Proposal to Implant RFID Chips in Immigrants 559
John3 writes "Some people are OK with voluntarily implanting themselves with RFID chips, but how about making RFID implantation mandatory for immigrant and guest workers? VeriChip Corporation chairman Scott Silverman has proposed implanting RFID chips to register workers as they cross the border. According to Silverman, 'We have talked to many people in Washington about using it...' Privacy advocates see this move by VeriChip as a way to introduce their product to Latin America after a lukewarm reception in North America. Would immigrant workers trade their privacy for the opportunity to work in the U.S.? If this type of tracking is enacted, how long before the government decides to start tracking others for various purposes (for example, pedophiles who are released from prison)?"
Yay! (Score:5, Informative)
BTW, that was sarcasm... NSA rapes your phones, and now this... makes me sick...
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, his company was doing just fine back in the day.
If I remember correctly, it was called Veri-Brand(tm) back then.
Re:Yay! (Score:2)
One way or another, yeah...
Re:Yay! (Score:2)
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Interesting)
Im an immigrant, I moved here legally, from the UK, ive paid thousands of dollars just to be here, i contribute a lot of money to the US economy and employee a number of US workers... and for my efforts to play by the rules, to hand over money for fees, to wait and wait and wait patiently on different sides of the atlantic, and to fill in god knows how many forms and pay more fees.. I get the opportunity to be chipped.
Thanks for that, next youll be telling me I could have brought a cheap plane ticket, stayed here past my visa experation and payed less in fines than the fees i paid and granted would have been granted 'amnesty'... oh, wait..
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
like a criminal at the US port of entry (including fingerprinting). I doubt that
I would have come if I had to be chipped to do it.
Back then I had a perception of the US as a 'land of the free'. It is becoming less so,
OTOH so is the UK.
Counteless patriots have died to defend the freedoms we now so happily fritter away.
Now chipping ex cons (provided that it is the law at the time they commit their crime,
and that it is part of the sentence) seem altogether more reasonable to me.
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
So how do you chip illegals? Do you do it when they sneak in?
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Funny)
Towers, sniper rifles, maybe even remotely-fired guns accessible from any web browser -- pay $20 for an hour of tagging immigrants, could probably cover the cost of the program.
If not enough people will pay for it, then you pay people to do it -- which'll help replace the jobs those durn Mexicans are taking from us 'Murricans.
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you sure?
I mean, if they loved busting caps in illegals, wouldn't we have seen them in action years ago?
Their whole behavior profile really seems to imply that they spent most of their lives finding enjoyment in other ways, and only recently became Minutemen because they felt the had to, not because they thought it would be fun.
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yay! (Score:4, Insightful)
Behold! Ignorance at work! Did you ever consider, EVEN ONCE that perhaps the reason that Americans won't take those jobs is because the massive Illegal immigration over the last 30 years has reduced the wage levels for those jobs so low that no American could afford to take them?
I have a friend who used to live in the southwest (New Mexico) in the 80's. He owned a Housing construction and subcontracting company, and was an honest man. He refused to hire anyone who couldn't pass a full background check. As Illegal immigration began to become more and more of an issue, his competitors, some of whom were less scrupulous than he, started to hire the Illegals to work for them. The Illegals would work so cheap that he was literally priced right out of the market. By the time his business folded, every single one of his employees had either left the state, or left the trade. Illegal Immigration killed his business.
He had roots in the Northeast, and moved back here and re-started his life. He recently told me that he was starting to see the same kinds of issues with Illegal Immigrants here in the northeast that he saw back in the southwest in the 80's. He's nearing retirement age, and just hopes to survive long enough to be able to retire semi-comfortably.
Don't want illegal immigrants working on farms? Expect to pay more for your groceries. Don't want legal immigrants? Be prepared to live with a lower standard of living.
This is what Illegal Immigration does: It doesn't HELP the economy, it HURTS it. Illegal Immigrants take jobs that American WILL DO, and increase the rolls of the working poor. This puts an ever-increasing burden on the already strained social services, and put the American economy in danger of going into a tailspin of plummeting wage rates and skyrocketing inflation.
Now, this is VERY different from LEGAL Immigration, which brings in high-skilled labor and improves the economy. But, of course, this is too fine a distinction to make for some, who would rather demagouge the issue and simply call those who want the laws to be respected "bigots".
Stop painting the issue with such a broad and incorrect brush. All most Americans want is for the LAWS TO BE OBEYED. If you can't respect and obey our laws in coming here, then we don't want you. It's that simple.
