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Headlines : Sci-TechFormer Bush official gets chipped
Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has joined the board of directors of Applied Digital Solutions – maker of the VeriChip implantable RFID tag – and will now promote the product by having one injected into his arm. Proponents of the technology (mostly those with a financial stake in the product) cheer the benefits of tracking kids, pets and senile adults as well as the ability of the chip to store medical and credit information. Detractors cite a host of concerns ranging from medical issues to the possibility of mandatory chipping in a system of global geoslavery.
[Posted By whitey]Republished from ZDNet News
Thompson has joined the board of Applied Digital, which owns VeriChip, the company that specializes in subcutaneous RFID tags for humans and pets.
To help promote the concepts behind the technology, Thompson himself will get an RFID tag implanted under his skin.
Human RFID tags have emerged as one of the more controversial technologies in years. Civil libertarians theorize that the chips will allow governments or corporations to track people’s movement and behavior. Some Christians have said the chips are so evil they fulfill a biblical prophesy about satanic influences.
Advocates, on the other hand, say the chips will contain personal information that will help medical professionals and others provide emergency treatment. The chip provides a form of identification that’s tough to lose. By clicking the number found on the chip into a password-restricted database, paramedics can get an accident victim’s medical history in the field. (One of VeriChip’s scientists came up with the idea of using the company’s pet RFID tags on people after watching rescue workers struggle to find the missing after the Sept. 11 tragedy.)
Prisons and jails are also experimenting with RFID bracelets and continual tracking to reduce inmate violence.
“We are all well aware of the need to enhance Information…
Posted by whitey
http://yt_.gnn.tv
cool. can i have one?
Yep. $50 off if you sign up now.
Looks familiar…
And the “chipping” procedure?
how is something which you can’t see more secure and less likely to be lost… not being able to see it means not knowing if it works or not…
someone with an rfid reader could reprogram your chip for you.
I always find it interesting that no one ever mentions the less obvious, but equally disturbing, ramifications of things like chip implants… If these things are going to be used in place of things like credit cards… What’s to stop a particularly brutal mugger from cutting the chip right out of you and going on a shopping spree? The only way to stop that person would be to require a photo-ID, and gee… Wouldn’t that void the point of having one of these damn things in the first place?
What about a terrorist cutting out a “high-security clearance” chip of some sort? The VeriChip brochure claims that identity theft will become a thing of the past under their system, but that doesn’t stop anyone from being able to cut you up to get at your info. We’ll be missing the days when muggers just took your wallet…
How does this fix anything again?
Technology that cares
...Right.
Tattooing is cheaper.
I always find it interesting that no one ever mentions the less obvious, but equally disturbing, ramifications of things like chip implants
dude. you’re not supposed to point that out until we’ve spent billions on this crap, then you point out the many many many flaws. then we can go back to good old fashioned blood samples.
dude. you’re not supposed to point that out until we’ve spent billions on this crap, then you point out the many many many flaws.
an older article but with alot of relevance – the US govt spending billions just to screw it uphttp://www.eetuk.com/tech/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=45400010
also check out
http://travel.state.gov/passport/eppt/eppt_2498.html
WOW! My own private GPS locator! Gives a whole new meaning to “Big Brother is watching”. This will make their National ID plan obsolete. They won’t need it. All they will need to do is punch in a name or number and a little light will show up on their map.
That’s OK they can keep it. I would just as soon not have some electronic chip stuck in me that I have no idea what is already programmed into it.
HMMM, unless I can get my hands on one of those RFID reader/programmers. Now that might be fun. Just wait, a month from now they’ll be available on e-bay.
interesting piece lumax.
sent vendors scrambling to tweak their products in time for the second round of interoperability testing,
“tweak”, yeah okay. if by “tweak” you mean totally rebuild the concept from the ground up the sure.
Kefauver also speculated that at some point, the contactless chip and passport could be eliminated altogether. Instead, a person’s biometric data would be measured at the point of contact and compared with information stored in a central database. That would shift the security concerns from the chip to the network.
this is what i’m talking about. the whole thing just look like a blundering stepping stone to what they really want. biometric data collected through anal probes.
Americans may find that do-it-yourself solution compelling, since some privacy advocates fear the unprotected U.S. e-passport could broadcast its holder’s national identity.
actually,
fat, loud, stupid, obnoxious, stupid (did i mention stupid), are usually the tell tale signs.
HMMM, unless I can get my hands on one of those RFID reader/programmers. Now that might be fun. Just wait, a month from now they’ll be available on e-bay.
You don’t have to wait
One wonders how much stock in adsx Mr Thompson has?
oh, I see. Mr. Thompson was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Applied Digital’s subsidiary, VeriChip Corporation
Sorry, I missed whitey’s summary.
WOW! My own private GPS locator!
A lot of people already have one, they just call them cell phones instead of “private GPS locators”
Applied Digital also launched a brand new application for the chip last year called the “VeriPay.” This implant would hold all of a person’s financial information. Rather than swipe a card or pay cash, consumers would scan their wrists for purchases. And, if a swipe of the wrist becomes too troublesome, there are already prototypes made of doorway portals that can simply scan a person and their purchases as they walk through the door.
didn’t see that coming . . .