This makes me sick to think that people are willing to do this to themselves. WHY?????

Chips: High-tech aids or tools for Big Brother?

Debate rages over proliferation of ever-more-precise tracking technologies

Demonstrators prepare to march against microchip implants planned for Alzheimer's patients, in front of the Alzheimer's Community Care Headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla. March organizer Katherine Albrecht, left, said a prayer before starting the march.

chips were implanted in livestock, fish, pets, even racehorses.

books, passports and, unbeknownst to many consumers, on a host of individual items at Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

But CityWatcher.com employees weren’t appliances or pets: They were people, made scannable.

“It was scary that a government contractor that specialized in putting surveillance cameras on city streets was the first to incorporate this technology in the workplace,” says Liz McIntyre, co-author of “Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID.”

Darks, the CityWatcher.com executive, said his employees volunteered to be chipped. “You would think that we were going around putting chips in people by force,” he told a reporter, “and that’s not the case at all.”

Yet, within days of the company’s announcement, civil libertarians and Christian conservatives joined to excoriate the microchip’s implantation in people.

“Ultimately,” says Katherine Albrecht, a privacy advocate who specializes in consumer education and RFID technology, “the fear is that the government or your employer might someday say, ’Take a chip or starve.”’

Some critics saw the implants as the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy that describes an age of evil in which humans are forced to take the “Mark of the Beast” on their bodies, to buy or sell anything. Others saw it as a big step toward the creation of a Big-Brother society.

'Surveillance society'

“We’re really on the verge of creating a surveillance society in America, where every movement, every action — some would even claim, our very thoughts — will be tracked, monitored, recorded and correlated,” says Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Program at the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C.

In design, the tag is simple: A medical-grade glass capsule holds a silicon computer chip, a copper antenna and a “capacitor” that transmits data stored on the chip when prompted by an electromagnetic reader.

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Implantations are quick, relatively simple procedures. After a local anesthetic is administered, a large-gauge, hypodermic needle injects the chip under the skin on the back of the arm, midway between the elbow and the shoulder.

John Halamka, an emergency physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston got chipped two years ago, “so that if I was ever in an accident, and arrived unconscious or incoherent at an emergency ward, doctors could identify me and access my medical history quickly.” (A chipped person’s medical profile can be continuously updated, since the information is stored on a database accessed via the Internet.)

Admittedly, I didn't real the whole above story, but the idea of chipping Alzheimer's patients doesn't seem like all that bad of an idea to me. In a severe case of not knowing who/where you are, you could be identified and brought back to where you belong...

I don't think that it's all that bad of an idea, either.

I think it is a horrible idea. Not only is it going to start at Alzheimers patients, but will end up going to everyone born in a hospital. I could do without the government knowing where I am at every given moment and being scanned when I go into a store. It is insane and an infringement of my rights. This is going to go way beyond the alzheimer patient, maybe not in my lifetime, but it will.

I admit that I had mixed feelings when I read this story. There are certain categories of comparatively vulnerable people who may go missing: Alzheimer patients are one, young children are another (presumably these chips are removable when children become older).

Until recently I was inclined to feel that honest people would had nothing much to fear from the beefed up surveillance techniques mentioned in this article (and it is certain that chipping humans would only be taking this activity to the next creepy level) and might indeed have much to gain; I was dim enough to figure that we could have the benefit of being protected from those individuals or groups who are intent upon harming us. Fewer muggings, thefts, car-jackings, murders, I thought. Less street crime. Less drug dealing. And life would be much more difficult for any would-be terrorist.

But having observed the erosion of civil liberties in the United States post 9/11 I realise that surveillance techniques, no matter how well-intentioned the concept of their use may be, do hold the possibility of being misused at a future time. A good democracy might run into difficulties at some future point and it is important that we citizens are able to maintain our privacy. This is because some of our activities which are currently viewed as being innocent might be viewed as seditious or criminal at a future date.

Yes, it is the taking away of our privacy that will be the issue here, and it will come to that at some time.

My grandma had alzheimers, the meds they gave her basically put her to sleep for a decade. A chip may have been a better device, also depends on the severity of the disease. Some of these people just take off screaming down the street then what do you do? Give um meds and make them sleep until they die I guess. There is no easy answer...

I admit that I had mixed feelings when I read this story. There are certain categories of comparatively vulnerable people who may go missing: Alzheimer patients are one, young children are another (presumably these chips are removable when children become older).

