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In Part 1, I introduced you to GS1. A United Nations sanctioned not for profit organization with an intent to tag every thing with RFID technology. In this article I will expand on GS1, as well as introduce you to pilot projects, organizations, and people working to implement this agenda. This article will give readers a introduction to the cashless society, as well as the groups and people behind it...... ....a brief review of some history is necessary. Many reading this will be familiar with the Earth Charter. This document more than any other helped lay the foundation of the...

VeriChip (CHIP), the company that markets a microchip implant that links to your online health records, has acquired Steel Vault (SVUL), a credit monitoring and anti-identity theft company. The combined company will operate under a new name: PositiveID. The all-stock transaction will leave PositiveID in charge of a burgeoning empire of identity, health and microchip implant businesses that will only encourage its critics. BNET previously noted that some regard the company as part of a prophecy in the Book of Revelation (because the HealthLink chip carries an RFID number that can be used as both money and proof of ID)...

Sept 21 (Reuters) - Shares of VeriChip Corp (CHIP.O) tripled after the company said it had been granted an exclusive license to two patents, which will help it to develop implantable virus detection systems in humans. The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can detect the H1N1 and other viruses, and biological threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VeriChip said in a statement. The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems. The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the...

September 8, 2009 -- VeriChip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP) ("VeriChip"), a provider of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, and Steel Vault Corporation (OTCBB: SVUL) ("Steel Vault"), a premier provider of identity security products and services, announced today that VeriChip has agreed to acquire Steel Vault and form PositiveID Corporation To offer identification tools and technologies for consumers and businesses. In conjunction with the merger, VeriChip plans to change its name to PositiveID and continue to trade on the NASDAQ. PositiveID intends to change its ticker symbol to "PSID" upon closing of the transaction. The formation of...

nvasion of privacy is an issue that really gets under State Rep. Babette Josephs' skin. That's why the Philadelphia Democrat introduced a bill, passed unanimously last week by the House, that would ban the forced implantation of computer chips in humans. Conjuring Orwellian images, Josephs worries the identification devices - the size of a grain of rice - could lead to a real-life Big Brother nightmare. "I'm doing, I think, what the legislature does too little of," she said. "This is a problem on the horizon, and I want to address it before it becomes a societal disgrace." Though the...

President, Barack Obama has promised a massive change to “modernize health care by making all health records standardized and electronic.” Part of his ambitious health care program will be the computerizing of medical records of all Americans in order to make the health care process more cost-effective. --- the VeriChip Corp., the US company creating microchip implants --- The company’s executives have said their present push is the tagging of “high-risk” patients — diabetics and people with heart conditions or Alzheimer’s disease. --- According to the company’s most recent SEC quarterly filing, 515 hospitals have pledged to take part in...

The process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and an ink capsule, which is used to 'tattoo' an animal. The ink can be detected from 4 feet away. A startup company developing chipless RFID ink has tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats. Somark Innovations announced this week that it successfully tested biocompatible RFID ink, which can be read through animal hairs. The passive RFID technology could be used to identify and track cows to reduce financial losses from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease) scares. Somark, which formed in 2005, is located at the Center...

Grant the anti-childhood vaccine fanatics this; they are dogged. No amount of data and no number of studies from any array of sources will sway them from their beliefs – or claimed beliefs – that thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative once used in many such injections, is causing the so-called “autism epidemic.” Therefore a California Department of Public Health study in the current Archives of General Psychiatry hasn’t either. Nevertheless, for the rest of us there are two valuable lessons. First, the lack of a thimerosal connection to the developmental disorder has once again been reaffirmed. And second, those fanatics...

Over half the birthing facilities in Ohio are being equipped with an RFID infant protection system placed on infants at birth to prevent them from being abducted from the hospital or from being given to the wrong mother.  "Standard protocol in the hospitals using the VeriChip system is that the baby receives an RFID anklet at birth and the mother receives a matching wristband," VeriChip spokeswoman Allison Tomek told WND. "The mothers are not asked." VeriChip Corp., a publicly listed company headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., is marketing though its wholly-owned subsidiary, Xmark, a HUGS brand tag-and-bracelet infant security system....

