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Wisconsin Could Ban Mandatory Microchip Implants
01101101 writes "The Duluth News Tribune is reporting that Wisconsin could be the first state to ban mandatory microchip implants in humans. The plan was authored by Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids and Gov. Jim Doyle plans to sign the bill. The bill still leaves an opening for voluntary chipping." Slashdot covered one instance of mandatory microchip implants back in February.
RFID chip implants don't have to be mandatory. All you have to do is make it a rule that you can't fly, or cross the border, or get a drivers license without one.
Then they will be de-facto mandatory and those who don't get them are society's rejects or should be investigated for being possible terror suspects.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
A legal ban on mandatory microchip implantation is pointless in a way, as the real threat is that they will become so pervasive that it will be impossible to lead a normal life (e.g. buy groceries, vote, hold a drivers license) without one.
The bad news is that we have to have laws against your employer requiring a chip to be implanted in your body.
"The bill still leaves an opening for voluntary chipping."
The problem with this is that desparate people will "volunteer" if employers, etc. EXPECT them to volunteer. Just like waiters, waitresses "volunteered" for being exposed to second hand smoking, before smoking was banned completely. Voluntary chipping will hurt the most volnurable segments of the society, who can't even afford not to" volunteer", while the more powerful can stay free.
For this reason, the bill stinks as it is.
What's next? Mandatory voting? Exercise? Health improvements? Lifestyle changes?
Because we certainly can't trust a person, but an implant we can.
P.S. This is also a great idea for a sci-fi movie.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
The federal government has stomped all over state proclamations like this before, either by hook or by crook. What makes anyone think it won't happen again?
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
What is the difference between having a chip implanted and having some system that can recognize you by DNA, heat signature, or whatever? Those systems are coming and they're exactly the same thing except without the invasive chip injection procedure. This chip thing is just a temporary measure until the other technology advances.
There won't be much you can do about it. Businesses love this for security because there is no passcode for someone to steal and employees don't need to remember passcodes. Credit card companies would really love it to help prevent fraud (in theory saving us all money, but we know how that goes). This has all sorts of uses, good and bad. It's coming though...
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Fast forward to future...
Oh, if you want to fly you have to. But it's all voluntary, you don't have to fly.
Oh, if you want a job at XXX, you have to. But it's all voluntary, you don't have to work at XXX.
Oh, if you want to vote, you have to. But it's all voluntary, you don't have to vote.
Oh, if you want to buy food, you have to. But it's all voluntary, you don't have to eat.
Nobody forces you, ok. All your choice.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Something like this, it's easy enough to say, "well, you could get another job", but the question is, what if this becomes the new dumb security fad, and 90% of the companies offering decent jobs suddenly require this.
Again, alarmist or not, I must echo the sentiments of other posters in stating that when it becomes pervasive, when you cannot buy groceries without an RFID chip, then it's not really about choice, now, is it? I do believe in freedom of choice, and if you want to implant yourself, go right ahead. But I am simply sick and tired of this Objectivist/Libertarian-esque rhetoric that would have us believe that the best society is the society that, while maintaining an illusion of free will, at least for those on the very top, the "John Galts" of the world, those on the bottom, or those merely satisified enough with their lives that they live simply in a middle class existence, would be the ones most affected by rfid chips, and most of us can't simply choose to find another job at the drop of a hat.
Are you implying that Americans will just sit back and let that happen in the first place? I don't know a single person that would stand for the government pulling that one over on us.
Try flying, driving, or crossing the border without ID. Try opening a bank account without presenting your government ID number (aka SSN). Try getting insurance, a credit card, a home loan, a car loan, a place to rent, and utilities for that place without presenting a SSN.
Do you realize that we have a backdoor national ID card system right now? Legislation was passed to require an interlinking of driver's license record systems. Driver's licenses have to have biometric data encoded on them. A Supreme Court decision in the past few years means that you can't refuse to present them to law enforcement. Originally, this was portrayed as being intended to keep drunk drivers (especially commercial truck drivers) from just moving to another state to get a new license, but today it's being used by remote jurisdictions to enforce parking and speeding tickets with no means of appeal if the system has you wrong.
We set up an unaccountable national database of people who are not allowed to fly that is based purely on names and aliases instead of more reliable data. Senators have been kept from flying because of the list.
Police today can enter your home, plant listening devices, keystroke monitors, etc. and leave without letting you know and forbidding landlords from telling you about it. They can tap your phones if it's suspected that someone they might be interested in might use the phone (under their discretion). They can snatch records of what you read from the library, who you email and what sites you visit from your ISP, what potentially embarassing medical conditions you might have from your doctor, and any and all business transactions you make from your bank and credit card companies, and none of them can tell you under threat of criminal prosecution.
Our government imprisoned people without trial and without access to laywers in violation of the 6th Amendment. Our government spies on citizens without a warrant in violation of the 4th Amendment. It tortures prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention as well as the 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments, and there is a significant portion of the populace that approves of these actions since it makes them feel safer. It even prevents protesters from gathering outside of "Free Speech Zones" in front of the President in violation of the 1st Amendment, and people still aren't outraged.
Let me tell you what Americans will do. NOT A DAMNED THING. All this government has to do is explain how it will protect us against terrorists, child molesters, Iranians, or whoever the hell we're supposed to be most scared of today, and so-called citizens will line up to be sheared like the good little sheep they are.
If you think there is such a thing as public outrage at the loss of our rights, then you haven't been paying attention to in this post-9/11 world. Do you know what gets people angry? High gas prices, incompetent handling of a disaster, and the stink of failure in war. Civil rights doesn't even register as an issue thanks to the learned helplessness of the American people. Just shelter us from harm, and you can do anything with that guy's rights.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Oh, and forgot about Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri who has been held as an enemy combatant for over two years.
Unlike Padilla, al-Marri is not a U.S. citizen, but he was arrested in the U.S.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig