I heard of this while watching the 700 Club (I watch everything); it will be featured within the next 24 hours. Regular watchers, please keep an eye open and alert when it will be broadcast. Pat Robertson said "sounds like shades of big brother and revelations".

I first heard about this in October in relation to tracking bulk drug lots from manufacturer to wholesaler to pharmacy, but this is the first I've read about the subcutanious implantability.

===================================

http://www.4verichip.com/nws_10132004FDA.htm

October 13th 2004

FDA CLEARS VERICHIP™ FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

DELRAY BEACH , FL and So. ST. PAUL, MN -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: ADSX), a provider of Security Through Innovation™ and Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX:DOC) announced today that VeriChip™, the world’s first implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip for human use, has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical uses in the United States. The FDA clearance follows the completion of a de novo application review.

The Company will hold a conference call today at 10:30 am eastern time in order to discuss the FDA’s decision, Company’s marketing strategy and medical applications for VeriChip. Interested participants should dial (800) 472-8309. The conference ID is 1531948. The call will also be webcast and will be available on the Home Page of Applied Digital’s web site at www.adsx.com.

As previously disclosed, the FDA response is the result of the Company’s 510(k) application and subsequent de novo application for the medical and healthcare uses of VeriChip, originally submitted in October 2003. Digital Angel Corporation is the manufacturer of VeriChip and has licensed the technology to VeriChip Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital, for human applications.

The VeriChip Health Information Microtransponder System consists of an implantable RFID microtransponder, an inserter, a proprietary hand-held scanner, and secure database containing the patient approved healthcare information. About the size of a grain of rice, VeriChip is a subdermal radio frequency microchip. Once inserted under the skin in a brief outpatient procedure, the VeriChip cannot be seen by the human eye. Each VeriChip contains a unique 16-digit verification number that is captured by briefly passing a proprietary scanner over the insertion site. The captured 16 digit number links to the database via encrypted Internet access. The previously stored information is then conveyed via the internet to the registered requesting healthcare provider.
About VeriChip™

VeriChip is a subdermal RFID device that can be used in a variety of security, financial, emergency identification and other applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip product contains a unique verification number that is captured by briefly passing a proprietary scanner over the VeriChip. The recommended location of the microchip is in the triceps area between the elbow and the shoulder of the right arm. The brief outpatient “chipping” procedure lasts just a few minutes and involves only local anesthetic followed by quick, painless insertion of the VeriChip. Once inserted just under the skin, the VeriChip is inconspicuous to the naked eye. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the verification number. In October 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared VeriChip for medical applications in the United States. VeriChip is not an FDA-regulated device with regard to its security, financial, personal identification/safety applications. VeriChip Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital develops innovative security products for consumer, commercial, and government sectors worldwide. Our unique and often proprietary products provide security for people, animals, the food supply, government/military arena, and commercial assets. Included in this diversified product line are RFID applications, end-to-end food safety systems, GPS/Satellite communications, and telecomm and security infrastructure, positioning Applied Digital as the leader of Security Through Innovation™. Applied Digital is the owner of a majority position in Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX: DOC). For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.adsx.com.

About Digital Angel Corporation

Digital Angel Corporation develops and deploys sensor and communications technologies that enable rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets. Applications for the Company's products include identification and monitoring of pets, fish, livestock, and humans through its patented implantable microchips; location tracking and message monitoring of vehicles and aircraft in remote locations through systems that integrate GPS and geosynchronous satellite communications; and monitoring of asset conditions such as temperature and movement, through advanced miniature sensors.

For more information about Digital Angel, visit the company’s website at www.DigitalAngelCorp.com.

Statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.

Contact:
CEOcast, Inc. for Applied Digital Ken Sgro, 212-732-4300
ksgro@ceocast.com
Allen & Caron Inc. for Digital Angel Corporation
Investors: Mike Lucarelli, 1-212-691-8087,
m.lucarelli@allencaron.com ,
Media: Len Hall, 949-474-4300, len@allencaron.com


The solutions that combine the VeriChip device with Windows-based applications deliver the following:

Controlling access to Intellectual Property

Managing and tracking physical and intellectual assets

Providing physical access control solutions

Enabling innovative time and attendance systems

Providing automated data collection and monitoring platforms

What it does.
Source: http://www.4verichip.com/verichip.htm



VeriChip™ - There when you need it

The VeriChip miniaturized Radio Frequency Identifcation (RFID) Device is the core of all VeriChip applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip contains a unique verification number, which can be used to access a subscriber-supplied database providing personal related information. And unlike conventional forms of identification, VeriChip cannot be lost, stolen, misplaced or counterfeited.

Once implanted just under the skin, via a quick, painless outpatient procedure (much like getting a shot), the VeriChip can be scanned when necessary with a proprietary VeriChip scanner. A small amount of Radio Frequency Energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the individuals unique verification (VeriChipID) number. The VeriChip Subscriber Number then provides instant access to the Global VeriChip Subscriber (GVS) Registry - through secure, password protected web access to subscriber-supplied information. This data is maintained by state-of-the-art GVS Registry Operations Centers located in Riverside, California and Owings, Maryland.



