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Posted on 02/26/2002 6:51:46 PM PST by marxwas a loser
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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.
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 (news - web sites) 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
As for the thread announcing my demise from FR earlier this morning, that was something written by my friend as a funny diversion. I never said I was leaving this place, nor did my friend think I was even considering it. It was intended as a parody, more than anything else.
In any event, I'm glad to be here, even if the Admin Moderator decided that my less than serious post last night deserved no further consideration.
The intent of the EMP pulse was to destroy the chip. But....You've just given me another idea...Hmmmm.
No such thing but but it will be "sold" to the sheep as "protection". As for me I'll pass and take my chances.
I have always been a suporter of the King James Bible. If you do a search on this chapter and verse of Revelation, say on a site like Bible Gateway, you will find that if you compare the King James to all the other Bibles, almost all other Bibles say the Mark will be ON the hand or ON the forehead. Looks like the King James may be calling this one correctly.
If "they" are monitoring people's locations with these implants, and then the device is suddenly disabled, there will likely be "enforcement units" that are sent out to locate and arrest the individual (since disabling the device will be made a felony).
That's the bad news.
The good news is that if you know the nazis are on their way, some "interesting preparations" can be made ahead of time.
Just because it can't be seen now doesn't mean that won't change later.
Will people remember exactly where the little grain of rice is implanted ?
They'll ask for the the area to be marked clearly so people know where to find it, and scanners can find it easier.
The little mark will be similar to the numbers 666.
Mr. Bolton, can I just ask you as to who the hell you think you are? You cannot make no such promises or guarantees, they carry no weight before any part of our govt that would make it mandatory, or help me in a legal system where it would be against the law not to wear it. I'd have better luck with a note from my mommy. You are making statements that you do not have the power to enforce.
Cost of freedom: Priceless.
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