And, of course, what happens when they don't ask your permission first?
Posted on 10/16/2004 9:28:01 AM PDT by JOAT
Forget about temperature-taking and blood-pressure checking. In the bright, near future, the first step for people seeking medical care may be to have their bicep read by an electronic scanner seeking data stored on an implanted chip.
A Florida company, Applied Digital Solutions, announced yesterday it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market in that country an implantable device known as a VeriChip.
The grain-of-rice-sized chip contains a unique numeric identifier that hospitals and doctors offices could scan to gain Internet access to an individual's medical records. In the initial rollout, the company will target people with chronic health problems -- and complicated medical records and needs -- as well as patients with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
The technology has already gained acceptance in Canada and the United States among pet owners and livestock producers who use it to trace animals. But are people really ready to have bar codes implanted under their skin?
Applied Digital's chairman Scott Silverman thinks so. The company has not yet applied for permission to market the product for people in Canada, but Mr. Silverman sees global potential.
"Obviously, this is an application and a product that we intend to market worldwide," he said during a conference call when asked if his company will try to crack the Canadian market.
The beauty of the chip, Mr. Silverman told journalists and investment analysts, is that it has multiple applications.
Some people use it to link their bodies to their medical records. Some organizations, including the office of Mexico's attorney-general, use it as an implanted smart card that gains workers access to high-security facilities. Some people use it to keep track of cows.
But cows don't have privacy concerns. And people who worry about human privacy issues say that while the concept has merit, the device's use would need to be carefully regulated.
Medical ethicist Margaret Somerville said she doesn't object to the devices on principle, but could see how they could be abused.
If anyone could get their hands on one of the company's scanners, security would be easily breached, said Ms. Somerville, founding director of McGill University's Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law.
"Let's assume your [spouse] wants to know if you've been having sex with somebody" and have picked up a sexually transmitted disease, she said. "Could you have a private investigator scan the person without them knowing it and send that off and find out? They're going to have to have safeguards to prevent things like that."
Likewise, the use of the Internet to access medical data could open the door to problems, said Dr. Jeff Blackmer, director of ethics for the Canadian Medical Association. "Kids on the Internet are constantly hacking into sites," he pointed out. Still, it's not hard to see the appeal of a tiny device -- implanted during an outpatient visit using a syringe -- that could allow doctors to determine the name, contact information, drug allergies or special medical needs of an unconscious patient.
"You can think of good things," Ms. Somerville agreed. "But you'd have to make sure that it wasn't abused. And you'd have to make sure it was under the control of the person."
Obviously.
Here is my answer;
NO WAY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH!!! Will we EVER get one!
Nuff said.
666 anyone!
Easy step from here to keeping all finance records on the chip and using it as a debit card.
Can anyone say ---666.
BTTT
"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666" (Rev. 13:16-18).
And, of course, what happens when they don't ask your permission first?
Me either. But be prepared to be turned away from most services, including medical, in a few years.
It'll probably be 'illegal' but non-chipped people will have to network for services.
Indeed.
Is this not the Mark of the Beast, or a precursor?
What will it be, if not this?????
Lucifer (aka Satan) is also said to have been the most beautiful of all the angels in Heaven. "Multiple applications"??? Yes indeed.
Applied Digital's chairman Scott Silverman thinks so. The company has not yet applied for permission to market the product for people in Canada, but Mr. Silverman sees global potential.
I can see Europeans lining up anxiously awaiting their "mark."
I think this is cool technology. There are a lot of privacy issues that will need to be addressed but, like RFID technology, could be very usefull.
They'll start with the military.
This is stupid. What's wrong with simply putting the info on a card instead, like say, oh I dunno...A DRIVERS LISCENSE! Or maybe YOUR FREAKING HEALTH INSURANCE CARD!!
I swear I don't get the world at all. People just don't make any sense. Is it me or them? Somebody please help me out. Why do I have this problem? What's wrong with me.
Indeed. And there will need to be a serious, thriving underground for those of us who will NEVER take the Mark.
Eventually it will not matter, however, because the Scripture says the antichrist will kill those of us who will not receive it.
At least I know one way I might die.
This is stupid. What's wrong with simply putting the info on a card instead, like say, oh I dunno...A DRIVERS LISCENSE! Or maybe YOUR FREAKING HEALTH INSURANCE CARD!!
I swear I don't get the world at all. People just don't make any sense. Is it me or them? Somebody please help me out. Why do I have this problem? What's wrong with me.
My greater concern is the digital linking of all information via database and the elimination of currency for a 'digital credit' system. Oh, of course they'll think of a really cool and hip and catchy name for it "dig dollars" or something.
But the end result would be this: if for any infraction or suspicion, they could shut you down so that you could go nowhere and purchase nothing.
By that time, they'll also have the authority and ability to deem an 'infraction' whatever they so wish, such as receiving an anonymous tip that you are involved with subversive activity, like posting to the FreeRepublic. In short, the government would have the ability to shut down everybody with the pressing of the Enter key.
Yeah, like the Mexican Gov't employees already implanted will likely soon discover.
Some organizations, including the office of Mexico's attorney-general, use it as an implanted smart card that gains workers access to high-security facilities.
Unlike the Kerry supporters, you are a thinking individual.
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