Be the first on your block to get your RFID implant.
Source: http://www.4verichip.com/vericenters.htm

Florida
David Wulkan, MD
Surgical Associates of Palm Beach
670 Glades Road, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33431
561-395-2626

Michael Lusk, MD
NASA Neuroscience & Spine Associates
670 Goodlette Rd. North
Naples, FL 34102
239-732-6008

John Hruska, MD
Coastal Orthopedics
1696 S E Hillmore
Port St Lucie, FL 34592
772-335-5300

Harvey Kleiner, MD
The Family Health Place
8890 W Oakland Park Blvd
Sunrise, FL 33351
954-741-3304


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana (Metro New Orleans)
R. Vincent Kidd III, MD
The Urology Clinic of Tangipahoa, Inc.
2101 Robin Ave Suite 1
Hammond, LA 70403
985-542-1754


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maryland
Albert K. Lee, MD
8218 Wisconsin Ave, Suite 105
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-652-3790


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York
Christopher Mills, MD and V. Scarpinato, MD
88 University Place
New York, New York 10003
646-486-0871



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Carolina
Thomas M. Leland, MD, PhD, PA
West Ashley Medical Center
2270 Ashley Crossing Drive
Charleston, SC 29414
843-556-2357

Thomas M. Leland, MD, PhD, PA
Brookgreen Town Center
730 Coleman Blvd., Unit J
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
843-881-2020


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas
George J. Atiee, MD
Castle Hills Family Practice
2108 NW Military Highway
San Antonio, Texas 78213
210-342-7300


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virginia
Csaba Magassy, MD
Plastic Surgery Associates
1300 Chain Bridge Road
McLean, VA 22101
703-790-5454

PITA - I'm speechless. The ramifications here are horrific. We need to whistle to the "Democracy is Dead crew on that thread to take a look at this. I was scratching my head at the comparison of the death of democracy with the reality of a gun. But this goes to.......I literally don't have the words to express myself about this. We need to keep this active and bumped. I'm going to go email it to
some friends and ask them to spread the word. :ph34r:

The following information opposes RFID technology for commercial applications until consumer-protection safeguards can be put in place.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/20/mo...id_chips_urged/

Moratorium on RFID chips urged
By John Leyden
Published Thursday 20th November 2003 15:15 GMT
A clutch of consumer, privacy, and civil liberties groups is calling for a voluntary moratorium on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging.

The 30 signatories to the petition are concerned about the privacy implications of RFID tags in consumer products.

Tiny RFID tags can be embedded in all kinds of consumer products and scanned from between two to three metres away, revealing information about the product and (potentially) its owner. Critics say the technology could reduce or eliminate purchasing anonymity and could even threaten civil liberties.

Tesco ended a tagging trial at a Cambridge store in August, 2003 following a consumer boycott.

The groups behind the petition are requesting a voluntary moratorium on RFID tagging of consumer items "until a formal technology assessment process involving all stakeholders, including consumers, can take place".

Signatories to the petition include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, Privacy International and UK think tank the Foundation for Information Policy Research.

The petition, to which further signatories are invited, can be found here. http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/RFIDposition.htm

Privacy Rights Clearing House
3100 - 5th Ave., Suite B
San Diego, CA 92103
Voice: (619) 298-3396
Fax: (619) 298-5681
Web: www.privacyrights.org
Contact Us:
www.privacyrights.org/inquiryform.html

http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/rig...-know-bill.html
AN ACT To require that commodities containing radio frequency identification tags bear labels stating that fact, to protect consumer privacy, and for other purposes.

Question: Why are US and world technology organizations against consumer applications, yet the US FDA allows the thing to be implanted into human beings?

===============================================

http://www.spychips.com/jointrfid_position_paper.html

Position Statement
on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products

November 14, 2003
Available at www.spychips.com and www.privacyrights.org
=================================

Issued by:

Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and numbering (CASPIAN)

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Junkbusters
Meyda Online
PrivacyActivism

Endorsed by:
American Council on Consumer Awareness, Inc.
Association Electronique Libre (AEL)
Austrian Association for Internet Users
Grayson Barber, First Amendment Attorney and Privacy Advocate
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
Citizens' Council on Health Care
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Consumer Action
Consumer Assistance Council
Consumer Project on Technology
Deutsche Vereinigung für Datenschutz e.V. (DVD)
Electronic Frontier Canada
Electronic Frontier Finland
Electronic Frontiers Australia
European Digital Rights
FoeBuD e.V., Big Brother Awards Germany
Forum Computer Professionals for Peace and Social Responsibility (FIfF)

Foundation for Information Policy Research
Simson Garfinkel, Author, Database Nation
Edward Hasbrouck, Author, The Practical Nomad
Kriptopolis
Liberty U.K.
Massachusetts Consumers' Coalition
National Association of Consumer Agency Associates (NACAA)
NoTags.co.uk
Option Consommateurs
Privacy International
Privacy Times
Private Citizen, Inc.
Privaterra
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Quintessenz
Statewatch
Virginia Rezmierski, Ph.D. Ann Arbor, Michigan
World Privacy Forum

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,77782,00.html

'We could monitor you anywhere on Earth'

VeriChip says its microchip implants could save your life if you're kidnapped or rushed to hospital. But would it spell an end to privacy?

By Lance Laytner

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Derek Jacobs is a chip off the old block in more ways than one.

Like his father - and his mother - he's had a microchip the size of a rice grain embedded in his arm for two years.

Hailed as the world's first microchipped family, the Jacobs believe the technology that currently allows lost dogs to be returned to their rightful owners could revolutionise the way we live in the near future.

'Eventually, you will be able to control your computer just by thinking about it,' he said.

'Who knows what computers will be able to do in 25 years?'

Derek, a child prodigy who qualified as a Microsoft engineer at 12, convinced his parents and the company behind the technology, VeriChip Corporation, to use his family as high-tech guinea pigs when he was 14.

He called the company every day for weeks until someone would take his novel idea seriously.

When they did, his family became walking advertisements for the technology, and had their chips implanted live on US television.

Derek's mother, Mrs Leslie Jacobs, 48, said: 'If we can pioneer a new technology that makes the world safer, it will be an honour.'

Father Jeff, 50, who suffers from cancer and bouts of temporary blindness, hopes the VeriChip can reform the medical system.

'When I go to an Emergency Room, I am often in agonising pain, but they want to ask questions.

'If they could just zap out all that information, it would make it all so much easier,' he said.

He hopes a microchip will one day be able to monitor his health, administer medicine when necessary, and even signal for help in an emergency.

'Instead of taking doses, the chip would release the drug just when you need it,' he said.

Mrs Jacobs hopes a future chip can make her life as a working mum easier - open doors as she approaches them with her arms laden with groceries, and function as a debit and credit card.

However, the Jacobs do have some reservations about the technology's potential uses.

'I fear government abuse, like involuntary implants, forcing people to register for various political affiliations, religions, even owning a gun,' said Mr Jacobs.