As far as the chipping thing, I'd only be comfortable with it being done with parolees and ex-cons. I'm not comfortable with chipping otherwise law-abiding citizens.
Yeah, I know my opinions on Illegal Immigration won't win me any mod points, but I don't care. It's the truth, wether you mod me down for it or not.
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Interesting)
Heh.
I recently discovered that Slashdot has an automated script in place that temporarily bans your IP range if the ratio of up-mods to down-mods on your posts drops below a certain threshold.
Allegedly intended to reduce trolling, I found that it also tended to reduce dissenting opinions.
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think that illegal immigration is a good thing, but I beleive that the US market demands it. I beleive your example proves it.
Your freind only hired people who could demonstrate that they were legally entitled to work. This is laudable. He was priced out of the market because his competitors hired illegals at a lower rate. This proves that the market did not value whether the work was done by illegals or not. If people cared that there construction was done by legal workers *and were prepared
Re:Yay! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Out of curosity (Score:5, Insightful)
People view the Third Reich as a lawless, despotic regime, which is far from historic fact. Undeniable, especially during the last days of the war, and hence of the Reich, the law wasn't much respected. Never the less, most that happened during Hitlers time was according to German law of the time.
Another troll (and a pommy who should know better) mentioned something about "if they tag cons"...what about the visa violation convict? See convict and criminal are words that people like to use to destinguish themselves from the "good ones", but a label does not make factual evidence.
I use to highly regard the US of A for their stand on privacy, having grown up in Germany, where every one is required to be in possesion of an ID card. Then I learnt more about Social Security Numbers. Then they introduced finger printing of visitors. Then I learnt about the differences in privacy and data retention laws, and now I laugh at US citizens, because they will soon feel the guilt Germans have been carrying around with themselves for the past 60 years. All the time feeling smug about themselves. Immigrants not carrying about the political nature, just interested in being on the winners side. Just like back then, the Tschechs, the Poles, the French...
We are living on a slippery slope, with an increasing tilt.
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
Just my $.02,
Ron
A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, I think that the idea is hilarious, this reminded me of MI-3, they surely will have to implant those chips with those mini bombs. Because if they dont do it, I am completely sure immigrants (at least mexicans) will just "un-implant" the chips and put it in a secure place like their home or things like that. Do not underestimate the power
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:2, Insightful)
None taken. No matter how much you think our government sucks, we think yours is worse. And we're right.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:2)
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Interesting)
About the only Mexican side of this debate you hear on US TV is from the illegal immigrants already hear and people on the other side of the border (the Mexican side) who are worried it will become harder to cross.
That said, you have presented an opportunity that I can't pass up to ask you a question. What do you think about the Mexican government's role in this immigration debate? Specifically it seems to me they are the problem. We don't have Canadians flooding into the country because Canada is very good shape.
From everything I've heard Mexico has some serious problems in this area. My understanding is that 10% of Mexican citizens are living in the US (either legally or not). 12% of the Mexican work force is working in the US (again, legally or not). I have heard estimations that if flow of money from workers and families in the US to their relatives back home in Mexico were to be stopped, the Mexican economy would collapse. According to the figures I can find the underemployment/unemployment rate in Mexico is as high as 25%.
Do Mexicans blame their government for all this? Is there anything of a movement to get it fixed, or is it just easier to try to get the US government to help by taking on people?
Of course, Bush can't say any of this because we have to try to keep relations with Mexico good. Why the media doesn't mention this more would surprise me if I didn't think them all so crooked.
What do you think of the "Pay backed taxes, a fine, and prove you know English and you can become a citizen" proposal? Obviously that is somewhat simplified.
My last question is, does the issue of illegal immigration strike you as ironic at all? There are so many people (and groups, which I don't understand) that are pushing for (illegal) immigrant rights in the US and saying they should be treated like citizens. But illegal immigrants into Mexico from South and Central America face robbing, beatings, rapes, and other terrible fates from Mexican officials if they are caught. Mexico is not kind to those who sneak in, yet the President of the country is asking the US to be kind to those who sneak in. Is that issue raised at all in the Mexican media?
I don't mean to offend you, I've never heard answers to these questions and I am genuinely curious. I'll be glad to answer anything I can for you with my opinions.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Informative)
"are you sure about that? [newstandardnews.net]"
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Funny)
How ironic, I'm an American who knows he'll never need to go to Mexico, and I'm always saying "fuck the Mexican government."
And, to make things better, I am a Mexican who knows that one day he is going to have to return to Mexico and I am always saying "Fuck the Mexican government".
