Humans being microchipped
Strike me down! In a post just a few days ago, I told you about poor Leon, the French bulldog, and the possible dangers inherent in RFID technology. VeriChip is the US company at the centre of criticism over its plans to microchip medical patients. VericChip won approval from the FDA to implant microchips into humans. And it has started doing so.
VeriChip has just announced plans to conduct a 2 year pilot study to test their RFID technology. It will implant 200 Alzheimer’s patients located in Palm Beach County, Florida with tiny electronic capsules that contain a 16 digit unique patient identifier. The patients will be scanned and their medical and personal information held in a database, which can be accessed by medical staff.
I really do have a problem with this. VeriChip says that the patients have volunteered for the pilot study. Last time I looked, Alzheimer’s was considered to be a progressive form of dementia with symptoms of impaired thought and degeneration of brain function. This means that these patients may not be truly capable of giving informed consent. I’m wondering if this is exploitation of a group of people in society who really can’t stick up for themselves. We also know from my previous post that there are questions being raised about the medical safety issues of microchips, with animal studies pointing to a possible causal link with cancer.
VeriChip is saying that microchipping Alzheimer’s patients will give families peace of mind as any patient who wanders or gets lost can have their arm scanned to identify them. But it’s no secret that RFID technology can be used for tracking purposes and it’s no secret that hackers can nab medical data as it is transferred from chip to reader to secure database.
It’s the notion of tagging people that gets me. Tagging for folksonomies, okay; tagging for Flickr okay. But tagging humans? Not okay - very Orwellian. I think once you get acceptance of tagging a small population of medical patients, it’s an easy jump to say the prison population, then parolees or sex offenders, then perhaps to get through immigration - then the whole population. Always the argument would be - it’s to protect the population from criminals; it’s to protect military bases or nuclear power plants; we need to identify wandering Alzheimer’s patients and so on. And then it’s a small jump from the chip carrying medical information to holding other information about you, for example, chip-based payment for groceries would require your credit card details be recorded on the chip. I see no reason why airline tickets couldn’t be disposed of in a future of microchipped humans - pay for your ticket and when you get to the airport a scanner verifies payment and processes you through immigration. And to keep kids safe, how about a future where a baby is microchipped at birth - the parents can track their movements or police could find a missing child. One microchip in the human arm can hold an infinite number of potential uses to track and control humans albeit some uses might be beneficial or innocent. But well-meaning and innocent can often turn into exploited and abused.
No doubt a whole new crop of evasive technologies would spring up to evade the signals being emitted by RFID chips (if they’re emitting a radio signal) and a black market in avoidance. Special clothing material to block the signal from being omitted might be invented for instance and dodgy back street “implant extractors” (people who will surgically remove the microchip should you wish to avoid being tracked and monitored) will offer their services. The microchip black market would be full of counterfeit chips that you could swap for your implanted one and take on a whole new identity.
If you want to read more on a potential future of humans chipped like cattle or if you wonder if VeriChip’s microchip can be duplicated easily, go here and read the interview with Liz McIntyre, author of Spychips: How Major Corporations Plan to Track your Every Purchase & Watch your Every Move. The creepiest part of this interview is when you read that VeriChip, like vultures circling, swooped down on corpses following Hurricane Katrina and had coroners implant chips. Scary stuff; scary interview. I even find the slogan on VeriChip’s website creepy: “RFID for people” - I guess they point this out just in case we confuse ourselves with cattle or domestic pets!
Photo credit: Spychips.com
Made in Australia
diggersstory said,
September 22, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
Yes indeedy, companies believe if they can get the foot in the door they can proceed to get in all the way. Heck it’s worked in the past. I did a portion of the interview on spychips. There is nothing that greed won’t do. The question is not when will they stop but when will we stand up to make them stop.
thinkingshift said,
September 23, 2007 @ 1:17 am
exactly…I’m increasingly concerned that we’re apathetic, just accepting of what’s going on.
c45j said,
September 26, 2007 @ 2:05 am
ghost in the shell… i’d like to connect to the internet with my brain…
tron said,
September 26, 2007 @ 2:08 am
“pay for your ticket and when you get to the airport a scanner verifies payment and processes you through immigration”
That would save me hours and lower ticket prices by negating the need for security checks, where do I sign up! The only restriction you need is to give the user the ability to turn it on and off at will.
J said,
September 26, 2007 @ 2:36 am
a time will come where only those who have the chip implanted will be able to buy or sell anything which to me sounds the fullfillment of the bible prophesy where it clearly says that the mark of the beast will be taken on the right hand and or the forehead and if u research where they plan on implanting them WOW what a coinkidink NOT thats exactly the target locations they plan to put them which it clearly says in the bible that it will be taken not on the left but the right hand and the forehead… over my dead body will i take that shit anywhere near me
Mendo said,
September 26, 2007 @ 2:40 am
…all this has been written in the Bible…what a shame it’s happening already
MESSIAH said,
September 26, 2007 @ 4:07 am
THE MARK OF BEAST IS COMING
666
no one will be able to do commerce with out it…
no one can move around with out it…
be with it or be exiled…
MESSIAH said,
September 26, 2007 @ 4:08 am
OH sorry it should read MARK OF THE BEAST
BeWarned! said,
September 26, 2007 @ 5:47 am
Hello……..
has control of. How bout calling it “man’s number” aka 666
Can anyone see this is the beginning of the end..