'It is up to the people to make sure that there are safeguards.'

Mrs Jacobs worries that people could be discriminated against in future because of the information contained in their chip.

'Imagine trying to walk into a shop and the door locks and a voice says, 'Sorry, you are overdrawn. Do not enter',' she said.

Following in the footsteps of the Jacobs are 160 government officials in Mexico who were chipped in order to control access to a new government facility. .

But their interest in the technology is not scientific.

They also hope it will enable rescuers to track them via global positioning system, or GPS, signals emitted by their chips if they are ever kidnapped.

Mexico's Attorney General, Mr Rafael Macedo de la Concha, is among the microhipped volunteers.

Mexico's kidnapping wave - the country's 3,000 abductions a year are second only to Colombia - has led VeriChip to partner with the National Foundation for the Investigation of Lost and Kidnapped Children.

So far, 1,000 Mexican citizens have voluntarily had chips implanted.

'We could monitor you anywhere on Earth,' said VeriChip Corporation president Keith Bolton, if the chip was coupled with a small GPS transmitter hidden in a watch or belt.

'We see a billion dollar market place in Latin American countries.'

The chips have another critical security use: Only officials with a VeriChip implant can access a new anti-crime database, which records each official accessing sensitive files - preventing corrupt officials from accessing and leaking the information for profit.

Until recently, the VeriChip had only been implanted in animals - over four million pets have been 'chipped'.

Explains Mr Bolton, 'Lost animals are scanned by veterinarians and their owner is called. It has become standard procedure.'

After the Sep 11 terrorist attacks, the company decided the world was ready to implant humans.

'We recognise we are vulnerable,' says Mr Bolton.

'After 9-ll the VeriChip doesn't seem so wild.

LIMITLESS APPLICATIONS

Mr Bolton says the human applications are limitless.

'It is safe and hidden in the body forever,' he said, and any kind of sensitive data could be stored.

A chip could contain your complete medical history, slashing time-consuming paperwork at hospitals. Or, it could function as a credit card or ID.

But the most immediate application is security.

'We're doing it there (Mexico) first because there are no regulations or privacy groups,' admitted Mr Bolton.

In countries with strict privacy laws, the tiny chip has sparked a big controversy.

'This just simply goes way too far outside the realm of what we believe in as a society,' said American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Randall Marshall.

Privacy campaigners fear it could be hijacked by criminals or terrorists to target victims for theft or assassination, steal from bank accounts or manipulate personal information.

Some religious leaders even fear the VeriChip is the 'Mark of the Beast' prophesied in the Bible.

But VeriChip claims there is one group screaming for the chip instead of against it - teenagers.

'A trend is growing that it's cool to get chipped,' said Mr Bolton.

'After our first announcement in 2001, over 2,000 kids e-mailed saying they were ready to be chipped.'

Said Mr Paul Saffo from the Institute for the Future: 'You've got a generation that's already piercing themselves. Of course kids are going to put electronics under their skin.'




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can you really control someone's brain

FILM-GOERS who caught The Manchurian Candidate recently watched in horror as the lead characters were turned into murderous puppets by secret implants.

What they didn't realise is that the inspiration for the remake of the 1962 Frank Sinatra-starring classic are techniques that are already on trial in laboratories.

A team at the State University of New York has been able to train rats to move on command by implanting chips in the area of the brain that controls the pleasure response.

Dr John K Chapin and Dr Sanjiv Talwar's device made the rats feel like their whiskers were being touched on the right or left side.

When the rat moved in the direction of the touch, the implant released a pleasure drug. The rats were soon trained to move on command.

In the The Manchurian Candidate, a similar implant in the brain of a US vice-presidential candidate makes him follow commands without question.

According to the two researchers, the movie is accurate in protraying what an implant in the pleasure centre of the brain would feel like.

'The few times it was tried with humans, they experienced intense euphoria and well-being,' said Dr Chapin.

'It is the same area of the brain stimulated by addictive drugs like cocaine.'

The scientists hope Robo-Rats can be used in future in search-and-rescue operations.

'Rats could be guided into places where humans or dogs could never go,' said Dr Chapin.

'And while it takes years to train dogs, rats are programmed and ready in days.'

The biggest hurdle is developing a transmitter small and light enough for a rat to wear in a mini-backpack.

If the technology were ever to be tried on humans, what is unknown is if thinking people would be able to resist electrical impulses better than animals, and whether reason would override commands like 'shoot the president'.

For the time being, we are probably safe from mind control killers as few, if any, brain surgeons can perform such an oepration. But the technology is advancing every day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How the chip implant works

THE VeriChip is a microchip whose length is of three grains of rice.

It is injected under the skin in a procedure known as chipping.


Encased in silicon to prevent rejection, the tiny pill-shaped device holds a microchip and antenna.

'Implanting takes about two minutes,' explains Mr Keith Bolton, president of VeriChip Corporation based in Delray Beach, Florida.

INSERTION

'The chip sits in the head of a needle.

'Inject the needle and the chip stays in the body right under the skin,' he explained.

The VeriChip lies dormant until it is scanned with a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader.

Then, it transmits its encrypted data.

The recommended location of the microchip is in the triceps area between the elbow and the shoulder of the right arm.

Once inserted just under the skin, the VeriChip is inconspicuous to the naked eye.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared VeriChip for medical applications in the US.

I will move to Canada before anyone puts a chip into any member of my family!

How extreme, outrageous, controlling, manipulating is this administration going to get???!!!

Will someone do me a favor and run this through Urban Legends or such? I put a lot of work into it last night, and it seems valid but incredible. Even Pat Robertson is onboard! Thanks.

this is actually, not all together bad news....

i'm not going to download 37 years of experience analyzing this perticular scenario...

but what i can tell you... if it is what i think i could be... and those in the know, know what i'm referring to....

give it 3 & 1/2 years and it'll be all over....

in other words, i'm not the least bit worried, there again... i've got my homework done on this one!

to those that aren't in the know, and are slightly religious (or not), take this one to heart...

