azurelunatic | Fascinating, and no little scary.

http://www.wnbc.com/money/2514572/detail.html

Controversial Human Chip Implant Introduced
Far-Reaching Implications Raise Concerns
An experimental and controversial identification system is now being introduced in the New York area.

It's called a veri-chip -- no bigger than a few grains a rice, it's implanted in your arm. A scanner accesses a personal code, which opens your information file.

Dr. Christopher Mills recently installed the first chip -- in a New Yorker. Because it's so small and inserts under the skin in the arm, it can be done during a quick doctor's visit.

"Most everybody has been vaccinated, has had an IV started for some type of procedure. It's simply like placing an intravenous line, and it's done under local anesthesia in an outpatient setting," said Mills. "So, the actual event itself is really like a nonevent."

But the nonevent has far-reaching implications. Right now, it's for basic medical information. But promoters of the chip see endless applications.

"I think security issues are a very important thing. Identifying who you are so there isn't altered identification," said Mills. "You really are the person you say you are."

The $200 chip could eventually disarm your home alarm; not just speed you through, but also possibly eliminate shopping checkout lines; or replace your ATM card when you need that old-fashion stuff they call cash.

For each application, there seem to be just as many concerns. What about privacy? Who handles the data bank? What if hackers compromise it? Who certifies the accuracy of the information in the database?

Dr. Richard Seelig, veri-chip promoter and first man in the country with an implanted chip, admits it's a controversial idea.

"Here's the very big difference between 1984 and this," said Seelig. "No one is going to put this under the skin of anyone without that person's consent. It's voluntary. So, people have a choice, either they are going to accept it or they're not."

Right now, 30 people have made the choice to pay about $10 a month to be in the database. They'll have to settle for scanning themselves, as no banks, commercial enterprises or security agencies are using the system.

Many people ask if it doubles as a global positioning satellite tracker. Right now, no. But they have one under development.

Propz to

badconductor for pointing this one out.

I approve of technology, but I have my opinions on megacorporate and governmental ethics -- zero to none. It's amazing what can be done in the name of "policy" that normally humans wouldn't dream of doing to allies.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"No one is going to put this under the skin of anyone without that person's consent. It's voluntary. So, people have a choice, either they are going to accept it or they're not."

Oh, really. That's the way it starts, but when the practice spreads, it will become functionallyt mandatory, even if it remains formally voluntary.

Let us compare this to a credit card. Having a credit card is completely voluntary. But just try to rent a car without one. And I think there are other perfectly ordinary transactions where there will be much more trouble, or a complete denial, if a credit card is not available. We are already seeing a segregation of the consuming public, based on whether they wish to use cash or debit cards, or credit cards.

Let us assume that the implant identification gains acceptance and spreads in practice. In a while we will see another segregation of the consuming public, based on even tighter integration of corporate information systems. Spot marketing, which can be fine-tuned based on your buying habits, is not entirely without advantages. There are a lot of potential disadvantages, and misuse, of the system.

At least nobody is claiming (yet) that this will permit tracing the movement of an individual via satellites...

I see you're as broadly and openly trusting of this as I am.

No.
Hell No.
Not unless the fuckin' 'Initiative' pins me down. You will need a cranial drill, a rivet gun, some blood in your type, a crashcart, and your Will, 'cause I ain't going down easy. Should they make this the standard form of identification, currency, and medical history, I will carry cash and hardcopy. I will lug boxes of the shit (medical records not cash, I should have boxes of cash) with me everywhere if I have to. Tagging is for migratory animals and aquatic mammals. And like Azure I do not trust _anyone_ to maintain a system of this type without abusing it, definitely no corporation and sure as hell not the government.

How about one level more scary than credit cards? How about Social Security numbers? When were they created? And when were they made mandatory at birth?

Hopefully I won't live to see the day when babies recieve a chip scant days after birth which will mark them for the rest of their lives.

And they did say at the bottom of the article that they're *working* on a tracker chip.

Actually, I am happy about the concept of the SSN. It means that the relevant authorities can uniquely identify me from all the other males of the same name. It means that I won't be getting duplicate and triplicate tax forms even though on some transactions I do use my middle initial and on others I don't. It means that when I go to a national health service provider anywhere in the country, they can instantly retrieve my core data - vital in an emergency.

In this country, SSN is specifically reserved for city and government authority use. Businesses, including private hospitals, must use some other form of customer unique identification. This makes it more difficult to cross-correlate government-owned personal information with my purchasing habits and so on.

But I think I do agree with you; it should always remain the privilege of the person whether to make his biodata available or not.

I'd be slightly more inclined to trust a system that carried the information internally to the chip, rather than storing it in a database.

Fascinating, and no little scary.

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sub-dermal ID

SSN

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