Wisconsin Bans Forced Human RFID Chipping

Civil libertarians cheered yesterday upon news that Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed a law making it a crime to require an individual to be implanted with a microchip. Activists and authors Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre joined the celebration, predicting this move will spell trouble for the VeriChip Corporation, maker of the VeriChip human microchip implant. The VeriChip is a glass encapsulated Radio Frequency Identification tag that is injected into the flesh to uniquely number and identify people. The tag can be read silently and invisibly by radio waves from up to a foot or more away, right through clothing. The highly controversial device is also being marketed as a way to access secure areas, link to medical records, and serve as a payment device when associated with a credit card.

"We're not even aware of anyone attempting to forcibly implant microchips into people," says Albrecht. "That lawmakers felt this legislation was necessary indicates a growing concern that the company's product could pose a serious threat to the public down the road."

Although the company emphasizes that its chip is strictly voluntary, recent statements suggest this could easily change. VeriChip Chairman of the Board Scott Silverman has been promoting the VeriChip as a partial solution to immigration concerns, proposing it as a way to register guest workers, verify their identities as they cross the border, and "be used for enforcement purposes at the employer level." He told interviewers on the Fox News Channel that the company has "talked to many people in Washington about using it."

The company has also confirmed it has been in talks with the Pentagon about replacing military dog tags with VeriChip implants.

Wisconsin's anti-human-chipping law comes at a particularly bad time for VeriChip Corporation because it has an initial public offering of its stock in the works, McIntyre observes. "The company has been losing millions of dollars and has been counting on public acceptance to stem its losses and prove its future. The people have spoken. They don't want RFID devices in their flesh, and we expect other states will join Wisconsin in prohibiting forced chipping."

Albrecht and McIntyre have dogged the VeriChip Corporation, revealing medical and security flaws in its human chip and warning about its serious privacy and civil liberties downsides in their book "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID."

Wisconsin's new law was introduced as Assembly Bill 290 by Representative Marlin D. Schneider (D) and was passed unanimously by both houses of the Wisconsin State Legislature this spring. The law makes it illegal to require an individual to have a microchip implant and subjects a violator to a fine of up to $10,000 per day.

>>>>"We're not even aware of anyone attempting to forcibly implant microchips into people," says Albrecht.

It is all in the wording. You can choose NOT to be chipped; but the chipping will be required for some activities.

Chip implanted in cop's hand would allow only officer to fire the gun

Note from infowars.com: Remember, you heard it here first. When Alex interviewed Baja Beach Club director Conrad Chase about their chip implant PR push to implant all of their VIP customers Chase provided Alex and his listeners some inside info straight from VeriChip. He not only told Alex about the gun/chip implant technology described in the AP article below, but also told him that the CEO of VeriChip, Mr. Bolton, had told him that there was a plan to use the VeriChip as a global implantable identity system.

He also told Alex that that the VeriChip company had told him that the Italian government was preparing to implant all of their government workers. (MY NOTE: VeriChip is moving the chipping multi level marketing style. Mexico is ALREADY force chipping government workers)

Since the implant/gun information Chase provided proved to be true, we must all be very concerned about the expansion of the Beast System as outlined by Chase and VeriChip.

Related Article: Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain Launches Microchip Implantation for VIP Members
By JILL BARTON
Associated Press

April 13, 2004, 4:54 PM EDT

PALM BEACH -- A new computer chip promises to keep police guns from firing if they fall into the wrong hands.

The tiny chip would be implanted in a police officer's hand and would match up with a scanning device inside a handgun. If the officer and gun match, a digital signal unlocks the trigger so it can be fired. But if a child or criminal would get hold of the gun, it would be useless.

The technology is the latest attempt to create a so-called ``smart gun'' and could be marketed to law enforcement agencies within a year, according to Verichip Corp., which has created the microchip.

Verichip president Keith Bolton said that the technology could also improve safety for the military and individual gun owners.

``If you let your mind wander to other potential uses, you can imagine the lives that could be saved,'' he said.

Verichip, which has marketed similar microchips for security and medical purposes, announced Tuesday a partnership with gun maker FN Manufacturing to produce the smart weapons. The companies have developed a prototype and are working to refine its accuracy, Bolton said.

Similar developments are under way at other gun manufacturers and research firms. The New Jersey Institute of Technology and Australian gun maker Metal Storm Ltd. are working on a prototype smart gun that would recognize its owner's individual grip.

``We're at an interesting age where all sorts of science fiction is becoming real technology,'' said Donald Sebastian, NJIT vice president for research and development and director of the project.

The technology could also eventually have an even bigger impact on the illegal gun trade, Sebastian said.

The FBI estimated that 67 percent of the 16,204 murders in 2002 were committed with firearms.

``You have a long-term benefit of making it much more difficult for a handgun to have any value to anyone other than the original owner,'' Sebastian said.

But until the smart-gun technology is repeatedly proved to be reliable, some law enforcement authorities remain leery.

The scanning device could malfunction, the officer's hand with the computer chip could be smashed during a fight or an officer might need to use a partner's gun, said West Palm Beach police training Sgt. William Sandman.

``We have power outages, computers crash. Would you risk your life knowing all those things that could go wrong?'' Sandman said.

Verichip's Bolton said those concerns already are being addressed. He said the guns can be designed to work for an officer, his partner and a supervisor. Departments could set routines where the scanning devices in guns could be checked before every shift.

The chip needs no battery or power source. It works much like those that have been implanted in pets over the past decade so they can be identified if they get lost. Verichip, a subsidiary of the Palm Beach-based technology firm Applied Digital Solutions, developed a ``more intelligent'' version two years ago for humans and estimates that about 900 people worldwide have been implanted with them.

The chips can be used instead of security key cards at office buildings or to use global positioning satellites to keep track of a relative who might suffer from Alzheimer's. It can store medical information that emergency rooms could read or financial and identification information to prevent fraud.

The chip, about the size of a grain of rice, is inserted into an arm or hand with a syringe _ much like a shot is given.

Bolton said the company has seen no medical complications and that the technology will only improve with time.

Once the technology is accepted, legislation could follow to encourage the use of smart guns. New Jersey already has passed legislation that will require smart gun technology on all handguns sold _ three years after the state attorney general certifies that smart guns are available in the marketplace.

The National Rifle Association opposes the legislation because of potential problems with smart-gun technology, but gun safety advocates argue that the technology could encourage gun ownership with the newfound sense of security.

``It seems that guns are the only product that haven't followed a path of development that leads to greater safety for the user. The only real change we've seen is to make them more lethal and smaller so they can be more easily concealed,'' said Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. ``This is one of the steps that hasn't been taken and we think this debate is one that needs to take place.'' ___

On the Net:

Applied Digital Solutions: http://www.adsx.com

FN Manufacturing: http://www.fnmfg.com/

New Jersey Institute of Technology: http://www.njit.edu/

Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence: http://www.bradycenter.org/

National Rifle Association: http://www.nra.org/

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