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Thread: U.S. to Weigh Computer Chip Implant

  1. #1

    Exclamation High Tech Slavery

    This is more controversal than the thought of cloning a human. I'm all for technological advancement but this is going too far. The original article can be viewed here..
    Do you not see where there needs to me certain limitations on technology? Do you see where technology can be bad now? How do you like the thought of the government being able to watch your every move and posess the capability to find you with pin point accuracy?..

    Here's the article:

    U.S. to Weigh Computer Chip Implant
    Tue Feb 26, 7:55 PM ET
    By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) - A Florida technology company is poised to ask the government for permission to market a first-ever computer ID chip that could be embedded beneath a person's skin.

    For airports, nuclear power plants and other high security facilities, the immediate benefits could be a closer-to-foolproof security system. But privacy advocates warn the chip could lead to encroachments on civil liberties.

    The implant technology is another case of science fiction evolving into fact. Those who have long advanced the idea of implant chips say it could someday mean no more easy-to-counterfeit ID cards nor dozing security guards.

    Just a computer chip — about the size of a grain of rice — that would be difficult to remove and tough to mimic.

    -- 'Just' a computer chip my ass..

    Other uses of the technology on the horizon, from an added device that would allow satellite tracking of an individual's every movement to the storage of sensitive data like medical records, are already attracting interest across the globe for tasks like foiling kidnappings or assisting paramedics.

    Applied Digital Solutions' new "VeriChip" is another sign that Sept. 11 has catapulted the science of security into a realm with uncharted possibilities — and also new fears for privacy.

    "The problem is that you always have to think about what the device will be used for tomorrow," said Lee Tien, a senior attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group.

    "It's what we call function creep. At first a device is used for applications we all agree are good but then it slowly is used for more than it was intended," he said.

    Applied Digital, based in Palm Beach, Fla., says it will soon begin the process of getting Food and Drug Administration approval for the device, and intends to limit its marketing to companies that ensure its human use is voluntary.

    "The line in the sand that we draw is that the use of the VeriChip would always be voluntarily," said Keith Bolton, chief technology officer and a vice president at Applied Digital. "We would never provide it to a company that intended to coerce people to use it."

    More than a decade ago, Applied bought a competing firm, Destron Fearing, which had been making chips implanted in animals for several years. Those chips were mainly bought by animal owners wanting to provide another way for pound workers to identify a lost pet.

    Chips for humans aren't that much different.

    But the company was hesitant to market them for people because of ethical questions. The devastation of Sept. 11 solidified the company's resolve to market the human chip and brought about a new sensibility about the possible interest.

    "It's a sad time ... when people have to wonder whether it's safe in their own country," Bolton said.

    The makers of the chip also foresee it being used to help emergency workers diagnose a lost Alzheimer's patient or access an unconscious patient's medical history.

    Getting the implant would go something like this:

    A person or company buys the chip from Applied Digital for about $200 and the company encodes it with the desired information. The person seeking the implant takes the tiny device — about the size of a grain of rice, to their doctor, who can insert it with a large needle device.

    The doctor monitors the device for several weeks to make sure it doesn't move and that no infection develops.

    The device has no power supply, rather it contains a millimeter-long magnetic coil that is activated when a scanning device is run across the skin above it. A tiny transmitter on the chip sends out the data.

    Without a scanner, the chip cannot be read. Applied Digital plans to give away chip readers to hospitals and ambulance companies, in the hopes they'll become standard equipment.

    The chip has drawn attention from several religious groups.

    Theologian and author Terry Cook said he worries the identification chip could be the "mark of the beast," an identifying mark that all people will be forced to wear just before the end times, according to the Bible.

    Applied Digital has consulted theologians and appeared on the religious television program the "700 Club" to assure viewers the chip didn't fit the biblical description of the mark because it is under the skin and hidden from view.

    Even with the privacy and religious concerns, some are already eager to use the product.

    Jeff Jacobs in Coral Springs, Florida has contacted the company in hopes of becoming the first person to purchase the chip.

    Jacobs suffers from a number of serious allergies and wants to make sure medical personnel can diagnose him.

    "They would know who to contact, they would know what medications I'm on, and it's quite a few," he said. "They would know what I'm allergic to, what kind of operations I've had and where there might be problems."

    Applied Digital says technology to let the chip to be used for tracking is already well under development.

    Eight Latin American companies have contacted Applied Digital and have openly encouraged the company to pursue the internal tracking devices. In some countries, kidnapping has become an epidemic that limits tourism and business.

