Implanted ID chips: right or wrong

by Willy Jul 22, 2007 10:30PM PDT

Finally, it happened, some empoyees have ID chips(the size or rice grains) implanted in them to better the security measures. ID chips used in other ways have provided useful methods to better the implantee. Whether voluntary or not, I think this poses ethical and legal issues. Here's a link to story:
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070722/D8QHJ17O0.html

Comments? -----Willy

Discussion is locked

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I. D theft taken to a new level

by Steven Haninger Jul 23, 2007 12:47AM PDT

Instead of stealing SSNs, driver's license info, credit cards....just kill the person, rip them open for their RFID tag(s). Keep it for personal use or offer it for sale. Could that happen?

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I have thought the same thing

by wailwatcher Jul 23, 2007 2:12AM PDT

retina scans, finger/hand print recognition, etc. all offer macabre opportunities to criminals.

the notorious ny irish gang 'the westies' kept a hand from a murder victim in the freezer to put dead man's print on a future murder weapon

'HELL'S KITCHEN KILLERS'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3DF103CF93BA35757C0A966958260

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Inventory

by grimgraphix Jul 23, 2007 1:45AM PDT

"Thirty years ago, the first electronic tags were fixed to the ears of cattle, to permit ranchers to track a herd's reproductive and eating habits. In the 1990s, millions of chips were implanted in livestock, fish, dogs, cats, even racehorses."

What is the whole point of these chips? To keep track of "things". To manage inventory, to track sales, to feed the information monster that makes everything run smoothly. The one thing that marks the beginnings of a totalitarian society is when people quit being individuals but are only viewed as parts of a machine. That "part" doesn't work well? Get rid of it and replace it with a "part" that runs smoothly. JMO, but when we start changing our lives to make things more efficient then we have begun to give up our humanity.

Question is though, what if the question was about an iPod in your brain? A TV tuner attached to your retina? A cell phone in your ear? Some other electronic device that offers convenience or entertainment? What will be viewed as acceptable? What if these "useful" implants are later found out to be capable of being hacked?

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I'm not up to speed....

by Angeline Booher Jul 23, 2007 2:31AM PDT

...... on retinal scanning, but I thought it was, or could be, the most reliable modes of positive identification.

I suspect that implanted IDs will get smaller, as has so much in technology. I can see a use for them in very selected cases, but not for employee ID.

Remember those heavy security gizmos that used to hang on stuff in retail stores and send out a signal if carried out of the store? Or how thieves would switch tags from a cheaper item to a more expensive one?

Thieves and other criminals have solved how to overcome security measures in the past. It is almost to the point , if not already there, that we all are in the position of having to prove we are who we say we are. The "bad guys" have put us there, and there always have been and will continue to be "bad guys".

Maybe in the distant future there will be an "instant" DNA reader.

Angeline
Speakeasy Moderator

Implanted ID chips: right or wrong

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