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.

Comments

Choice

[Shadow Wrought]

I realize that people have a choice as to their jobs and could choose to have a different job rather than be implanted, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. Having chips planted into the body of an emloyee is pretty darn good place to start.

Doesn't need to be mandatory

[Oldsmobile]

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.

Re:Doesn't need to be mandatory

[starwed]

You missed the point: that some companies were requiring these of their employees.

Re:Doesn't need to be mandatory

[Khammurabi]

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.

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.

Now I do think it's plausible that businesses will start requiring RFID chips to be implanted. The added security precaution will seem very enticing to corporate types. Just start imagining only chipped IT employees being allowed in server rooms, or only "Top Secret" chipped people being allowed into Sandia National Labratories, and you'll start to see the benefits.

The government may toy with the idea, but in the end it will be businesses leading this crusade. Kudos to my home state for being proactive about this.

Re:Doesn't need to be mandatory

[Steffan]

"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."

"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."

Substitute:

• The government will set up 'Free Speech Zones' where protesters must stand, set apart from regular crowds
• People will be held without a trial for indefinite periods of time, without access to counsel and without even public mention made of the fact that they have been imprisoned
• The government will perform wiretaps and searches without specific cause, and without receiving a court order, or with the permission of 'secret courts', the membership and findings of which must remain sealed

I'm sure all of us would have said...

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.

...five years ago...

Re:Doesn't need to be mandatory

[Aladrin]

This is exactly right. And if you don't believe it, think of this:

A driver's license/state ID is -NOT- mandatory. But try to do ANY paperwork without one and you'll see how non-mandatory it really is.

I'm in full support of this law, I just don't think it'll do any good when all is said and done. (Not by itself, anyhow.)

Re:Doesn't need to be mandatory

[Oldsmobile]

Jose Padilla was arrested in Chicago, though as of late has finally been indicted.

Nevertheless, habeus corpus was suspended for four years. Perhaps this means anyone can be arrested without charge for atleast four years?

Re:Doesn't need to be mandatory

[Anonymous Coward]

And both the wars in which they could have been captured (Afghansitan and Iraq) have been declared as over for years - PoWs are supposed to be released as soon as practical after a war is over. As you said, they're there to keep them from jumping back into the fighting, not to punish them for having been fighting.
They seem to fit the definition of a PoW to me, and the fact that the organisations for which they were fighting are not signatories to the Geneva conventions is not a reason to not treat them in accordance with them - The US (the people holding them) ARE signatories and so are bound to treat them in accordance with the conventions (they specifically say this). If they are being held and they aren't PoW then they MUST be held as common criminals and charged swiftly and tried UNDER THE LAWS OF THE PLACE WHERE THEIR ALLEGED CRIMES TOOK PLACE - there is no other (legal) classification of prisoner.

Odd title? Still, good that they are proactive.

[crazyjeremy]

It is good news, but this isn't this titled incorrectly. Shouldn't it be something like "Wisconsin is the first state to pass a law making it illegal for companies to make microchip implants mandatory". The way it's written it sounds like someone has already made chip implants mandatory and Wisconsin is fighting it... They aren't, they are just being a bit proactive (for once).

Small comfort

[BRSQUIRRL]

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.

When "voluntary" is mandatory

[Anonymous Coward]

"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.

Re:When "voluntary" is mandatory

[Tweekster]

Which actually reminds of the idiotic smoking bans in wisconsin currently happening... They are trying to ban it based on worker health reasons...of course those people are now out of jobs due to the massive loss in business bars have been experiencing. They no longer have to worry about second hand smoke, they dont have a job. Those bans may be repealed in certain areas. and there has been talk of a ban in Milwaukee, but the brewery industry will never allow that one to happen thankfully. Restraunts and such I can understand, bars should not be held to those restrictions since you go to a bar to drink poison. Or how about Cigar bars being basically shut down, you cant smoke a cigar in a cigar bar?

So what?

[GuloGulo]

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?

Can't be stolen?

[kratei]

"Procter said VeriChip supports the spirit of Schneider's bill and would not work with companies forcing employees to get implants. However, he said the implants are superior to employee badges or key chains as a way to limit access. "It's more secure. It's discreet and it can't be lost or stolen," he said."

They think an implated microchip can't be stolen? Um, it can't be stolen as easily as a identity card, but I'd rather have my identity card stolen than have some serious crook borrow my microchip.

RIDF overload?

[Anonymous Monkey]

In my wallet I have the following cards: two credit cards, two debit cards (one for a medical flexible spending account), a library card, an AAA Card, a Costco card, a blue cross medical card, a Guardian Dental card, a discount card for the local tire shop, and a zoo membership. In the past I had up to four grocery store discount cards, but I got rid of them. (I keep my geek card in a passport holder around my neck ;-)

I can not imagine the pain my arms would feel with that many chips in them!

Oh, for sure it's voluntary!

[Opportunist]

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.

Americans will do what they always do -- nothing.

[Valdrax]

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.

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.