Quadius,
I believe you are correct. RFID is not GPS. They don't locate missing people.
Basically an implanted ID card.
Tim
Quadius <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Not quite sure if these things have GPS capability, if they don't, your
analogy about the soldiers doesn't really apply. If there is a GPS type of
chip, why don't our soldiers have them when they are in a combat zone?
Just my two cents.
Quadius
On 5/18/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I've heard
that social security numbers are the mark of the beast, and so are drivers
liscenses and credit card numbers. If our soldiers had rfid there wouldn't be
three missing soldiers getting tortured to death or even missing bodies. If you
have alzhiemers you should be allowed rfid to help locate you for your own
safety. If you believe rfid is the mark of the beast you should be forced to
wear an aluminum foil beany so the rest of us know who the mentally defective
people are without having to talk to them.
john
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thu, 17 May 2007 7:19 PM
Subject: [QUAD-L] Plan to 'chip' Alzheimer's patients causes protest/(Are we
next?)
Plan to 'chip' Alzheimer's patients causes protest 19 May 2007
NewScientist.com news service Celeste Biever IT LOOKS deceptively familiar.
The patient rolls up his sleeve, the doctor sticks a needle into his arm,
and soon it's all over. But this is no routine vaccination. Instead, the
patient has been injected with a fleck of silicon that will uniquely
identify him when zapped with radio waves. Now, nearly three years after their
use was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, implantable radio
frequency identification (RFID) chips are the focus of a new controversy.
The battle lines are being drawn in a quiet corner of West Palm Beach, Florida.
On 12 May, some 30 protesters held an inter-faith prayer vigil (pictured
above) outside Alzheimer's Community Care, a day-care facility for people
with dementia. At issue is the facility's plan to implant 200 patients with
microchips manufactured and donated by VeriChip of nearby Delray
Beach. When scanned, the chip reveals a unique ID number, which when
entered into a password-protected database gives access to medical information
about its owner. If the plan goes ahead, it will be the first time the
technology has been tried on a group of people with a specific mental
impairment. The forgetfulness that comes with Alzheimer's can make it
impossible for people with the condition to pass on vital information when
faced with a medical emergency, which is why advocates are keen to make use
of RFID chips with this group. "If for whatever reason - an automobile
accident or hurricane - the person becomes separated from their loved one,
they are totally, totally helpless. They can't share what medically is wrong
with them," says Mary Barnes of Alzheimer's Community Care. "This could be a
safety net." Privacy advocates say that it is precisely this helplessness
that makes the proposed use of the tags unacceptable. "This is a
community that is not in a position to give fully informed consent or to
say no," says Katherine Albrecht of CASPIAN, an Internet-based consumer rights
organisation. "The nature of the disease is that they can't fully
understand." Albrecht likens "the violent and invasive act" of implanting a
chip in someone who does not have the ability to consent to the act of rape.
Others agree with the sentiment, if not the comparison. "This is by definition
a way of doing something that denies a person control," says Lee Tien of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "If that doesn't strike at
the heart of human dignity, I don't know what does." He and Albrecht would
rather see a chip implanted in a bracelet. Barnes says a bracelet would
not be nearly as useful. People might remove it if it got uncomfortable,
especially those with Alzheimer's, who might not understand why they should
wear it. Bracelets could also label people as
mentally ill, whereas an implanted chip is much less obvious, says Rick
Rader of the Orange Grove Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The centre,
which cares for children with Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism, was
in the media spotlight two years ago when it considered using VeriChip's
device in a similar study on its patients, a plan that has since been put on
the back burner. At the time there was an outcry from those who saw an
implantable RFID as reminiscent of the "mark of the beast", as described in
the book of Revelations. As explained on Albrecht's website, the Bible
states that people who take the mark of the beast - a mark on the right hand
or the forehead that contains a number or a name that is required for buying
and selling - will receive a "grievous sore" as well as the "wrath of God",
while those who refuse will be rewarded. It is something Albrecht, a
Christian, takes seriously. "I don't think anyone is arguing that the
VeriChip implant in its current incarnation would meet that definition," she
says. "But the concern for many people is that this would be a necessary
precursor to getting to that point and therefore probably should be objected
to." From issue 2604 of New Scientist magazine, 19 May 2007, page 14
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