Jul. 31--President Bush's former health secretary Tommy Thompson is putting the final touches to a plan that could result in US citizens having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip inserted under their skin, The Business has learned.
The RFID capsules would be linked to a computerised database being created by the US Department of Health to store and manage the nation's health records. It could be the precursor to a similar scheme in the UK.
The president's budget for 2006 continues to support the use of health information technology by increasing funding to $125m (�70m, E103m) for pilot schemes.
Thompson, now a director of Applied Digital Solutions, the company that makes the chips, intends to publish the proposal in the next 50 days, by which time he plans to have had a VeriChip inserted in his arm. Thompson believes the capsules could help save thousands of lives every year.
VeriChip spokesman John Procter says around 98,000 people die needlessly in the US every year after being given inappropriate treatment because their medical history was not available.
"There is a vast range of people who could benefit from having an RFID chip inserted under their skin as insurance against an accident. People with adverse reactions to certain medicines such as penicillin, people with pacemakers, people with allergies, people with weak hearts, would be made safer by a process that costs around $200 per person. In fact, virtually everyone could benefit from having a chip inserted."
The company intends to lobby the UK health authorities to inject the chips into British patients.
According to Procter, the chips can also be used for financial transactions. In Europe, the Baja Beach Club chain has introduced chipping in the Netherlands and Spain.
The VeriChip is inserted at the club and means club-goers will no longer have to wait in line to pay to get in and will be able to use the chip to pay their bar bill.
Civil liberties groups such as Caspian in the US fear that the need for increased security in the wake of terrorist attacks could act as a catalyst for a more widespread use of VeriChips.
Anyone who knows me knows I love tech. I love cybernetics. I see good ways to use implant-chips like this. But, see problem here. It's set to broadcast. And it would be in every American. Not getting it yet? Okay, here it is.
Anyone knowing the frequency can point a receiver at group and know if an American is in it. There are sufficient numbers of dangerous fucks with firepower and a desire to make headlines by killing/kidnapping Americans. And as Defcon in Vegas showed, you can pick RFID's from quite a distance.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
I see a good business in EMP doorframes that fry the crap out of these little digital lampreys every time you walk through your front door.
Off to the patent office .....
[img=right]http://www.tallguyz.com/imagelib/chmeesig.jpg[/img]My guess might be excellent or it might be crummy, but
Mrs. Spade didn't raise any children dippy enough to
make guesses in front of a district attorney,
an assistant district attorney, and a stenographer.
Sam Spade, "The Maltese Falcon" Operation Freedom Fry
There was a big kaffufle with this in the newspapers in uk a few months ago. I seem to recall the government coming out and saying that you can barely read this things from more than a foot away.
Member of the Unremarkables Just because you're god, it doesn't mean you can treat people that way : - My girlfriend Evil Brit Conspiracy - Insignificant guy
Fuck that bullshit, no one is inserting a chip in me. I'll insert mine in them first.
I don't know what sparks in people's minds, but I for one am not a fan of having anything implanted in my body, especially if it sends out a signal. And especially if it is government mandated. I didn't fight for this.
And you can't just do this with a fingerprint/DNA(feel free to slap me down if that one's unrealistic) DB or some such... why exactly? This seems needlessly expensive and cumbersome for the objective.
"Peace on Earth and goodwill towards men? We are the United States Goverment - we don't DO that sort of thing!" - Sneakers. Best. Quote. EVER.
Periodic Pwnage Pantry:
"Faith? Isn't that another term for ignorance?" - Gregory House
"Isn't it interesting... religious behaviour is so close to being crazy that we can't tell them apart?" - Gregory House
"This is usually the part where people start screaming." - Gabriel Sylar
Faqa wrote:And you can't just do this with a fingerprint/DNA(feel free to slap me down if that one's unrealistic) DB or some such... why exactly? This seems needlessly expensive and cumbersome for the objective.
I see masses of people refusing to get these implanted for everything from security reasons, religious reasons, realy good reasons. And Smart reasons
How shit easy would it be for the insurgancy if every Soilder was broadcasting a come and get me signal?
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
Faqa wrote:And you can't just do this with a fingerprint/DNA(feel free to slap me down if that one's unrealistic) DB or some such... why exactly? This seems needlessly expensive and cumbersome for the objective.
The former actually has life-saving use, since you could instantly tell the amount of people in a burning building or some such.... but come. the. fuck. on.
WHY is this being pushed at all? The obvious thought is just any subterfuge to get these things in place.... but why? Either the goverment made a REALLY big graft deal with a few companies for advertising rights.... or the Black Helicopters DO run the goverment.
Neither strikes me as particularly likely.
"Peace on Earth and goodwill towards men? We are the United States Goverment - we don't DO that sort of thing!" - Sneakers. Best. Quote. EVER.