"do not fret concerning the wicked, yet and a little while and they shall be no more, though you look diligently, you shall not find him" - psalm 37

i know i come off pretty critical of religion sometimes, my beef is not against warm hearted and wise souls of the past that wanted to make the world a better place... my problem are those parasites in society that think it's fun to use whatever and whereever to take advantage of another and to honestly fool themselves into thinking they have a right to do so.... much of this actually goes back to basic human behaviour more than anything else as i can recall an episode where a rather rambunctious young man (at a bar) wanted to pick a fight with me because as far he was concerned, 25 year old guys should not try to pick up 19 year old women... now what on earth was i to do... at 37, i didn't know whether to call the bouncer or kiss him... but thats a perfect example of religion, even at its most basic core.... it's also a perfect example of time... for are as old as you think you are and these 19 year old ladies, if they were interested in me, well, how flattering.... but i was actually eying the 21 to 25 and up crowd and they were eying me!

hope that makes sense to you.... but as for these VeriChips.... if they are up to no good it'll come to pass.... and if by some chance of the imagination the end of the world is upon us.... [u]again/[u].... then sit back and laugh... been there, done that!

"always look on the bright side of life..." - monty python

on a more serious note, i'd love for this technology to be used for things like: "sorry you are overdrawn, do not enter"... take a guess how long that would last...

cheers

- perry

Wow...scary stuff!!
and young people are lining up for this?????
:o
Go get another piercing instead, kids...believe me, your parents hate the piercings and someday, you'll value your privacy.

Found this on snopes...debunking a stupid rumor that Monex wants the chip to replace money, but it does go on with links to the true site.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/mondex.asp#add

VeriChip is one of many companies that produces implantable identification technology, but they really have nothing to do with smart cards in general or the Mondex brand of smart card in particular (other than that they have overlapping areas of interest in systems for personal identification and guaranteeing the integrity of financial transactions).

gvsregistry.4verichip.com
click on "subscriber", then "FAQ"

THANKS!

If anyone is a regular viewer of the "700 Club", keep an eye open for coverage, should be some time today.

Here's the CBN (700 club tv) story:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/041210a.asp

What the FDA Won’t Tell You about the VeriChip
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter
December 10, 2004

.................

So, who in our government should we contact to protest this?

I suggest the House or Seante committees that oversee the FDA and technology. Just about any standing committee can investigate anything, but my money would be on:

http://commerce.senate.gov/ Senate committee on commerce, science & technology.

http://health.senate.gov/ Senate committee on health, education, labor & pensions

http://www.house.gov/science/ House committee on science

And/or your individual Representative and Senator (same base addresses).

Best way to reach your Senator or Rep. is to call their local office NOW (10 minutes before 5 eastern) before they close for the weekend. Then follow-up with an email via their websites.

The more you get, the more you want.
If we give them this where will they stop?

Here?

Keep this alive, educate your friends and other blogs.

Hi!

This is one of the current events I used in my 8th grade science classes last month. It prompted a lot of discussion among my students and I was hoping to here some parental opinions. Many of my students' parents are regular churchgoers. I never heard a peep in response. Now that they've covered it on CBN they'll be preaching about it from the pulpits - literally! I fully expect to hear about it in my church. I'm glad to know I ahead of the news in my neck of the woods.

God Bless,
TammyJo58

How many of you have had someone "steel their identy" and wipe out their savings?
How many of you have had their kid "snatched up off the streets" and never seen them again?
How many of you have had thier car stolen at a mall?
How many of you have had a relative kid napped that was never returned?

What this is about is law inforcement. The privacy part of this is who has access to the records and the ease at which you can veiw your own record. I suggested this 10 years ago to some people who thought I was "nuts". But to be truthfull with you it'll make a lot of things we do in life easy, and also a lot safer.

The databases should in fact be seperate and hava a tight scrutiny as to "who" can access them. The thing only transmits your "number", we already have a number, a social security number.

Criminal databases...
Economic databases...
Medical databases...

But each and all who access this record should have to be open and clear as to why they are tracking you. We can really put a curb on crime here in the US with these devices, crime is the real "terrorism" we have in our communities.

I don't mean this in a bad way, but I don't have anything to hide. As a matter of fact my life would probably be a lot easier if there wasn't any mystery to it at all.

Freedom to me is not having to worry about some terrorizing me with crime. I don't know anyone that is actually getting terrorized by international terrorist, but I've known a lot of people that are getting terrorized by 2 bit criminals here in the states.

I shared this with William Rivers Pitt (Truthout) and Dr. Jill Stein (Mass. Green/Rainbow) at today's Boston rally, later with Rep. Jim McGovern (Ma 5).

None knew about this and promised exposure.

Please share with your Representative and Senators. We need protection under law.

[quote=PaineInTheArse,Dec 10 2004, 01:30 AM]
I heard of this while watching the 700 Club (I watch everything); it will be featured within the next 24 hours. Regular watchers, please keep an eye open and alert when it will be broadcast. Pat Robertson said "sounds like shades of big brother and revelations".

I first heard about this in October in relation to tracking bulk drug lots from manufacturer to wholesaler to pharmacy, but this is the first I've read about the subcutanious implantability.

===================================

http://www.4verichip.com/nws_10132004FDA.htm

October 13th 2004

FDA CLEARS VERICHIP™ FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

DELRAY BEACH , FL and So. ST. PAUL, MN -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: ADSX), a provider of Security Through Innovation™ and Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX:DOC) announced today that VeriChip™, the world’s first implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip for human use, has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical uses in the United States. The FDA clearance follows the completion of a de novo application review.

The Company will hold a conference call today at 10:30 am eastern time in order to discuss the FDA’s decision, Company’s marketing strategy and medical applications for VeriChip. Interested participants should dial (800) 472-8309. The conference ID is 1531948. The call will also be webcast and will be available on the Home Page of Applied Digital’s web site at www.adsx.com.

