[Clips] Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants
R.A. Hettinga
rah at shipwright.com
Thu Jun 1 17:51:44 PDT 2006
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Delivered-To: rah at shipwright.com
Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 20:50:36 -0400
To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
Subject: [Clips] Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants
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<http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/060531_rfid_chips.html>
LiveScience.com
Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants
By Bill Christensen
posted: 31 May 2006
07:04 pm ET
Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has
proposed implanting the company's RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest
workers. He made the statement on national television earlier this week.
Silverman was being interviewed on "Fox & Friends." Responding to the Bush
administration's call to know "who is in our country and why they are
here," he proposed using VeriChip RFID implants to register workers at the
border, and then verify their identities in the workplace. He added, "We
have talked to many people in Washington about using it...."
The VeriChip is a very small Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag
about the size of a large grain of rice. It can be injected directly into
the body; a special coating on the casing helps the VeriChip bond with
living tissue and stay in place. A special RFID reader broadcasts a signal,
and the antenna in the VeriChip draws power from the signal and sends its
data. The VeriChip is a passive RFID tag; since it does not require a
battery, it has a virtually unlimited life span.
RFID tags have long been used to identify animals in a variety of settings;
livestock, laboratory animals and pets have been "chipped" for decades.
Privacy advocates have long expressed concerns about this technology being
used in human beings.
In a related story, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe allegedly remarked to
visiting U.S. senators Jeff Sessions (Alabama) and Arlen Specter
(Pennsylvania) that microchips could be used to track seasonal workers.
"President Uribe said he would consider having Colombian workers have
microchips implanted in their bodies before they are permitted to enter the
U.S. for seasonal work," Specter told Congress on April 25.
Implanting microchips in human beings for the purpose of monitoring is not
exactly news for science fiction fans; Alfred Bester wrote about "skull
bugs" in his 1974 novel The Computer Connection:
"...you don't know what's going on in the crazy culture outside. It's a
bugged and drugged world. Ninety percent of the bods have bugs implanted in
their skulls in hospital when they're born. They're monitored constantly."
(Read more about Alfred Bester's skull bugs)
VeriChips are legal for implantation in people in the U.S.; see VeriChip
RFID Tag Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved. See also a related story
on a Proposed National Worker DNA Fingerprint Database. Read more at RFID
implants for guest workers, Latin leader keen on ID chips and Chip implants
for migrant workers?.
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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