RFID Chips Inserted in to People for Tracking

by Steve, 1/28/2005 08:18:30 AM

These tiny microchips have long been inserted into cats and dogs as way to identify their owner if they become strays. CNET News reports that they're now showing up in people. As many as 1,000 people have voluntarily had RFID chips injected into their bodies.

The chips can store vital information, such as your name, date of birth, blood type, medical history, etc. But it can also store financial information such as credit card numbers, and buying habits.

The devices can also be linked to financial information such as credit card numbers and buying habits, which is why a nightclub in Glasgow, Scotland, recently began offering to implant its patrons with the chips. The club, called Bar Soba, said the chips let customers leave their wallets at home and count on their favorite drink being ready as soon as they walk through the door and get scanned.

Whoa! So what these chips do is allow people to become lazy, such that they no longer need to carry their wallets. But what about driver's licenses and social security cards? CNET goes on to report that the real bonus with having people implanted with RFID chips is for emergency care purposes:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared VeriChip for medical use in October. The company is targeting patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other conditions requiring complex treatment.

Harvard's Halamka, a practicing emergency room physician, said the chips may also be useful for speeding care in emergency situations in which patients are often unconscious or nonresponsive. The technology could also help prevent errors in treating and administering medication to patients, he said.

I bring this up because I used to handle accounts receivables for some hospitals. I can't begin to tell you how many people come into the emergency room without identification and financial information. One hospital I worked at had to shut down its emergency room because it lost so much money from treating patients with no identification on them.

But what if legislators required that certain people have these chips implanted into them? For example, if you receive Medicaid benefits, then what if the government required that you have this chip implanted in your body, such that when you arrive at a hospital, the staff can identify you and get your Medicaid billing information? Or what about Medicare for that matter? Or what about when you enlist in the military? Wouldn't it make sense to have a chip implanted in your body should you die on the battlefield?

Or what if you are a convicted sex offender, who has served his time, and has been released from prison? Wouldn't it make sense that you should have a chip implanted in you so that paranoid mothers can track your whereabouts?

This is going to happen folks.

2 Comments:

I'm not so sure this is going to happen or, alternatively, happen real soon. A lot has yet to be discussed and who knows where that will lead us. Also, note that these chips do not have tracking capability - the FBI is not going to be able to triangulate and find you in the woods so they can arrest you. If you were to try to board a plane, you might pop up on somebody's computer screen. But these do not have the kind of GPS capability a person might think they do. If you have your dog or child chipped, you won't be able to find him or her unless he or she happens to be taken to a veterinarian.

On the other hand, I can visualize Governor Arnold removing something from his nose in one of his movies. I suppose somebody better get busy making the device he used.

By Dave, at 1:42 PM, January 28, 2005
I can see it now. The smart criminal will buy a black market chip reader, then scan the crowd and know your SSN# bankacct#'s address and everything else about you, and poof! you life is liquidated in a couple weeks. I'm middle aged but I feel for our children who will live in a lockdown society where your every move is monitored. Doesn't sound like freedom to me.

By Anonymous, at 12:30 PM, March 26, 2006

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