Human ID Chip Implant Prototype Unveiling

techfreak writes: "Applied Digital Solutions is set to unveil a working prototype of "Digital Angel", a dime-sized implantable 'microchip' which is powered by muscle movement, this October at an invitation-only event in New York City, two months ahead of the original plan. ADS Chairman Richard Sullivan said the development of the technology has progressed well ahead of schedule. It is said to be the first-ever operational combination of bio-sensor technology and Web-enabled wireless telecommunications linked to global positioning satellite location-tracking systems. Concerns have been raised over personal privacy, but ADS claims that privacy concerns are misplaced, since the device can be turned off by the owner."

Comments

Re:Whats the problem?

[Frymaster]

Obviously the people who have developed these things have no intention of using it for "evil" and only have the best intentions in mind... however that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be paranoid about it. Technology developed for the best reasons often can be used, later on, for ideas the cretors never intended. Two examples:

1. Social Security/Insurance numbers. I don't know about the US but in Canada when it was introduced it was stated that you would never have to give it to anyone except voluntarily. That included income tax and TD-1 (employment taxation form). Now it's mandatory on tax from and it is against the law to take a job and not give your SIN on your TD-1. Certainly it means you can't cheat on your taxes (I'm opposed to cheating on your taxes, btw) and that's good, but it does show that this idea was expanded to be more intrusive than originally devised.

2. Finger printing. I was finger printed as a child to "protect me from being abducted" (how that works I'm not sure, but that's the line they give...) 23 years later, I popped over to my friend's house with a 2 litre bottle of pop to watch movies. I left the empty bottle there. 2 days later he used the bottle to transport gasoline to a building which he burned to the ground. Smart guy he is, he wore gloves. Dumb ass he is, he left the cap there. Did he go to prison? Yes. Did I get arrested, lose my job and $4000 to lawyers first? Yes. Oh yes indeed.

The finger printing thing must work though. I never got abducted as a child....

Re:Main worry is totalitarian regimes, not compani

[knarf]

The main worry is not misuse in the US, since there is enormous media/public scrutiny. Technology like this in the hands of China/Burma/N.Korea or any of America's puppet dictatorships is the dream-come-true of totalitarian regimes, who can do whatever they want.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but misuse in the land of the free (as long as they pay) and home of the brave IS an issue. Some lobbygroup will get this signed into law, make it mandatory to chip your kids when they go to kindergarten ('they might get kidnapped, so now we can track them'), you insurance will mandate that you get one ('so the emergency service will be able to find you'), etc. Of course, the insurance company (part of a big megacorp) now knows where you are, and when, and starts selling 'anonimized' profiles to marketing firms ('we are concerned with your privacy, if you do not want this then please fill out this 10-page form in Assirian glyphs'). Your kids will get used to the idea that they have this chip inside them, they might even get some small benefits from it ('people with ID-chip through the fast lane, those without show your passports please'), so they probably will think it 'natural' that they can be tracked everywhere.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, J.Edgar Hoover's great-grandson has risen to the top of the F.B.I, and takes up where his predecessor left off. When later questioned by the Senate, he states that 'it was imperative for national security that these people were tracked down'. Although there was no conclusive evidence that those people ever did something wrong, they were put away anyhow, since national security is a serious matter, especially when your own position is at stake.

But no, this will never happen in the US of A. Right?

What about...

[interiot]

C'mon... I thought information wanted to be free. One's heartbeat and GPS loc is simply information. Does this mantra have exceptions?
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not good

[nomadic]

This is very, very dangerous. The article's a little vague, but it would take a lot to convince me the disadvantages far outweigh the benefits. For example:

The unit can be turned off by the wearer, thereby making the monitoring voluntary. It will not intrude on personal privacy except in applications applied to the tracking of criminals.

Ok, how exactly do we turn this off? From the remark on "the tracking of criminals" it makes it sound like it would have to be disabled by whoever was running the system. I can easily imagine some governments using it to track dissidents, even outside of criminal investigations. I wouldn't want to tempt law enforcement agencies into this kind of invasion of privacy.

The idea of it drawing it's power from it's host is probably the most interesting part of the article, but I think there would be a lot more beneficial uses for it (medical analysis for example) than creating a worldwide human tracking system.
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yikes!!!

[isaac_akira]

from the google cache of the site:
"an array of beneficial potential applications: provide a tamper-proof means of locating and identifying individuals for e-business and e-commerce security"

what the FUCK does that mean? any way i interpret that, it sounds pretty freakin scary. are they talking about tagging employees or customers?

- isaac =)

lame quickies...

[dr_labrat]

If these chips are embedded, would it be fair to say that they are ARM chips?

Will people that work out a lot have Strong ARM chips?

Imagine if Microsoft wrote the firmware for these things?

"Hey man it's cool, I run windows! Oh crap, the left side of my body has just gone numb..."

How to turn it off - X-Acto knife!

[IO ERROR]

Even the dumbest criminal is going to realize that it is implanted right below the surface of your skin, and get somebody to cut it out with a scalpel. It would take maybe a minute, could be done in a moving car, and the device tossed out the window right about the same time the people doing the tracking figured out what was going on.

Hence, the criminal disappears.

Now as for other applications, like tracking livestock, lost pets, missing children, medical monitoring, yes, these have some potential societal benefits.
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