I'm a Canadian...what the fuck is going on down there?
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe we should borrow Canadian border guards to man the US-Mexico border. You never hear about Americans sneaking over to Canada, they must be doing something right!
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, hell no!
(*upon further thought*)
mandatory chipping for the following:
- politicians
- lawyers
and last but not least
- a certain chairman working for VeriChip Corp.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Funny)
But please, tell us more about this world in which cows and housecats normally speak out against man's inhumanity to man.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:2)
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Funny)
I think you spelled 'dollars' wrong
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:2)
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Funny)
Aha! But, your pet might be EATEN by another animal. This is how your favorite poodle can polymorph into a pit bull.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:3, Funny)
Now terrorists will be eating immigrants to get their ID chips.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't have to get chipped, but no loyal, patriotic citizen would conceiveably refuse...ergo, if you refuse, you automatically make the 'short list' of terror suspects.
The 'short list' is only called that by comparison...everybody is on the 'long list'.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes it is a slippery slope, if you're going to fuck people over do it incrementally, they'll accept it much easier that way. If immigrants etc were chipped how long do you think it would be before someone suggested various other segments of the population could usefully be chipped? Mmm? you might trust the government you have now but what about the one 5, 10 or 15 years down the line?
I've spent the last 18 years of my life writing systems that need to identify people, to say whether they've payed their rent or not, what care are they getting from social services, is their library book overdue or not, the list is endless. From a purely job based perspective, yes, chip the buggers from birth. From a purely personal perspective, come near me with a chipping device and I'll take your arm off and beat you to death with the soggy end.
Technology is neither good or evil, the uses it's put to are another matter, the danger is once it's out of the box you can't put it back in.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Insightful)
Frankly I'm disgusted that anyone would seriously consider this. Seriously, would you claim it was just the "price of admission" if you were required to get one before you could vote, or perhaps if you were required to have on implanted into you at birth before your citizenship would be official?
Implanting chips into people like they were a cow or your dog is just disgusting, it's treating people as less than people simply because they were born in a different country. I just can't see why having a passport that says "U.S." means you should be entitled to basic human dignity, while having one that says "Mexico" means you should be treated like an animal. But that's what supporting this proposal is arguing.
Re:A Cautionary Tale (Score:5, Insightful)
Such a claim is dehumanizing, regardless of its intent. RFID for people is exactly like yellow cards for Jews. The cards had the effect of intimidating and humiliating.
RFID for people is *not* like a visa (the "price of entry into a country") in these ways:
wait a second.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:wait a second.... (Score:5, Informative)
Before you go all "1984" on our asses, take a moment to stop and realize that this is the company that SELLS THE CHIPS making the proposal, NOT the government.
Are you sure about that? [newstandardnews.net]
Re:wait a second.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:wait a second.... (Score:2)
Not exactly, but it supports my assertion that the U.S. government is pursuing RFID technology for exactly these reasons. Embeded RFID chips will be more convenient, more difficult to lose, and more difficult to tamper with...given the demonstrated fact that the government is already pursuing RFID technology, and given the benefits of implantable RFID chips I outlined above, can you come up with a plausible reason they wouldn't pursue implantable RFID technology?
Re:wait a second.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:wait a second.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Your argument is nothing more than straw man flamebait, but it's late Friday afternoon, and I'm bored, so sure...I'll play:
Given that it's much easier to just shoot detractors than hold an electio
There's the flaw in your argument. It's much easier to hold a rigged election then it is to shoot detractors.
Disinformation is far easier and works far more effectively than brute force in oppressing populations. If you don't agree with this, just watch Fox and Friends for a little while.
Re:wait a second.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Two problems:
Yes, it is a 'slight leap', if you take the long view. But things like this are seldom done all at once...they are usually introduced by degrees. Give the populace long enough to get used to an idea, and you can sell them almost anything.
Re:wait a second.... (Score:3, Insightful)
whereas the article in the /. story discusses the CEO of the chip company who wants to implant chips in people.
Implanting chips in people != implanting chips in visas, even if you have to carry the visa (tinfoil, anyone?)
Now think for a second. (Score:2)
Now we are talking about a company that makes RFID chips. What are RFID chips and what do they do? Are they like a bar code that is used to track products in a store? Or are they like the serial number tattoos that the Nazis used to track people and process them appropriately?
Re:wait a second.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:wait a second.... (Score:2)
Hang on, you forgot some:
It's not such a simple equation (Score:3, Insightful)
If this company bribes the right politicians, and promises some kind of benefit to a given congressman's state, then it WILL happen.
