Microchips for bowser; Now for you

Wasn't it great when our pets could be tagged with microchips so they could always be returned to us in case they got lost? Well, now, in case we get lost, we are going to be microchipped too. This experiment in Indonesia, a country with neither the R&D or manufacturing technology to produce such an item, is now going to use AIDS patients as human guinea pigs to test human microchip implants. In case you are thinking, NO WAY!, I urge you to google or search this blog for NSPD 59 which gives the US government the right to do just that.

The most disturbing aspect of all this are the naysayers who have been denying that these plans are in the making, mostly because such information disturbed their sense of tranquility and security. Now there is little to be done about it: the laws are passed (in camera obscura), the R&D is finished and the chips have been manufactured. Only the testing is left and it begins this month.

Indonesian state to monitor
AIDS patients with microchips

24-11-2008
Source
Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips -- part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease.

Health workers and rights activists sharply criticized the plan Monday.

But legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of ''sexually aggressive'' patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others with up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine.

The idea of implanting anyone with a microchip against their will is bad enough, but I can only imagine the possibilities for abuse on a government panel tasked with deciding which patients are "sexually aggressive" enough to qualify.

If you are still skeptical, as I know I would be, have a look at the University of Washingtons's test of RFID Ecosystems, reprinted below for your convenience.


The RFID Ecosystem Project

The RFID Ecosystem is a large-scale project with participants from various research groups at the University of Washington's Department of Computer Science and Engineering. The project investigates user-centered RFID systems in connection with technology, business, and society. Past research on user applications of RFID has been limited to short-term technology and user studies in restricted scenarios. In contrast, the RFID Ecosystem provides a living laboratory for long-term, in-depth research in applications, databases, privacy, security, and systems.

A central question in this research is in the balance between privacy and utility. Are there user-centered RFID applications that are truly useful? If so, how can they be designed to minimize loss of privacy? Finally, if these applications are indeed useful, does the utility outweigh the potential loss of privacy? We seek to answer these questions through careful, long-term user studies in which participation is optional and participants have control over their data and may opt out at any time.

To this end, we have deployed a permanent, building-wide RFID test-bed in the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering that includes hundreds of RFID readers and thousands of tags. The overarching goal of the project is to inform the community (including businesses and policy makers) of the risks, benefits, and challenges of user-centered RFID systems while proposing technological solutions whenever possible - and to do so before such systems become commonplace.

FAQ OF THE DAY:
How will study participants carry the RFID tags, will they be implanted beneath the skin?

Those who choose to participate after the informed consent process (in which any questions will be answered as clearly and precisely as possible) will be asked to carry one or more EPC Gen 2 RFID tags. The tags to be used are paper thin and about the size of a credit card, participants will carry these tags in whatever way suits them. No tags will be implanted beneath the skin.

Please read our FAQ page for more information!

Want to know if the hardware is real and commercially available? Or how it works?

Visit Skytek

"Beyond the raw technology used in communicating between tags and readers, RFID consists of a rich ecosystem of software, hardware and services designed to manage the vast amounts of data RFID creates. The following image depicts this ecosystem in terms of how SkyeTek contributes value in addition to its partners."

Still unconvinced?

Visit You tube.

Aaron Russo
IBM Verichip 4th Reich
Verichips in soldiers
Microchips for bird flu (for you too)

And here is your new passport (and driver's licence).