Despite the announced delayed implementation, Maine politicians are speaking out against the REAL ID Act of 2005. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued regulations for the act last week, including giving states until 2017 to comply. Under the original language, states would have had to be in compliance by May. The Department also announced that starting in 2017, old driver’s licenses won’t get people into federal buildings or onto airplanes – a slap in the face to Maine and a handful of other states that have passed resolutions barring their participation in a national identification program. Driver’s licenses would...

Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker's productivity, physical well-being and competence. The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolisms. The system would allow managers to monitor employees' performance by measuring their heart rates, body temperatures, movements, facial expressions and blood pressure. Labor unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer's assessment of their physiological state. Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico is going high tech to better track the movements of Central Americans who regularly cross the southern border to work or visit. Starting in March, the National Immigration Institute will distribute cards containing electronic chips. Those items will record every arrival and departure of so-called temporary workers and visitors, mostly from Guatemala. The cards will replace a non-electronic pass formerly given to area residents. Officials say the purpose is to guarantee security for workers and visitors. Statistics from the institute show that more than 182,000 undocumented migrants were detained in Mexico in 2006. Most were...

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients' medical records almost instantly. The FDA found "reasonable assurance" the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005's top "innovative technologies." But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats. "The transponders were the cause of the tumors," said Keith Johnson, a...

Lawmakers in Indonesia's Papua are mulling the selective use of chip implants in HIV carriers to monitor their behaviour in a bid to keep them from infecting others, a doctor said Tuesday. John Manangsang, a doctor who is helping to prepare a new healthcare regulation bill for Papua's provincial parliament, said that unusual measures were needed to combat the virus. "We in the government in Papua have to think hard on ways to provide protection to people from the spread of the disease," Manangsang told AFP. "Some of the infected people experience a change of behaviour and can turn more...

Sneaking onto the beach and annoying beach tag checkers could be a thing of the past in Ocean City, where a city-wide wireless network is planned to go into effect next summer. Even if they're vacationing on the shores of Ocean City, people want internet access. For residents it would be free, for vistiors...6 dollars a day. But logging onto the internet is just the tip of the iceberg. Ocean City Administrator Jim Rutella says the possibilities are endless. Garbage cans could send massages that they're full, and beach tags could be equipped with R-F-I-D technology. That way checkers can...

The American Medical Association (AMA) has officially established a code of ethics designed to protect patients receiving RFID implants. The recommendations focus on safeguarding a patient's privacy and health, and are the result of an evaluation by the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) regarding the medical and ethical implications of RFID chips in humans, as well as a follow-up report recently released. The latter discusses the possible advantages and specific privacy and ethical issues of using RFID-enabled implantations for clinical purposes. Entitled "Radio Frequency ID Devices in Humans," the report is presented by Robert M. Sade, M.D.,...

Welcome to Xmark, the new corporate identity for our healthcare security products. Our new name emphasizes our focus on healthcare security. You may have known us under the eXI or VeriChip brand, but we are now bringing all our products under the Xmark name.

Corn and potato crops may soon provide information to farmers about when they need water and how much should be delivered, thanks to a University of Colorado at Boulder invention optioned to AgriHouse Inc., a Berthoud, Colo., high-tech company. The technology includes a tiny sensor that can be clipped to plant leaves charting their thickness, a key measure of water deficiency and accompanying stress, said Research Associate Hans-Dieter Seelig of CU-Boulder’s BioServe Space Technology Center. Data from the leaves could be sent wirelessly over the Internet to computers linked to irrigation equipment, ensuring timely watering, cutting down on excessive water...

House rejects microchip implants for violent criminals AP | May 29, 2007 Tim Talley Legislation that would authorize microchip implants in people convicted of violent crimes was sent back to a committee for more work Wednesday after state House members questioned whether the proposal would violate constitutional civil liberties. The measure, approved by the Senate, authorizes microchip implants for persons convicted of one or more of 19 violent offenses who have to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence, including murder, rape and some forms of robbery and burglary, while prohibiting government from requiring microchips implants in anyone else....

Shares of VeriChip Corp., which makes implantable locating and identification devices, soared Friday on reports the company's VeriMed identification chip will be used for consenting Alzheimer's patients at a Florida adult care facility. The stock gained $1.17, or 27 percent, to reach $5.50 in afternoon trading. Shares have traded between $4.27 and $6.99 over the last 52 weeks. The VeriMed chip, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004, is only part of the company's business. Revenue mainly comes from what are called active radio frequency identification devices, such as bracelets placed on both mother and newborn child while...