As previously disclosed, the FDA response is the result of the Company’s 510(k) application and subsequent de novo application for the medical and healthcare uses of VeriChip, originally submitted in October 2003. Digital Angel Corporation is the manufacturer of VeriChip and has licensed the technology to VeriChip Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital, for human applications.

The VeriChip Health Information Microtransponder System consists of an implantable RFID microtransponder, an inserter, a proprietary hand-held scanner, and secure database containing the patient approved healthcare information. About the size of a grain of rice, VeriChip is a subdermal radio frequency microchip. Once inserted under the skin in a brief outpatient procedure, the VeriChip cannot be seen by the human eye. Each VeriChip contains a unique 16-digit verification number that is captured by briefly passing a proprietary scanner over the insertion site. The captured 16 digit number links to the database via encrypted Internet access. The previously stored information is then conveyed via the internet to the registered requesting healthcare provider.
About VeriChip™

VeriChip is a subdermal RFID device that can be used in a variety of security, financial, emergency identification and other applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip product contains a unique verification number that is captured by briefly passing a proprietary scanner over the VeriChip. The recommended location of the microchip is in the triceps area between the elbow and the shoulder of the right arm. The brief outpatient “chipping” procedure lasts just a few minutes and involves only local anesthetic followed by quick, painless insertion of the VeriChip. Once inserted just under the skin, the VeriChip is inconspicuous to the naked eye. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the verification number. In October 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared VeriChip for medical applications in the United States. VeriChip is not an FDA-regulated device with regard to its security, financial, personal identification/safety applications. VeriChip Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital develops innovative security products for consumer, commercial, and government sectors worldwide. Our unique and often proprietary products provide security for people, animals, the food supply, government/military arena, and commercial assets. Included in this diversified product line are RFID applications, end-to-end food safety systems, GPS/Satellite communications, and telecomm and security infrastructure, positioning Applied Digital as the leader of Security Through Innovation™. Applied Digital is the owner of a majority position in Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX: DOC). For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.adsx.com.

About Digital Angel Corporation

Digital Angel Corporation develops and deploys sensor and communications technologies that enable rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets. Applications for the Company's products include identification and monitoring of pets, fish, livestock, and humans through its patented implantable microchips; location tracking and message monitoring of vehicles and aircraft in remote locations through systems that integrate GPS and geosynchronous satellite communications; and monitoring of asset conditions such as temperature and movement, through advanced miniature sensors.

For more information about Digital Angel, visit the company’s website at www.DigitalAngelCorp.com.

Statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.

Contact:
CEOcast, Inc. for Applied Digital Ken Sgro, 212-732-4300
ksgro@ceocast.com
Allen & Caron Inc. for Digital Angel Corporation
Investors: Mike Lucarelli, 1-212-691-8087,
m.lucarelli@allencaron.com ,
Media: Len Hall, 949-474-4300, len@allencaron.com


The solutions that combine the VeriChip device with Windows-based applications deliver the following:

Controlling access to Intellectual Property

Managing and tracking physical and intellectual assets

Providing physical access control solutions

Enabling innovative time and attendance systems

Providing automated data collection and monitoring platforms

I heard about this chip quite a while ago. This probably one of the scariest things I have ever heard and I am totally against it. Period, end of discussion. There are many other way that people can have there medical emergency records with them other then an implanted chip and while it would be nice to know were you children are every minute of the day but there are also other ways to keep tabs on them. For instance how about actually spending quality time with them instead of scheduling them for something every minute of every day or plopping them down in front of the tv or adding a tv to the back of you freaking seat in the car.
Sorry to ramble on but I work in retail and I see parents let their young children wander the aisle alone, ingnore thier children while taling on the clel phone, give in to temper tantrums to keep them quiet and the worst is leaving themin a shopping cart unattended.
Had to vent got off subject.

I asked a friend, who is a chiropractor, to review this information and comment. She sees merit in drug delivery to the elderly.

=================================================

Here is some interesting info pertaining to the dramatic rise in Rx usage. If every American 65 yrs old and up is taking an average of 3 medications now, imagine that number possibly tripling in the next 10 to 20 yrs!!

If there would ever be an application for the implantable microchip in healthcare, it's most likely use would be for informational purposes (i.e. critical medical info., including all current Rx scripts, PCP, etc.). So many errors are made already in the prescribing, filling and taking these meds that cause unnecessary deaths each year, that some central info source will be mandatory as usage ramps up and the population ages.

These are my thoughts....

NS

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/technolo...i=1&en=4c\


Sandra Martinez, 10, uses her ID card to indicate that she is getting off her school bus in Spring, Tex.

November 17, 2004
In Texas, 28,000 Students Test an Electronic Eye
By MATT RICHTEL

PRING, Tex. - In front of her gated apartment complex, Courtney Payne, a 9-year-old fourth grader with dark hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, exits a yellow school bus. Moments later, her movement is observed by Alan Bragg, the local police chief, standing in a windowless control room more than a mile away.

Chief Bragg is not using video surveillance. Rather, he watches an icon on a computer screen. The icon marks the spot on a map where Courtney got off the bus, and, on a larger level, it represents the latest in the convergence of technology and student security.

Hoping to prevent the loss of a child through kidnapping or more innocent circumstances, a few schools have begun monitoring student arrivals and departures using technology similar to that used to track livestock and pallets of retail shipments.

Here in a growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of Houston, the effort is undergoing its most ambitious test. The Spring Independent School District is equipping 28,000 students with ID badges containing computer chips that are read when the students get on and off school buses. The information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators.

In a variation on the concept, a Phoenix school district in November is starting a project using fingerprint technology to track when and where students get on and off buses. Last year, a charter school in Buffalo began automating attendance counts with computerized ID badges - one of the earliest examples of what educators said could become a widespread trend.

At the Spring district, where no student has ever been kidnapped, the system is expected to be used for more pedestrian purposes, Chief Bragg said: to reassure frantic parents, for example, calling because their child, rather than coming home as expected, went to a friend's house, an extracurricular activity or a Girl Scout meeting.

