Microchip Implants... in the U.S.???
For years now we have all read articles of microchip implants being tested in "far away places" that didn't seem to directly threaten US here in America. It started out with implants in our pets (which I think is a good idea). It progressed to the idea of using them in children to track them in schools and to be able to more easily locate them if they are abducted or lost. For some reason I have never seen that actually implemented, however a recent story broke a while back about schools in Japan using a similar technology but attaching the device to a child's backpack or shoes (an idea I also would generally support, in a vaccuum). The technology just got another huge push forward, and unfortunately it's right here on U.S. soil:
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer chip that is implanted under the skin won U.S. approval on Wednesday for use in helping doctors quickly access a patient's medical history... The VeriChip... is placed in the upper arm in a painless procedure that takes minutes... about the size of a grain of rice, the chip contains a patient's identification number that corresponds to health information in a computer database. A handheld scanner can retrieve the patient's number from the chip, which emits radio waves when activated."
The danger, of course, is that once you have an ID number implanted into you (for health information reasons), there is nothing preventing it for being used for OTHER tracking purposes... the possibilities are almost endless! One can imagine it could be used by greedy corporations trying to gleen as much market data as they can, by overzealous employers to track (and control) their employee's every minute, or by an out-of-line official such as a Police Officer utilizing their now much easier access to your private data for their personal benefit or pleasure.
I think this is just a BAD idea that while fixing a few problems today will only create MORE problems in the future... problems that are bigger and harder to solve...
4 Comments:
you know, i read that same story and it just creeped me out. it reminds me of fahrenheit 451 and 1984 and ayn rand novels...i really hope this doesn't end up going any further. and if it does, it would have to be voluntary, correct? they can't force us to implant our medical history into our bodies, can they? or rather, the number that accesses our medical history? do you think they'd try to use SSNs or something else?
*candace*
hmmm, wondered if you had (also) seen the news article re: the chip coming to the U.S. Sort of discussed that about 2-weeks ago --huh. Absolutely - to "Candace", it WILL come down to the S.S.# eventually - question is, how long? Seems like it's progressing right along; need to remember, whenever something like this begins as a "good thing" (for earthquake victims, kidnap victims, etc), it USUALLY will also have a "bad thing" about it too. Four years ago, the news report that ANYONE/EVERYONE being put on parole from Los Angeles, HAD to accept the micro-chip as part of the condition of their parole. A month ago, the news report was it had begun in Mexico, and ALL inmates, police/law enforcement officers and military personnel were being REQUIRED to have it ------we CANNOT forget to turn to our Father in Heaven in these times.
me~
I think that America is so committed to our Rights, and Right to Privacy is one of those Rights, that the degree being discussed here will not come overnight and will not be forced on anyone, at least initially.
I foresee it being a voluntary thing at first but after time it will just become something that people accept.
A great example of this is the SSN... years ago, when the SSN was introduced (1932 I think???) it was used only for tax-paying purposes and in fact it was specifically forbidden to use it for anything else... however, slowly, other government agencies found that it was useful for keeping people seperated in databases, companies found that using it to identify their employees for purposes other than just tax-issues made keeping track of their personnel files a lot easier, and eventually it has come to our SSN's being used to keep track of our info. on almost every front... including just renting a movie!
That is how I envision this rolling out. It will start out with good intentions, but if allowed to "take off", it will eventually go unchecked and before you know it when you go into a mall there will be a scanner at the door that will record your number to keep track of your shopping habits and eventually we will hear of incidents in the news of creepy individuals and corporations illegally accessing these huge databases to take advantage of individuals. But by then, it will become such common practice that it won't even occur as a legitimate option to just get rid of the system...
The Department of Defense is planning to implant microchips in soldiers' brains for monitoring their health information, and has already awarded a $1.6 million contract to the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) at Clemson University for the development of an implantable "biochip".
Soldiers fear that the biochip, about the size of a grain of rice, which measures and relays information on soldiers vital signs 24 hours a day, can be used to put them under surveillance even when they are off duty. See this: Pentagon to implant microchips in soldiers' brains
Post a Comment
<< Home