VeriChip Implants 222 People With RFID 306
cnet-declan writes "Anyone remember VeriChip, a company that came up with the idea of implanting chips in humans for tracking them? They've been behind ideas like RFID tagging immigrant and guest workers at the border, and they've persuaded a former Bush Health Secretary to get himself chipped. In this CNET News.com article, we offer an update on how successful the idea has been. It turns out that, according to IPO documents, 222 people have been implanted, with sales revenue of $100,000."
Re:Fancy that (Score:2, Interesting)
Are they trying to bring about The End? (Score:1, Interesting)
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
To do list for the tech community (Score:2, Interesting)
2)Develop 3rd party hardware and a web application that integrates w/ the google maps api to pin-point where such a person is.
3)Create a web page called Tommy Thompson Watch that shows exactly where in the world Tommy Thompson is at any given minute! At the very least, Tommy's wife might use the site. Hell, I would... Tommy's a sexy for an old man.
Re:I would leave FAST (Score:5, Interesting)
Note that voting [and some similar stuff] is a right only of citizens (as prescribed by law). So the law still applies to me, and bars me from voting because I'm not a citizen [etc].
So if I entered the USA and then they decided to chip me they would be violating my constitutional rights to, among other things, the 4th amendment.
The minute they toy with their own rules against foreigners they can expect retaliations around the world. Which is why, aside from the ban on habeas corpus, they don't really infringe the rights of legitimate visitors.
That being said, I've never been questioned by the police in the USA. The only time I've had to talk to any law related folk outside of the border was a border patrol in upper state new york (re: budget exercise).
Tom
Upgrades (Score:3, Interesting)
Have we learned nothing from 20 years of consumer electronic devices?
Re:I would leave FAST (Score:5, Interesting)
The medical benefits of EMTs being able to instantly know a person's blood type, allergies, and medical history are obvious.
What isn't obvious is why people think short-range RFID is the same as battery-powered wild animal tracking collars. Are they just stupid? Look at the way RFID works. A person CAN NOT use it to track someone as they walk around a city. A device capable of generating the power to operate these over more than a very short distance would be very obvious to spot and would probably break every PDA and wrist-watch in the area. Also, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to survey a large number of RFID devices at the same time because of the way collisions are handled.
If you are afraid of this yet you carry a cellphone, you are a hypocrite. For practical purposes, small* RFID tags are a slightly-longer-range barcode.
*I realize that large tags can be read from greater distances. But that's not what we are talking about here.
Re:I would leave FAST (Score:3, Interesting)
>The medical benefits of EMTs being able to instantly know a person's blood type, allergies, and medical history are obvious.
Can a person with an RFID implant get an MRI?
"Beep-Beep"? It must be Earth humor! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What the hell (Score:1, Interesting)
As for removing them a friend of mine had hers removed. It's just a small cut with a sterilized knife and some tweezers and it's out. No big deal.
Re:People please... (Score:4, Interesting)
While I appreciate your plea for the safety of children and appeal to the terrorism boogeyman, both of which are highly effective ways to turn a discussion into an argument and villify your opponent, the type of RFID chip used by this company (almost certainly a one meter-range passive one, as opposed to a battery-powered active chip) would not have been helpful in saving people from terrorists or child molesters. When people talk about being "tracked" by RFID tags, they don't mean that Jack Bauer will have some unobtanium-powered device with which he pinpoints your exact location, but rather that, in a hypothetical world where you need RFID tags to make purchases and enter establishments, the FBI will be able to say, "Oh look, he went to Macy's at 12:00." That is, unless terrorists are stupid enough to take their victims to McDonald's (some child abductors probably ARE stupid enough, now that I think about it).
Re:Fancy that (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, that's one hella unwieldy composite primary key, and still not guaranteed to be 100% unique! Actually, that would apply were it not for DNA, which I think probably is primary key-like in humans.