Provided the congresscritter believes the public won't get too freaked out by the results. The folks in Congress are still elected. Also, there are plenty of other private interests that are likely opposed to RFID tagging of immigrants. After all, business lobbies are already putting up a fight [washingtonpost.com] against more restrictive immigration controls.
For every private interest or pu
Re:wait a second.... (Score:2)
However, this is being flipped out from the company, because the republicans do not want to be the first to suggest it. Keep in mind, that shortly after GWB pushed his immigration policy with high-tech ID, it was quickly seen that it would not work unless everybody had it. Of course, within 5 days, a number of Republicans were pushing just that. IOW, GWB's push is to get us IDed (and possibly chippe
Holy cow (Score:2)
Re:Holy cow (Score:2)
You guys came up with tracking every single car in your country through omnipresent mass surveillance and automatic license plate readers with data saved in a single central database all on your own. You guys are also leading the way on RFID license plate to aid in tracking drivers.. and America is looking to see how those experiments go before
Re:Holy cow (Score:2)
The head INS agent/bad guy in the movie thought that they should make the mexican border an invisible fence.
Every time the catch an illegal immigrant, they put a coller on him and send him back home. Then when he tries to cross over again, he gets fried as the invisible fence causes the collar to electrocute him.
Funny stuff. This seems about as possible.
Re:Holy cow (Score:2)
This kind of thing always seems a bit far-fetched in sci-fi movies, let alone modern-day America.
This reminds me of that cringe-worthy scene in Total Recall [imdb.com] where Douglas Quaid sticks a set of pincers up his nostril and pulls out a glowing ping-pong ball sized tracking device, on advice from a video of himself running in his open briefcase.
Did they learn nothing from Guantanamo Bay? (Score:5, Insightful)
Can this be more obvious?
Re:Did they learn nothing from Guantanamo Bay? (Score:5, Insightful)
I fear that that's exactly the point they will be making. "Hey, we've been chipping immigrants for a while, and the program has yielded great benefits! The technology is proven, there's no reason we shouldn't have every U.S. citizen chipped!"
All entirely voluntary, of course...with the tacit understanding that anyone who refuses obviously has something to hide, and immediately becomes a 'terror suspect'...
Re:Did they learn nothing from Guantanamo Bay? (Score:2)
If human rights are in the way, you lobby to affect people perceived has having "fewer rights." Whether they be prisoners, foreigners or former-pedophiles doesn't matter so long as public perception is against them.
Two hundred years ag
Re:Did they learn nothing from Guantanamo Bay? (Score:2)
If it's not O.K. to do something to the people of one's country, it's inappropriate to do it to foreigners.
Considering everyone that was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay is still there, with no hope or plans for actual trials, I'd say "they" haven't learned anything and show no signs of ever doing so.
Re:Did they learn nothing from Guantanamo Bay? (Score:2)
Guantanamo bay has nothing to do with it. Also, it IS ok for the American government to do what they want to foreign fighters in a time of war. Especially ones that don't fight by the geneva convention. Use your common sense here, would you fight by the rules of boxing if you were in a street fight and the other guy were choking you?
As for chipping innocent illegals, or anyone for that matter, it's a no go. Chipping enemies in a time of war might not be a bad
Re:Did they learn nothing from Guantanamo Bay? (Score:5, Insightful)
That breaks my brain. Once you make that leap, then *everyone* is your enemy and you grab a gun and just start shooting until there's nobody left, to keep yourself safe.
Which, basically, is what the USA is doing in the world at large. There are lots of people who don't see a problem with this, maybe even a majority of Americans.
What the FUCK? (Score:5, Insightful)
Um, um, what? Just a marketing ploy? Just looking to get more market share?
In other news, The Burger King Corporation has finished constructing it's first run of biomechanical overlord drones. These drones have been shown to be capable of both mind control and world domination. Market Analysts see this as a ploy to increase the Whopper's market share, as the Big Mac has rapidly been gaining popularity.
Business as usual (Score:4, Interesting)
All they had to find was the lowest rung on the ladder of american society.
Surprised they didn't go with pedophiles TBH. It's probably because they were already on with the immigrant thing.
all this will accomplish (Score:2)
what then? have drone aircraft flying the border strafing illegals with RFID bullets from a machinegun?
How does this solve the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Obscene violation of human rights: Check
Increased power given to government: Check
Does not help solve any real problem: Check
Sounds like another winner from the people that brought you the Real ID Card and Airline Profiling.