Periodic Pwnage Pantry:
"Faith? Isn't that another term for ignorance?" - Gregory House
"Isn't it interesting... religious behaviour is so close to being crazy that we can't tell them apart?" - Gregory House
"This is usually the part where people start screaming." - Gabriel Sylar
Libertarian: "It's a gross and pernicious invasion of privacy and security, not to mention a total waste of taxpayer funds! How is this going to stop terrorists again?"
Fundy: "zOMG! THE MARK OF THE BEAST! THE RAPTURE IS COMING! *thinks* oh wait, the Rapture is a Good Thing™..."
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Fundy: "zOMG! THE MARK OF THE BEAST! THE RAPTURE IS COMING! *thinks* oh wait, the Rapture is a Good Thing™..."
Bush: "Do it."
Actually, I have the slightest feeling any mainline (especially protestant) religous leader who said "it's alright! We'll get raptured" would immediately be quickly shut up.
Zac Naloen wrote:There was a big kaffufle with this in the newspapers in uk a few months ago. I seem to recall the government coming out and saying that you can barely read this things from more than a foot away.
Recently disproven by the Fed/Hacker convention in Vegas. They were picking folks up from the roof.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
Doesn't shit like this violate constitutional rights six ways til sunday? I can't imagine this asstard actually squeaking his moronic idea past any intelligent decision makers.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
As if I needed yet another reason never to set foot in the United States...
"Stop! No one can survive these deadly rays!"
"These deadly rays will be your death!"
- Thor and Akton, Starcrash
"Before man reaches the moon your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to England, to India or to Australia by guided missiles.... We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."
- Arthur Summerfield, US Postmaster General 1953 - 1961
The chip itself isn't a bad idea, it's where they want to put it. Are they claiming it's impossible to put one of these in a ring, or a tag you can wear around your neck, or a bracelet, or sewn into your shoes, or a card in your wallet? Even if the thing was 100% benign and there was no way anyone could ever misuse it and magical fairies came to ensure the government never used them as tracking devices, people who might have their lives saved by a chip that tells paramedics "I'm a diabetic" or "If you give me pennicillin, I'll swell up and die" will die needlessly because they'll refuse to have a damn chip implanted in them.
Jesus Christ, what's the matter with these people?
Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves…We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.--Ada Louise Huxtable, "Farewell to Penn Station", New York Times editorial, 30 October 1963 X-Ray Blues
Another thriving business -- metal-weave fabrics that block the signal completely ...
[img=right]http://www.tallguyz.com/imagelib/chmeesig.jpg[/img]My guess might be excellent or it might be crummy, but
Mrs. Spade didn't raise any children dippy enough to
make guesses in front of a district attorney,
an assistant district attorney, and a stenographer.
Sam Spade, "The Maltese Falcon" Operation Freedom Fry
Remeber, no matter what security measures a government can create the citizenry can defeat it. EMPs, lead clothing, whatever. Even if they somehow made it manditory to have these implanted in everyone, people would find ways to block their signals or destroy the chips.
That being said, I still ain't letting them put one in me
I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. ~Marcus Cole, Babylon 5
The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask "why not?" ~John F Kennedy Jr, 1963
RedImperator wrote:The chip itself isn't a bad idea
Actually, the chip itself is a bad idea.
Because once you have a broadcasting RFID device, anyone with a reader can scan it. Which means that as soon as the encryption key (if foresight prevails and one is used at all) is broken, anyone can find out your personal information without your consent.
This was a problem when our last lovely benign Home Secretary proposed an RFID chip on that fucking ID card.
Revelations 13: 16-17 wrote:Also the Beast causes all, bot small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
And that's just ONE reasone why I won't get it. I'll take the wallet-card, thanks.
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
RedImperator wrote:The chip itself isn't a bad idea
Actually, the chip itself is a bad idea.
Because once you have a broadcasting RFID device, anyone with a reader can scan it. Which means that as soon as the encryption key (if foresight prevails and one is used at all) is broken, anyone can find out your personal information without your consent.
This was a problem when our last lovely benign Home Secretary proposed an RFID chip on that fucking ID card.
Oh please, the chip doesn't broadcast for more than a foot, and it doesn't need to have your personal information on it. All it needs is you blood type, medical allergies, disease history, etc. Such a chip doesn't even need to have your name on it.
You know, what I wouldn't mind is if a passive chip was installed somewhere under my skin. That could be quiried at point blank range and responds with a small data object. Which contains some key data about the persons medical status. Like any critical medical problems such as epilepsy or hemophilia or something.
WITHOUT any personal information such as a name, address or so on, which could be used for more specific identification purposes. Military personal could simply have the chips removed or data simply duplicating that on dog tags put inside instead. The critical thing here is that it is NOT active. It can be 'pinged' at a distance of a few centimeters, but thats it.
