Verichips: An Invasion Of Privacy?
By Stephanie Puder
20 March, 2006
Countercurrents.orgRecently while doing research for an oral presentation, I came across very important information that everyone needs to be aware of due to the fact that it poses a threat to us all. Surprisingly this threat has not been covered very much by the media, so many are completely unaware of its existence; this is why I’m writing so everyone can know before it’s to late. Although it sounds like science fiction, microchips meant to be implanted into human beings are here, they are being marketed world wide, and have even been approved by the FDA, and yes people have already begun to get them implanted. They work by giving off a unique radio signal that can be read by a compatible scanner. They are about the size of a grain of rice and are implanted with an injection just like a flu shot. They are being sold on the free market for affordable prices. These microchips are being presented as a miracle technology that can only do remarkable good; however, they will actually cause much more harm than good.
These chips are being manufactured by the VeriChip Corporation which is a subsidiary of the Applied Digital Solutions Corporation. At the time being these chips have only been approved by the FDA to retrieve medical history. For example if someone were to come into a hospital unconscious a chip in their arm could be scanned in order to know their medical history. However this is only in America other countries are using these chips for things such as bar tabs and VIP passes like at a European night club the Baja Beech Club and as security passes in a Mexican crime database.Although in America these chips have only been approved for one thing, Applied Digital Solutions and the VeriChip Corporation have many more plans for them. Keith Boltan the Vice President of VeriChip Corporation hopes to use these chips in a global identification system one day. Applied Digital Solutions also hopes to use them to replace credit cards, social security cards, security passes and more. They want to use them to track kidnap victims, criminals, and government employees as well. The CEO of Applied Digital Solutions, Scott Silverman, expects these chips to be the only means of accessing any information within 10-15 years. These scenarios have to do with some type of enforcement whether it is voluntary or by force, and that is exactly what people against these chips fear. These chips have the capability of doing great harm that far exceeds their benefits; they need to be subjected to either extreme regulation or even prohibition in order to prevent very real and horrible possibilities around the world.
Applied Digital Solution’s plans to use these chips will cause dire consequences and violations of our rights and liberties. If these chips have the GPS tracking capabilities then our 1st, 4th, and 5th amendment rights along with our privacy rights will be violated. Even if there are no tracking capabilities our privacy rights will still be violated due to the fact that anyone with a compatible scanner from as far away as 3-30 feet (according to different sources) could scan your information without your permission. If these chips are made mandatory for anything like employment or education then our 14th amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will be violated for anyone who doesn’t want a chip. Our first amendment rights of free exercise and the establishment clause will also be violated due to the fact that groups such as Christians are extremely against these chips because they are similar to something prophesized about in the book of Revelations. Revelations 13:16-18 describes people being forced to receive the mark of the beast in order to buy or sell anything which sounds a lot like Scott Silverman’s plan. If these chips are enforced then Christians and others will not be able to freely exercise their religion.
You might be thinking there is no way our government could enforce these chips due to our rights; however, government employees, felons, prisoners, and people on probation often have to sign away many of their rights. Children and the elderly are usually under someone else’s control through parental rights and powers of attorney. We’ve also seen from the Patriot Act and the Japanese American Relocation during WWII that many of our rights can be drastically curtailed during an emergency or wartime situation. What will happen in other countries where they don’t necessarily have Constitutions and Bill of Rights to hold these chips back? What would someone like Saddam Hussein have done with this technology? Then there is Scott Silverman’s plan: one day all of the documents necessary to do anything in this country (social security cards, licenses, birth certificates, bank account information, etc.) are held within microchips. At the time being Applied Digital Solutions maintains a strict voluntary rule when it comes to these chips; however, if there is no way to access any information without one what choice do we really have? These chips need to be prevented from having the capability to take away our rights.
These chips have been proposed to track criminals, x-criminals, and kidnap victims; however, criminals can adapt to this technology just as they have towards security systems today. Criminals will realize that they can cut their own chips out, and even worse attack someone and cut out their chip for the perfect fake identity. The reason most people give for supporting these chips is because of the possibility of tracking kidnap victims and runaways; however, this application will fail as well. Once these chips are common kidnappers will know about them; they will know that they are placed in the right triceps as a standard. If they want to kidnap someone they could just cut the chip out or find a way to scramble the signal. When it comes to runaways we must remember that many are trying to escape an unsafe environment; tracking them down and dragging them back could prevent them from ever getting the chance to ask for help.Even these chip’s proposed applications have negative effects and consequences; even what the FDA has approved them for has consequences. When the FDA approved these chips for the retrieval of medical information they also expressed some concerns for the possibilities of adverse tissue reaction, chip migration throughout the body, and the unknown effects from the radio signal it gives off; however, they were the most concerned about MRIs. MRIs are those big x-ray machines; they use pulsed radio frequencies and magnetic fields which the FDA fears could induce conductive metal implants to cause severe patient burns. The FDA also expressed concern for the easily accessible information in the chips which could be scanned and duplicated without your permission. The chips and scanners are sold on the free market right now to anyone and can scan from at least 3 feet away. This is an identity thief and stalkers dream. Some claim these chips will prevent crime when they will actually worsen it or fail to prevent it. When it comes to these chips we need to decide what is more important: possibly reaping from the benefits or preventing the very serious consequences.
These chips will not stop at voluntary medical information retrieval unless they are extremely regulated or prohibited all together. We need to be cautious and aware of these chips and their possibilities. I honestly do not believe our government will enforce these chips; however, I do believe that Scott Silverman’s plan is a very real possibility. Right now our children, the future voters of this country, are being desensitized to this idea. These chips are being used in their Elementary School Student IDs, in the products they use as a type of bar code, and even in their pets: “to keep them safe.” Imagine for a moment that Scott Silverman’s dream came true and there was no way to access any information without a microchip. Would you be able to enter your place of work, or access the money in your bank account, or buy groceries? Would you be able to do anything that is necessary to survive in our society? We have to reject these chips and encourage extreme regulation or prohibition, or we will allow them the ability to strip away our most basic and natural of human rights: the right of choice. That is because if these chips are enforced, by law or necessity, then we will only be given two choices: get chipped or don’t survive, and what choice does that really leave us with? So once these chips start coming out into the public eye in sheep’s clothing remember what’s really growling beneath. Want to know more? Just type VeriChip into a search engine like www.google.com and you will see tons of information.
