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California Blocks RFID Implants In Workers

InternetVoting writes "California has passed a bill banning companies from requiring employees to have RFID chips surgically implanted. Already one company has been licensed by the federal government, implanting more than 2000 people. At least one other company — CityWatcher.com, a Cincinnati video surveillance company — already required RFID implants in some employees. 'State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices for use in humans. "RFID is a minor miracle, with all sorts of good uses," Simitian said. "But we shouldn't condone forced 'tagging' of humans. It's the ultimate invasion of privacy.'"

4 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. Good thing slavery was abolished by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Because RFID would make that a lot easier.

  2. Re:Yes... by QuantumLeaper · · Score: 4, Informative

    They tried to get past fingerprint three security systems on Myth Busters, and guess what they made it past ALL of them. It not that hard to fool them, if you take the effort.

  3. Re:The problem is it doesn't work like that by Ian+Alanai · · Score: 5, Informative

    You are confusing some Roman terms with the modern usage of the same terms.

    First off the Senate in Rome was never democratic in nature, even in the days of the Republic, never mind during the Empire. The Senate of the United States bears almost no resemblance to the Roman Senate. (Argumentative old men not withstanding).

    The democratic radicalism that destabilised the later Roman Republic was not embodied by the election of senators but through other more popularist institutions. The political structure of the Roman Republic was fairly complex, it had been in existence for around 500 years by the end.

    Plebeian was not a class distinction, it was a distinction of descent. Some families were 'Patrician' by descent, others 'Plebeian', it was a hangover from some early Roman history. By the late Republic the distinction had zero bearing on wealth, influence or political power. Class distinctions were made on property qualifications, i.e. land ownership and income.

    This is all a bit by the by as in the middle and late Imperial period (which is the period the poster was describing) any vestiges of the old Republic were exactly that, vestiges. The Emperor was an absolute monarch and the Senate was an advisory talking shop of yes-men appointed by the Emperor, at best.

    You have to remember the timescales here. From the early Republic to the days of Augustus is a period of about 500 years. That is a lot of complex history. Then from Augustus to the fall of the Western Empire there is another 500 years. The time of Senatorial government in Rome is separated from the period described by the previous poster by the same length of time that separates modern United States history from Columbus' voyages.

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  4. Re:Yes... by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 3, Informative

    Much in that same way as getting kicked in the balls isn't the "ultimate level of pain", but it still sucks. If it can kill you, then I would classify it as pretty ultimate. Neurogenic shock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurogenic_shock

    For example:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2703355.stm
    The ruling was handed down in a case in which a man had kneed another in the testicles, killing him instantly.

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