatic identification is an ACLU ass? Feh.
Regarding friendly fire problems, consider that any device that can be read by us can also be read by the enemy - which means they have perfect little RF homing signals for their outgoing fire. Maybe they even can decode them, so that they can target only officers, all the way up to the CINC.
Think things through before you post - your point makes no sense.
The chips can be faked. It is possible, and getting easier, to clone a RFID.
By resorting to a scan, you actually make fraud a bit easier.
"CityWatcher.com"
Curious. Can anyone find out who the chairman is and his political contributions? My best is he is a Democrat.
They will probably want to do this to gun owners first.
Britain will do it before North Korea will, becuase they can afford, and because their government would love to have it. I still don't get their government's obsession with tracking everything (maybe because they are an island, it's a lot easier).
yeah i had thought the same thing about the uk, it is pretty much part and parcel of their current campaign to track and know EVERYTHING that happens in country, and store that data forever.
Slightly off topic but relevant to consider is how the US government is currently implementing a National Animal Identification System (Link) using the same chip.
All livestock are to be tagged, and their movements recorded and documented ..... for health purposes, or so they say.
From the NAIS site
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a national program intended to identify animals and track them as they come into contact with, or commingle with, animals other than herd mates from their premises of origin.Once the bugs are worked out of this system, it will be ready for the sheeple.
Hell, I won't even chip my pets let alone a HUMAN BEING!
Things are ramping up out there ... hope He comes SOON!
"The technology’s defenders say it is acceptable as long as it is not compulsory."
And the guy that developed it said that it would only be used in animals, never in humans, too. Oops! Guess we had mission creep once again.
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