Until recently I was inclined to feel that honest people would had nothing much to fear from the beefed up surveillance techniques mentioned in this article (and it is certain that chipping humans would only be taking this activity to the next creepy level) and might indeed have much to gain; I was dim enough to figure that we could have the benefit of being protected from those individuals or groups who are intent upon harming us. Fewer muggings, thefts, car-jackings, murders, I thought. Less street crime. Less drug dealing. And life would be much more difficult for any would-be terrorist.

But having observed the erosion of civil liberties in the United States post 9/11 I realise that surveillance techniques, no matter how well-intentioned the concept of their use may be, do hold the possibility of being misused at a future time. A good democracy might run into difficulties at some future point and it is important that we citizens are able to maintain our privacy. This is because some of our activities which are currently viewed as being innocent might be viewed as seditious or criminal at a future date.

:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:

Perfectly said! I totally agree.

I must say I kind of like the idea. If a child goes missing or a murderer is on the run it could be life saving. On the other hand it does take away ones freedom in a sense.

Considering that I often don't remember why I'm leaving one room to walk into another room and I'm only 41...maybe being microchipped doesn't sound all that far-fetched to me at all!

I think the appropriateness of using this technology would depend on what information was encoded on the chip. Would it say something like "If found wandering aimlessly, please return this individual to the nearest hospital or police station" kind of like a video store card I used to have that said to drop the card in the nearest mailbox if it's lost (it listed the store's address).

I could definitely see the usefulness of having a microchip implanted if a hospital needed critical medical information about you in an emergency (debilitating stroke, heart attack, accident, seizure, etc. that rendered you unable to communicate). The medications you take, any allergies you have, and your blood type could be included. Your living will or permission to donate organs could also be encoded so there is no doubt about your views of being placed on machinery to keep you alive or whether or not you want to donate your organs. If you don't want to be resuscitated, your organs could be used more quickly to help more people survive. If you do want to be resuscitated, the hospital staff would know that right away.

The other issue to consider is how access to the microchip would be handled to ensure that your privacy was protected. What safeguards would be put into place to prevent any Tom, Dick, or Harry from accessing your medical data? I probably wouldn't want to put my Social Security number on the chip or anything like that.

As a teacher, it would be admittedly kind of cool to be able to scan all the little darling children to make sure I didn't lose any students on a field trip. LOL! Seriously, it would be helpful to those who work with the really young kids in daycare centers.

As with anything in our world today, being able to prevent all abuses is probably impossible. For every good use of a technology, there always seem to be scores of people trying to use it for nefarious purposes, such as:

Videotapes/VCRs and DVDs/DVD-Rs--movie piracy, peeping toms, and the porn industry

Music CDs/MP3s, etc.--music piracy

The Internet--cyberstalkers, pedophiles, spammers, finanacial scams, identity theft, etc.

GPS--more stalkers

Guns used to commit crimes, the abuse of prescription drugs, publishing programs used for counterfeiting...the list could go on and on!

It's an interesting innovation to debate, that's for sure!

Hmmm...to chip or not to chip? That is the question! :help:

Actually an awesome idea for people with Alzheimer's. Can I get one for my keys? And purse? And maybe one for my husband's pager?

I have mixed emotions about this. It's a good tool, but it can also be easily misused. To complicate matters for me, my brother is one of the key leaders in the development of RFID. If you google "Chris Diorio RFID" you can see who he is.

I think that this is a double edged sword. I can see the practicle applications for this, but as in every other thing you have to wonder where it would end.

There has been a lot of debate in the UK over the use of DNA databases, it was origionally started for people taken into custody which falls in with the 'if you arent going to be guilty of anything....' theory but recently there have been reports of kids as young as 6 having their DNA taken against the parents wishes.

It reminds me of what happened when the Life Insurance companies found out about the genetic testing for some diseases and started demanding to see the results, someone will always come up with a way of abusing these sorts of things.

Nina x

while i'm not sure if i agree with chipping everyone, i might MIGHT consider getting one to store medical info. i'm severely allergic to iodine and worry about getting in an accident or something and the medics and mds using it. i can't wear a bracelet because of my job so a chip would be an ok thing. but i don't think i'd do it since we don't have alot of info on long term effects in humans. recently i read an article about chips causing cancerous growths in pets. so until they find a way to stop the growth of...growths i'll be remaining chip free.