When the district unanimously approved the $180,000 system, neither teachers nor parents objected, said the president of the board. Rather, parents appear to be applauding. "I'm sure we're being overprotective, but you hear about all this violence," said Elisa Temple-Harvey, 34, the parent of a fourth grader. "I'm not saying this will curtail it, or stop it, but at least I know she made it to campus."

The project also is in keeping with the high-tech leanings of the district, which built its own high-speed data network and is outfitting the schools with wireless Internet access. A handful of companies have adapted the technology for use in schools.

But there are critics, including some older students and privacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, who argue that the system is security paranoia.

The decades-old technology, called radio frequency identification, or RFID, is growing less expensive and developing vast new capabilities. It is based on a computer chip that has a unique number programmed into it and contains a tiny antenna that sends information to a reader.

The same technology is being used by companies like Wal-Mart to track pallets of retail items. Pet owners can have chips embedded in cats and dogs to identify them if they are lost.

In October, the Food and Drug Administration approved use of an RFID chip that could be implanted under a patient's skin and would carry a number that linked to the patient's medical records.

At the Spring district, the first recipients of the computerized ID badges have been the 626 students of Bammel Elementary school. That includes Felipe Mathews, a 5-year-old kindergartner, and the other 30 students who rode bus No. 38 to school on a recent morning.

Felipe, wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt with a Spiderman logo and blue high-top tennis shoes also with a Spiderman logo, wore his yellow ID badge on a string around his neck. When he climbed on to the bus, he pressed the badge against a flat gray "reader"just inside the bus door. The reader ID beeped.

Shortly after, he was followed onto the bus by Christopher Nunez, a 9-year-old fourth grader. Christopher said it was important that students wore badges so they did not get lost. Asked what might cause someone to get lost, he said, "If they're in second grade they might not know which street is their home."

But on the morning Felipe and Christopher shared a seat on bus No. 38, the district experienced one of the early technology hiccups. When the bus arrived at school, the system had not worked. On the Web site that includes the log of student movements, there was no record that any of the students on the bus had arrived.

It was just one of many headaches; the system had also made double entries for some students, and got arrival times and addresses wrong for others. "It's early glitches," said Brian Weisinger, the head of transportation for the Spring district, adding that he expected to work out the problems.

But for the Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo, where administrators gave ID cards with the RFID technology to around 460 students last year, the computer problems lasted for many months.

The system is set up so that when students walk in the door each morning, they pass by one of two kiosks - which together cost $40,000 - designed to pick up their individual radio frequency numbers as a way of taking attendance. Initially, though, the kiosks failed to register some students, or registered ones who were not there.

Mark Walter, head of technology for the Buffalo school, said the system was working well now. But Mr. Walter cautions that the more ambitious technological efforts in Spring, particularly given the reliance on cellphones to call in the data, are "going to run in to some problems."

In the long run, however, the biggest problem may be human error. Parents, teachers and administrators said their primary worry is getting students to remember their cards, given they often forget such basics as backpacks, lunch money and gym shoes. And then there might be mischief: students could trade their cards.

Still, administrators in Buffalo said they had been contacted by districts around the country, and from numerous other countries, interested in using something similar.

And the administrators in Buffalo and here in Spring said the technology, when perfected, would eventually be a big help. Parents at the Spring district seem to feel the same way. They speak of momentary horrors of realizing their child did not arrive home when expected.

Some older students are not so enthusiastic.

"It's too Big Brother for me," said Kenneth Haines, a 15-year-old ninth grader who is on the football and debate teams. "Something about the school wanting to know the exact place and time makes me feel kind of like an animal."

Middle and high school students already wear ID badges, but they have not yet been equipped with the RFID technology. Even so, some bus drivers are apparently taking advantage of the technology's mythical powers by telling students that they are being tracked on the bus in order to get them to behave better.

Kenneth's opinion is echoed by organizations like the A.C.L.U. and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes "digital rights."

It is "naïve to believe all this data will only be used to track children in the extremely unlikely event of the rare kidnapping by a stranger," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the A.C.L.U.

Mr. Steinhardt said schools, once they had invested in the technology, could feel compelled to get a greater return on investment by putting it to other uses, like tracking where students go after school.

Advocates of the technology said they did not plan to go that far. But, they said, they do see broader possibilities, such as implanting RFID tags under the skin of children to avoid problems with lost or forgotten tags. More immediately, they said, they could see using the technology to track whether students attend individual classes.

Mr. Weisinger, the head of transportation at Spring, said that, for now, the district could not afford not to put the technology to use. Chief Bragg said the key to catching kidnappers was getting crucial information within two to four hours of a crime - information such as the last place the child was seen.

"We've been fortunate; we haven't had a kidnapping," Mr. Weisinger said. "But if it works one time finding a student who has been kidnapped, then the system has paid for itself."


=================
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/article...Anchor-What-363

What is RFID?
Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. There are several methods of identification, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the chip and the antenna together are called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag). The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification information to a reader. The reader converts the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can then be passed on to computers that can make use of it. Back to Top

http://www.cbn.com/700club/showinfo/schedu...sbroadcasts.asp

700 Club video clip -

Friday, December 10

CBN NEWS
What the FDA Won’t Tell You about the VeriChip
A little electronic capsule, smaller than a dime, could be one of the biggest technological advances in how we share and store private medical records. It may also be one of the most controversial.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/041210a.asp



BRAVE NEW WORLD
What the FDA Won’t Tell You about the VeriChip
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter


CBN.com – (CBN News) - A little electronic capsule, smaller than a dime, could be one of the biggest technological advances in how we share and store private medical records. It may also be one of the most controversial.

Known as the VeriChip, it is a microchip that is implanted under a person's skin, and then scanned with a special reader device to reveal important medical data about that person.

Applied Digital, the Florida-based company that makes the VeriChip, hopes the implant will revolutionize how doctors obtain medical information, particularly in emergency situations. Theoretically, if a person can't speak, medics could scan that person and quickly be linked to a database that would provide crucial information like the patient's identity, blood type and drug allergies.