A mark that is needed to buy or sell, that the government (aka “the beast”
Does anyone else smell the rat?
Thorndev said,
September 26, 2007 @ 5:49 am
RFID chips have a maximum range of about 1 foot. The only information being stored within those chips would be an identification number, much like a barcode or magnetic strip on an ID card. It is a signal, not information, which is interpreted by a reader. The reader, a handheld PDA perhaps, would have information relating to the patient stored or relayed. When you think about it, that information is just as easily accessible as it is now. Someone can just as easily steal a PDA or hack a signal as they can hack some WiFi or a computer.
I have an RFID chip implanted in my hand. I use it to access my computer and unlock my front door. If someone wanted to use my chip, they’d have to get within inches of my hand and scan the chip to copy it’s signal, or physically remove my chip. The chip is very low signal and cannot be picked up from more than 1 foot away. That signal is unique and by no means holds anything other than a few 1’s and 0’s as a digital password.
thinkingshift said,
September 26, 2007 @ 6:41 am
Thorndev where ru located? US? Australia? UK? why did you choose to get a chip - was it the convenience factor? Who microchipped you ie a doctor; or special company involved in chipping? I’m intrigued!
matt said,
September 26, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Demolition Man anyone? Hence the microchip reference. Next thing you know we will be cited citations for cursing in public and we will have to learn to use the 3 sea shells.
ThoughtCrime said,
September 26, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
This is the second step for the New World Order campaign going on with the Illuminati. Can you say Mark of the Beast? Your DNA, Optics, Finger Prints, and your internet history will all be encoded in this little device. Dont fall into the trap, rise against it.
Thorndev said,
September 26, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
Oh, I bought the chip myself after reading several articles on it. It seemed an interesting idea to be able to trigger door locks by simply putting my hand on the doorknob. I have a Philips HITAG 2048 S in my right hand at the moment. I bought the chip from an online retailer for about $5. My doctor was kind enough to inject it with an Avid injector, like the ones they use on pets. Any time I want to unlock my computer, I place my hand near a card reader I purchased from the same site for I think around $50. I synched the reader with my chip and did a bit of Windows magic to make the reader the password unlock. The possibilities are endless as you just need to purchase a reader and synch it with your own chip.
Some chips are even sophisticated enough to have a small amount of read/write memory. In the near future I may well be able to get a chip that I can use as my own personal data storage.
new world order said,
September 26, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
new world order is on its way wait till 2008 new prez http://www.prisonplanet.com
thinkingshift said,
September 27, 2007 @ 4:00 am
thx Thorndev for telling us what you did! very intriguing. I certainly wouldn’t do it, but you seem to have a level of comfort with the notion of being chipped. Perhaps you are an early example of what people will do in the future and why they’ll want to be chipped. If people can be guaranteed that chips with personal data are safe/secure, then I think people will be more accepting of this sort of technology.
Josh said,
September 28, 2007 @ 2:17 am
I’m so glad everyone else is of the idea that this technology, in the wrong hands, is BAD!!!!!
It is totally what the Bible warned us against - and even if you don’t believe in the Bible, you should at least be sceptical what’s going on. As a Raelian, the Elohim (our ET creators who were mistaken for God’s) dictated the book of Revelation to St John in order to warn us people in the future as to what’s going on. The Elohim can’t predict the future, but they have monitored thousands of humanities before - and when they aren’t peaceful and have a high level of technology (like we are at the moment) the same thing always happens - one nation rises to power, starts to control the rest of the world (microchipping etc), eventually the world destroys itself with nuclear weapons because it is so aggressive.
It’s a slippery slope - they tell you that it’s for convience and for your security - but really they want to monitor us and enforce a police state.
I will refuse to take it (if it comes in here in Australia) - even if I can’t get a job or buy food etc. We have been warned!
-Josh
thinkingshift said,
September 28, 2007 @ 2:51 am
Welcome back Josh. As you can see from the comments, a number of people would agree with you. Opinion seems to be divided on the issue of microchipping - some are very comfortable with it and ask what’s the issue. Others are very suspicious of Government motives or see Biblical connotations.
Oohlala said,
September 28, 2007 @ 3:11 am
I think nobody wants to be microchipped, the patients need more better care not the chip.
The chip is just to reduce time to the doctor or relatives but give nothing for the patients!!!
I vote no for it.
thinkingshift said,
September 28, 2007 @ 3:16 am
welcome back Oohlala and thx for your comment. It’s a hot issue isn’t it!
speedymarie said,
November 22, 2007 @ 7:37 pm
Just felt compelled to throw my .02 in…I’m absolutely and completely prepared to do whatever necessary to avoid anything implanted into me, if that means living and undergorund/outsider existence so be it….Anything worth having isn’t easy, and neither is freedom or privacy….