Re:How does this solve the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
What it comes down to is this - lack of a tag proves nothing. If you were to tag all US citizens and require the tags for any employment/social services/school/whatever, then lack of a tag would mean something. But if it comes
Slippery Slope (Score:5, Insightful)
All right, I'm taking off my tinfoil hat now, but this is still a bad idea.
Chipping People -- any people -- is a BAD idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone apologized on this page for mis-quoting Niemöller but the principle is the same. Chipping people in exchange for the right to work is to succumb to a significant component of was obviously wrong with society in the movie, Gattaca [imdb.com].
Someone, please, shut VeriChip up before the really repressive countries in the world get hold of their technology and decide that it's just one more tool to manage what woul
This is what happens if you put COWBOYS to office (Score:3, Funny)
Natural, as all they know about the outside world can be summarized as ; 'cows'
Americans. Stand up. It is your freedom on the line next.
Re:This is what happens if you put COWBOYS to offi (Score:2)
Clearly we should have elected the pirates [piratpartiet.se] instead.
Re:This is what happens if you put COWBOYS to offi (Score:2)
Re:This is what happens if you put COWBOYS to offi (Score:2, Insightful)
It is a never-ending amazement how shallow the line of reasoning of some people is. Some company is trying to sell RFID chips, proposes a possible use, and now it's time to take up arms against our cowboy president. The real danger to America is people who can't think 5 seconds beyond their blind political agenda.
To be completely honest... (Score:2)
I'm not so much on the guest / immigrant worker part of this, but chipping a pedophile isn't anywhere close to the same catagory.
Re:To be completely honest... (Score:2)
I'm not so much on the guest / immigrant worker part of this, but chipping a pedophile isn't anywhere close to the same catagory.
correct me if i'm wrong, but in some places in the US, a sex offender can be legally required to wear a monitering device (similar to a GPS transmitter). a RFID tag would not be a suitable replacement for this, as you would have to have RFID readers placed everywhere to be able to track it, as the things have pretty short rang
Not a privacy issue -- human RIGHTS issue! (Score:2)
Please excuse the expression but I'll have an RFID implantation over my dead body.
Hell, no! (Score:2)
I love my GF more than anything but if this becomes the case she should come up to Canada to live with me.
That said, of course, I seriously doubt this will come to pass, at least not in the next few years. I mean, the idea's coming from the CEO of an RFID manufacturer.
Re:Hell, no! (Score:2)
There's already moves to track pedophiles with GPS (Score:3, Interesting)
A few states have already begun tracking pedophiles via GPS - see this Fox News story [foxnews.com] about it.
FTFA -
"Many states are initiating programs that track registered sex offenders using Global Positioning Satellites, or GPS, sometimes for life. GPS can track the exact location of the offenders at all times, making it easier for law enforcement to ensure that they're abiding with the terms of their release.
It sounds like an efficient system: Authorities can keep track of dangerous sex offenders without having to keep them in prison at taxpayers' expense."
While I'm not defeding pedophiles (surely it's painted that way - "If you don't want GPS on pedos, then you're with them!"), where do we go next? GPS tracking for drug offenses? DUI? And what happens when people can track these GPS recievers? Scary stuff - what ever happened to paying your debt to society once you got out of jail?
Stealing Chips (Score:2, Interesting)
COOL (Score:2)
My one question is, why are these republicans not in hurry to get ID and RFID chips for themselves? After all, everybody in congress and the whitehouse should get one to get in and out, as well as give up their fingerprint and DNA to show us how it is done.
it's wrong. (Score:2)
Okay, with that said. Immigrants are still people. You don't just chip them and turn them into an object. They deserve humanity rights as well as any person on Earth.
Slippery slope? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, let's go ahead and tag immigrants. And pedophiles. And murderers. And rapists. Any got a problem with that? (I'm going to ignore the fact that pedphiles were the next logical step after immigrants for the time being...)
Ok, how about hackers? Jaywalkers? IP pirates? Yes, I know the whole "Slippery slope" argument is technically a fallacy, but when you're dealing with the government, it tends to be the norm. When has the gov't ever been happy with a limit on their power once a particular "right" is stripped away?
I think we all need to agree that nobody needs to be "tagged" for any reason. We have a right to have our identity hidden unless we have performed actions which forfeit this right. You have the right to refuse to show identification to a law enforcement officer if they do not have probable cause. (Before I get lots of cries of foul, Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Court of Nev. still requires "suspicious activity") All that goes out the window though if all an officer has to do is wave a wand at you.