Dr. Csaba Magassi, a plastic surgeon in Northern Virginia, is among a nationwide network of doctors who are ready and waiting to implant the VeriChip into willing patients. His office receives calls daily from people inquiring about the chip.

Dr. Magassi said, "If you are in an auto accident, [and] you are unconscious, they could scan you, know exactly who you are; your medical history can easily be printed out onto the hospital record."

Dr. Magassi added, "If a patient comes in requesting the VeriChip, I usually tell them it takes between two and five minutes to place the device in place. A needle which contains the VeriChip is inserted. The needle pushes the device through, and it is implanted permanently. Put a bandaid on and you are done."

Dr. Magassi demonstrated the procedure for CBN News on an apple. Once the microchip was inserted, the hand-held scanner read the number on the chip using radio frequency waves. Think of it as a human barcode.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the VeriChip implant for medical use in humans in October, a huge victory for Applied Digital.

In an effort to jumpstart interest, the company launched the "Get Chipped" campaign. It is offering a discount to the first few hundred people who get the implant, and also plans to donate hundreds of scanners to the nation's trauma units to promote use of the VeriChip.

But in a letter obtained by CBN News from the FDA to the VeriChip makers, the microchip is not completely safe. In fact, the letter lists a whole host of health risks associated with the device, including "adverse tissue reaction," "electrical hazards" and "MRI incompatibility."

Applied Digital and the Food and Drug Administration refused our requests for an interview to discuss these risks.

Consumer privacy advocate Katherine Albrecht said, "There are millions of people that have read the press reports about all the positives of this technology, but really have no idea about its dangers."

Albrecht strongly opposes the VeriChip for the physical risks it poses, as well as the privacy risks. She has been called "the Erin Brokovich of RFID chips."

On her Web site, www.spychips.com, Albrecht reveals the potential dangers of the VeriChip and other radio frequency identification methods.

Albrecht said, "There's a very serious concern that, already, engineers and people who think along those lines are already thinking like hackers and criminals -- they're already starting to say, how can this system be compromised, how can it be abused? When you are dealing with a radio frequency device, by design, it is transmitting info using invisible radio waves at a distance. In this case, that distance is only a couple of inches or a couple of feet so it’s not a huge distance, but it means that anyone who can get within a couple of inches or a few feet of you, even with a reader device they have hidden in a backpack or a purse, would be able to scan that number, obtain that info and potentially duplicate it."

And it is not just private medical information at stake. The microchip implant technology has been around for several years now, and has been used for a variety of different applications.

Thousands of chips have been implanted in pets by veterinarians for identification purposes. Livestock is now chipped to track things like mad-cow disease. Manufacturers are putting chips in products like clothing and shoes for marketing research.

In Mexico, the attorney general and his top aides were chipped for security purposes. And, in Spain at the Baja Beach Club, patrons can get a microchip with their financial information implanted, so they can pay for their cocktails with a swipe of the arm. As these pictures seem to suggest, getting chipped is fun and painless.

Applied Digital also launched a brand new application for the chip last year called the "VeriPay." This implant would hold all of a person's financial information. Rather than swipe a card or pay cash, consumers would scan their wrists for purchases. And, if a swipe of the wrist becomes too troublesome, there are already prototypes made of doorway portals that can simply scan a person and their purchases as they walk through the door.

Allbrecht said, "I think there is a very real concern that, down the road, such a chip would become mandatory. And not necessarily initially, but it would be voluntary, in the same way let’s say as credit cards or a drivers license is voluntary. No one forces you to have a driver’s license or to have a cell phone, but yet the vast majority of people do, because it is very difficult to function in a normal society without it."

For now, though, a microchip implant is voluntary. Only a few thousand chips have been sold and only a fraction of those have been implanted in humans.

For someone who wants an implant for medical purposes, Dr. Magassi and others are standing by. Magassi says, "If they want it, God love ‘em. I'll put it in. It's as simple as that."

The VeriChip just recently made its debut in a Miami, Florida nightclub, where patrons had the opportunity to "Get Chipped," much like the Baja Beach club patrons in Spain.

[On a prior "700 Club" show, I heard Robertson say "the verichip is the "mark of the devil"]

From: Tech@cbn.org Add to Address Book
To: (me)

You are receiving this message in response to technical feedback
submitted to CBN.com. We are sorry for any technical difficulties you have
encountered and hope the information presented below will help you.

The video link on that page is a link to watch the Newswatch program.
It is not a link to watch a story about VeriChip.

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See interesting related post by "FormerCIA" at target='_blank'>


http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...topic=10961&hl=

RFID JOINS FDA
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is no longer just mentioned in the same breath as Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense. Pharmaceutical companies and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have joined the fray. To secure the safety of the U.S. drug supply through the use of RFID, the FDA recently published its Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) to facilitate the implementation of RFID feasibility studies and pilot programs. The scope of the CPG is based on information the FDA obtained about ongoing and planned RFID studies that examine the use of RFID technology in inventory control and tracking and tracing drugs.

The FDA expects that RFID standard-setting activities and applied research in such areas as tag numbering, optimal frequency use, and database management will accelerate as a result of companies exploring uses of RFID. By using the CPG, more pilot programs that involve RFID tagging will take place, providing companies with the opportunity to use RFID technology to gain experience with transferring, storing, and securing the data that RFID provides. The FDA believes that RFID feasibility studies are vital, thus the CPG has gone into effect immediately.

The FDA, desiring to exercise enforcement discretion, has established parameters for manufacturers, repackagers, relabelers, distributors, retailers, and others attaching RFID tags (chips and antennae) to containers, secondary packaging, and shipping containers and pallets. RFID will be used only for inventory control, product tracking and tracing, shipment verification, and receipt of products.

RFID technology will also make it easier to ensure that drugs are authentic, creating a record from point of manufacture to point of dispensing, thus enabling wholesalers and retailers to rapidly identify, quarantine, and report suspected counterfeit drugs. In February 2004, the FDA released its "Combating Counterfeit Drugs" report supporting the use of RFID technology throughout the pharmaceutical industry and its commitment to RFID implementation throughout the U.S. drug supply chain by 2007.