    Tell me this form of technology is a good thing and you'll never hear the end of it from me.
    I've also attached a picture of this new chip. Take a look at it..

    Remote_Access_

  2. #2
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    Holy zonkers Batman.......
    What year is this anyway..1984? This is not only orwellean, but it's getting downright scary what this government is wanting to do and/or propose. If stuff like this is out in the open. I would hate to see what they have going on behind closed doors. Our civil rights and privacy are going out the window or down the ole' poop shute.........
    The COOKIE TUX lives!!!!
    Windows NT crashed,I am the Blue Screen of Death.
    No one hears your screams.


  3. #3

    Exclamation

    Privacy no longer exists. Take a look at this article.

    Here's a few paragraphs from the story:

    "Any technology of this kind is easily abusive of personal privacy," says Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "If a kid is track-able, do you want other people to be able to track your kid? It's a double-edged sword."


    ...Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. in Palm Beach, Fla., is one of the latest to try and push the experiments beyond the realm of academic research and into the hands — and bodies — of ordinary humans. The company says it has recently applied to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin testing its VeriChip device in humans. About the size of a grain of rice, the microchip can be encoded with bits of information and implanted in humans under a layer of skin. When scanned by a nearby handheld reader, the embedded chip yields the data — say an ID number that links to a computer database file containing more detailed information.

    Such qualms over privacy, whether real or overblown, are likely to keep any mass "chipping" from happening in the near future. And that may be the ultimate problem for the technology overall.

    - How long do you think it will be before this disasterous event occurs? How long will our privacy remain? How long? Not long.

    Remote_Access_

  4. #4
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    I hear you guys but maybe this could backfire and actually turn out to be a good thing?

    If I, as a private person, can get one of those chips I can use it to authenticate myself on my own systems. There would for example never be any need for PGP signing or whatever because my computer could be 100% sure I'm the person I say I am.

    As long as these chips cant be scanned from more than three feet away and laws against putting up scanners everywhere I might be okay with it.

    I'm just saying there's two sides of the coin here and I'm not so sure both sides are really nasty.

    Mankan
    Mankan

    \"The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.\"
    - Edsger Dijkstra

  5. #5
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    This is truly interesting reading.
    The "big brother" society is closer then ever and hopefully not only evil will come out of this.

    Thanks for the good reading RA !

  6. #6
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    I'm just curious... How will these little computer things substain themselves? I don't really know if you can fit a battery into something that small..., and would it have enough power to even do that sort of stuff? I doubt that it could be sending a signal strong enough to be recieved at any distance..., but I could be wrong... I do know that I have to be right next to my TV with my palm pilot and the OmniRemote thing to turn it on...

    I don't really like how this could turn out... It seems that these changes come around as a result of all the events that are happening everywhere...

    Still, an interesting topic, though scarry...

    -Tim_axe

  7. #7
    Yeah, I agree with Tim_Axe. This is just a creation of peoples paranioa. I don't believe that this will ever happen though. It's just not constitutional, ethical, or technologically possible. Power is a main issue.
    Fight the Power!

  8. #8
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    Maybe I can help with the how part. These little bodybot type chips will be made to act in what officially is described as "bio-commensalism". To sum up a very long dissertation on the matter - they are being designed to function by a parasitic power process. This means in plain English that they will live off your bodies energy. Their voltages are sub micron voltages and will be non intrusive. Can you tell with whom I have worked? Still, beware, the tiny body engines are here.
    Trappedagainbyperfectlogic.

  9. #9
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    Originally posted here by gold eagle
    Still, beware, the tiny body engines are here.
    So true. They had a SciTech segment on the Discovery channel a while back about tiny gears and machines that look like a speck of dust to the human eye. They disscussed surgery that could be done as well as all kinds of neat tricks. Even preventing strokes by having the tiny machines go through the arteries and clear them up. It also talked about the same chips here but as they applied them to pets and such. Just a little FYI.
    The COOKIE TUX lives!!!!
    Windows NT crashed,I am the Blue Screen of Death.
    No one hears your screams.


  10. #10
    Senior Member BrainStop's Avatar
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    And there is no lack of volunteers ...

    Not only is a company working on these chips, but people are already lining up to be the first to get the implant:

    http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scite...ant020225.html

    The Jacobs family, which get mentionned in the article, was the first to volunteer and has made headlines in many papers/news sites.

    Big Brother is one thing ... but volunteering to be monitored?

    It's like that car rental company that started billing people for speeding by using GPS receivers in their cars (that was found illegal btw: http://europe.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptec...r.tracking.ap/)

    Cheers,

    BrainStop

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