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VeriChip Implants 222 People With RFID
cnet-declan writes "Anyone remember VeriChip, a company that came up with the idea of implanting chips in humans for tracking them? They've been behind ideas like RFID tagging immigrant and guest workers at the border, and they've persuaded a former Bush Health Secretary to get himself chipped. In this CNET News.com article, we offer an update on how successful the idea has been. It turns out that, according to IPO documents, 222 people have been implanted, with sales revenue of $100,000."
Can someone please explain to me how this is a violation of privacy? I'm seriously curious.
The medical benefits of EMTs being able to instantly know a person's blood type, allergies, and medical history are obvious.
What isn't obvious is why people think short-range RFID is the same as battery-powered wild animal tracking collars. Are they just stupid? Look at the way RFID works. A person CAN NOT use it to track someone as they walk around a city. A device capable of generating the power to operate these over more than a very short distance would be very obvious to spot and would probably break every PDA and wrist-watch in the area. Also, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to survey a large number of RFID devices at the same time because of the way collisions are handled.
If you are afraid of this yet you carry a cellphone, you are a hypocrite. For practical purposes, small* RFID tags are a slightly-longer-range barcode.
*I realize that large tags can be read from greater distances. But that's not what we are talking about here.
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