Re:Slippery slope? (Score:4, Informative)
What if I say that implementing a law that allows police to use lethal force when dealing with terrorists is a slippery slope as it would make future laws allowing police to use lethal force in other situations more likely? As long as you accept that the enactment of the first law makes the others more likely, which in this case we do because it softens public resistance to them, the argument holds.
What's good for the goose ... (Score:4, Insightful)
I propose that we enact legislation to track all politicians who hold governmental offices. That way we can make sure that they aren't up to no good.
Slimy Politician: This new energy policy was not influenced by the oil industry.
Citizen/Reporter: Then why does your location log indicate you visited the major oil companies' headquarters while preparing the legislation?
Slimy Politician: Umm...
Re:What's good for the goose ... (Score:3, Funny)
Immigrants: NO, Pedophiles: YES (Score:2)
Pedophiles, on the other hand, deserve little more than a bullet in the head. I say "yes" to tracking those twisted freaks.
Don't chip "the people" (Score:2, Insightful)
What we should do is chip our politicians. I think constituents shoud be able to see where they are and what they are doing during their "hours of operation".
--
Music should be free [myspace.com]
that is just gross (Score:2, Insightful)
Any one with half a brain and half a reason would just have the thing removed anyway. All this will do is treat regular people with indigni
What crap (Score:2)
In order to find and track illegal immigrants with RFID chips, we would have to chip everyone else, from birth. Which will be the next proposal, or the one after that.
And then it just might be time to stand a few politicians against the wall.
Verichip (Score:2)
If I were President... (Score:2)
Lets ask Silverman about to look up "Dignity." (Score:2)
Well, Goodness, it IS still in the dictionary. And not just the PETA dictionary, it's in the real life HUMANS dictionary. In case he's reading, I'll make it easy for him.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dignity [reference.com]
Sounds great! (Score:2)
One vote: No. Buh-bye. (Score:5, Insightful)
No. I, for one, would be leaving.
Granted, I am here as a spouse of an American citizen and working simply because of that, not because I simply came for work.
We're in California because she was badly injured in a car accident and her injuries hurt her less in that climate (I know, another one of those selfish immigrants selfishly supporting your disabled citizens so they don't need to claim benefits - it shouldn't be allowed!). But, should any government expect to implant chips in my body, tattoo a series of numbers on my wrist or demand I wear a Star Of David, in the name of "administrative tracking", I'm sure as hell not staying. We gave that a shot in Europe back in the 30s and 40s - it wasn't too popular. Much as I'd hate putting my wife through the physical pain associated with what the British climate does to her injuries, America can do without a highly skilled and heavily in demand science worker. And then everyone who remains can post on Slashdot lamenting how, once all of those workers leave, America's strangely falling even further behind in the sciences.
I'm sorry but it's just not worth starting down that slippery slope to keep a job. I can earn just as well back in Europe and not go down that slope. Forgetting about my wife's specific case, the only people who'll really lose out are the American citizens whose country continues to fall further behind (don't worry, I'm sure your president will authorize borrowing even more to make up for it). So, granted I don't speak for all immigrants (given I have blonde hair, blue eyes, white skin, and the ability to legally work anywhere in Europe which means most Americans don't think of me when justifying their racism in the name of immigration control) but I am at least one immigrant who'd happily sacrifice living in the states for avoiding a path with disturbing similarities to something the Nazi's (with the help of another U.S. business, IBM, tried back in the 40's).
And, yes, this was just one long post to repeatedly hammer home on Slashdot that I have a wife. Some guys'll do anything to show off.
and what point would this serve? (Score:2)
Ill ask the question apparently no one else bothered to ask in this proposal.
What is the point? what purpose will it serve.
None, thats exactly what I thought.
OMG PONIES!!!!1!~!!one (Score:4, Funny)
Technical Problems, RFID != GPS (Score:3, Insightful)
Therefore, all this does is attempt to solve an already solved simple problem (identification papers) in an overly complex and expensive way.
Also, people do not seem to understand the difference between GPS, active transponders, and RFID. Embarrassingly, even IBM doesn't have a clue even though it wants to sell RFID solutions. I cite a commercial where a truck is notified it is off course in the middle of a desert as an advertisement for RFID solutions.
Re:How 'bout a leash, bob? (Score:2)
Well, if it was bush or someone in the administration proposing tis, your incoherant rant might almost have a little bit of substance.
But seeing as it is the guy who makes these things, VeriChip Corporation chairman Scott Silverman, ya think he might just be looking for some more market share?