Applied Digital Seeks To
Microchip
Americans
By
Laura MacInnis
11-15-2
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
Washington forum debated on Friday the benefits and hazards posed by a
new way of identifying people with a microchip implanted under their
skin to replace conventional paper identification.
-
- The heated debate at the National Academies, a
non-profit think-tank advising the government on matters of technology
and science, focused on the threat to individual privacy versus the
convenience of switching to a chip.
-
- Implanted microchips have long been used in the animal
kingdom, to track wildlife and to help pet owners recover their lost
animals, but the idea of using them on humans has sparked fierce
criticism from scientists and privacy advocates alike.
-
- "We have absolutely no data about this particular
product and about the implications over the long term if Americans are
chipped," Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center in Washington, said.
-
- Applied Digital Solutions Inc. ADSX.O says its glass
capsule the size of a grain of rice, injected into forearms and other
fleshy body parts, could help authorities find missing persons and speed
up medical diagnosis treatment.
-
- The VeriChip, a scannable device worn under the skin
and encrypted with personal information like medical records and
emergency contacts, was unveiled last year in Florida.
-
- So far about 20 people have been "chipped," including
an entire family in Florida.
-
- "I can't feel them at all," said Richard Seeling, an
Applied Digital executive who has implanted two microchips into his
right forearm to test the product. "Most of the time I forget they're
there until someone asks about it."
-
- Seeling said the chips were both painless and safe but
scientists at the National Academies said too little was known about the
device and warned it could pose health risks like infections and
immunity disorders for bearers.
-
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled in October
it would not regulate the device so long as it was not used for medical
purposes such as diagnosis.
-
- This left Applied Digital free to market the chip for
personal identification and security, for instance locating missing
children or identifying car accident victims.
-
- "I do think there could be beneficial uses,
particularly for Alzheimer's patients, but on a large scale this is
essentially a system of control," Rotenberg said.
-
- Privacy advocates worry the microchip could spell the
end of anonymity in the United States, particularly if authorities began
requiring people to wear them to meet conditions of parole, employment
or border crossings.
-
- Seeling said each chip costs about $200, and that
scanner devices needed to read the data would be targeted for sale to
police, hospitals, schools and other agencies across the United
States.
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The Mulindwas
communication group
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