"The complexity of the U.S. healthcare system is increasing rapidly. Demographic changes, along with a host of new drugs, are causing greater volumes of raw materials and finished products to move through the pharmaceutical supply chain. Protecting this vital supply chain against counterfeiting and theft is an important goal for the public good. The FDA is very serious about using RFID technology to combat counterfeiting. Over the next few years, there will be a large amount of ongoing research, development, and application in this area," according to Edmund W. Schuster, CFPIM, CIRM, research affiliate, department of mechanical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Also supporting the use of RFID, Dr. Lester M. Crawford, acting FDA commissioner, is encouraging manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers to become early adopters of RFID. "We intend to work with industry and standard-setting organizations to explore the FDA's access to relevant electronic information because such information would greatly improve our ability to minimize exposure of consumers to counterfeit drugs, facilitating rapid criminal investigations of illicit transactions."

The FDA has recognized Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Purdue Pharma for stepping up to the plate, preparing to use RFID tags in 2005 on drugs that are susceptible to counterfeiting. And Johnson & Johnson has been acknowledged for its leadership in establishing standards for RFID technology and participating in RFID studies.

Mary H. King,
APICS Communications Division

Additional Resources
The FDA Compliance Policy Guide is available at
http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/counterfeit/rfid_cpg.html.

The FDA report, "Combating Counterfeit Drugs" is available at
http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/counterf...eport02_04.html.

I don't feel threatened by the use of RFID for inventory tracking. This would actually be a natural step up for inventory tracking in large warehouses and retail centers. As for medical purposes, however, there is already a longstanding system in place, and it works: MedicAlert bracelets. These are engraved with the patient's life-threatening conditions, such as "Insulin dependent diabetic". A database contains more details on medications, doses, doctor, etc. I guess I fail to see how an implant which requires a scanning device is an improvement over a bracelet that visibly gives paramedics the patient's chronic health conditions.

I don't see this becoming a mandatory thing for ordinary citizens any time soon. I would however keep an eye on the attempt to mandate biometric drivers licenses as a defacto national ID card. That one could be along very shortly.

News > Communications > Wireless Thursday 23rd December 2004

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wir...39170368,00.htm


Subcutaneous RFID tags upset privacy advocates


Munir Kotadia
ZDNet Australia
October 15, 2004, 11:40 GMT


Tell us your opinion

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a plan to allow hospitals to place RFID tags under patients' skin, much to the chagrin of privacy advocates






Privacy advocates are outraged at the US Food and Drug Administrations' approval of using RFID chips inside humans for medical purposes.



According to Applied Digital Systems, the US-based company that makes the chips, the FDA approved its RFID chips on Wednesday for use in hospitals on humans. The approval came after a year-long review.



The VeriChip, which is about the size of a grain of rice, is designed to be injected into the fatty tissue of the arm. Using a special scanner, doctors and other hospital staff can fetch information from the chips, such as the patient's identity, their blood type and the details of their condition, in order to speed treatment.



However, for security purposes personal information is not stored on the chip. Instead the chip contains a unique number – like a barcode – that links to a medical record stored on a secure database.



But Australian privacy advocates, who were already wary about similar chips being used by retailers to help manage their supply chain, are furious that humans could be chipped and wonder how long it will be before the first Australians are implanted.



Roger Clarke, a privacy advocate who has been speaking out against RFID-type technology for more than a decade, said he was "appalled and stunned" at the naivete of both the people developing the technology and the way it is being reported in the general press.



"When I spoke about this in 1994 people said I was going to extremes and talking nonsense. Now, less than ten years later they have a commercial product. I cannot understand how naive people are," said Clarke.



Clarke has argued that although the US solution is a simple identifier chip and can only be used with the consent of the patient, it won't be long before the technology goes mainstream.



"We are always going to tag the institutionalised first -- because they are prisoners and we have power over them. But we are also going to tag grandma in the senile dementia ward," said Clarke.



"This is a unique identifier. You will be walking down the street saying hey, this is my number, because your chip is promiscuous and it will talk to any bloody thing that wants to talk to it. It is unbelievable," Clarke added.



However, a spokesperson from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), a Commonwealth statutory authority, said Australia has never electronically tagged any of its criminals and has no plans to do so in the future.



"Tagging of criminals is not even on the agenda," the spokesperson said.



Dale Clapperton, a board member for Electronic Frontiers Australia, a non-profit organisation that represents the on-line rights and freedoms of Internet users, said he is just as worried about RFID chips being used in every day objects such as driving licences and passports.



"If we went down the path of putting RFID tags into driving licenses – which has been suggested in some parts of the US -- you could have a situation where anyone with the right equipment could read information from your licence from a few metres away," Clapperton said.



Any type of RFID chip – whether inserted inside the body, in a document or item of clothing – will affect an individual’s privacy, said Clarke.



David Vaile, executive director of the Baker & McKenzie Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at the University of New South Wales, said the US Patriot Act makes it unclear exactly which information is protected and which is readily available.



In addition, he said that because RFID chips are unlikely to ever be removed once they are inserted, and RFID scanners are becoming more common, the privacy issues are spiralling out of control.



"If you jumped into boiling water you would jump right out again. But what happens when the temperature is gradually raised? This looks like another increment and the water is not cool any more -- it is actually getting quite warm," said Vaile.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wir...39170368,00.htm

he he he...just got on the Thom Hartman show....

Here's another concern:

It is a thing made by man and is therefore corruptable. In spite of the benefits that are being touted, it could be corrupted just like any other chip. Network cards go bad, barcodes fade, pins on video cards get bent etc.

What then? Replace the chip?

Here's another concern.

The chip may not be anything but a barcode, which can be scanned, but the there is still the database which can also be corrupted, just like now.

Scenario 1: Patient with chip comes in for a check up and tells them quite honestly that he is Bob Smith and the scan of the chip says that he is Tom Jones or Barara Striesand or something.

That's the advantage of having id cards and drivers liscenses; you can actually see them and read them with your own eyes. You cant do that with an implant.