-Caveat Lector- ----- Original Message ----- From: "ScanThisNews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ScanThisNews Recipients List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2000 8:32 AM Subject: [FP] FW: Digital Angel > ====================================================================== > SCAN THIS NEWS > 9.30.2000 > > -----Original Message----- > From: phillip hudok [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2000 7:13 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Fwd: Digital Angel > > > > > Digital Angel > > Microchip implants for humans may eliminate autonomy any day > > - - - - - - - - - - - - > > by Katherine Mieszkowski and staff reporters > >([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > BoulderWeekly.com > > > > Worry no more, doting parents! Whether it's your little pumpkin's > >first day walking home from school by herself or the millionth time you've > >lost her at the mall, the Babysitterª will track your sweetpea's location > >using a jellybean-sized microchip implant, discreetly tucked under the skin > >of her collarbone. You'll be able to chart her every move. What better way > >to give her independence, and put your mind at ease? > > > > Also available: The Constant Companionª lets you keep a watchful eye > >on grandma and grandpa, even when you can't be by their side; The Invisible > >Bodyguardª offers freedom from fear so you can enjoy the fauna and foliage > >when eco-tourism takes you to kidnapping-hot spots around the globe. Coming > >soon: The INS Border Patrollerª; the Maximum Security Guardª; the Personal > >Private Eyeª; the Micro-Managerª. > > > > Alas, this is not as far-fetched or as futuristic as it sounds. The > >whoa-dude notion of surveillance chips being installed in human beings is > >poised to cross over from the realm of science fiction into everyday > >reality, and soon. One technology with the deliciously sci-fi name of the > >"Digital Angel," a prototype of which will be unveiled next month, could be > >implanted under the skin and used to monitor not only the chip-wearer's > >location, but vital signs like heart rate and body temperature. Other > >devices, worn externally like bracelets or pagers, are already in use and > >invite us to embrace electronic monitoring in specific environments like a > >theme park, college campus or construction site for our fun, health or > >safety. > > > > The technology was born in Boulder, where Destron Corporation > >invented the microchip implant for pet and livestock identification. Unlike > >the Digital Angel, which evolved from animal implant technology, the > >Destron chips are designed transmit only a few feet to a scanner. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > Spying on salmon > > Today, the chips and a variety of imitations, are in millions of > >American dogs and cats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implants them in > >salmon to track their migration habits and survival trends in the Snake and > >Columbia Rivers. Ducts that bypass hydro-electric dams have been outfitted > >with scanners that collect data as the fish swim by. > > > > Although Destron never intended for chips to be implanted in humans, > >the company's technology led to it. > > > > "On one hand, society has a tremendous need for a practical > >identification system for humans," says Bob Stewart, of Boulder, who was > >the head of engineering for Destron before the company moved to Minneapolis > >in 1992. "More than a half million Americans have their identities stolen > >every year. On the other hand, implanting chips into humans brings up > >serious issues of privacy and Big Brother. It conjures images of Nazis > >branding Jews for easy identification." > > > > What's also disturbing is just how quickly these devices, which only > >recently would have been laughed off as a cyborg fantasy, are becoming > >accepted. Amazingly, it was but two years ago that a British cybernetics > >professor pulled what then seemed like a futuristic stunt: temporarily > >installing electronics in his arm to control his computer remotely. > > > > Now having a personal chip is becoming, well, not quite the norm but > >a ready possibility. Kevin Warwick, the cybernetics prof, says, "As the > >topic becomes more accessible in the media, people get used to the idea; > >it's not such a frightening thing...If it's not there this year, it's only > >a year or two downstream." A Japanese firm is already testing chips to > >track lost relatives. And the New York Times, in a nod to what its editors > >imagine the future might hold now that the human genome project is > >complete, asked several designers to suggest how we might carry around a > >chip encoded with our unique genetic sequence "for perfect identification > >in matters medical, official, criminal or otherwise." Some of the > >possibilities portrayed in the July 9 Sunday magazine: a "decoder" ring, an > >implant in the human iris to be read with a retinal scanner, even an > >oval-shaped "genegg" for the belly button. > > > > Stewart agrees that implant technology has an amazing future of > >sinister and productive applications. He disagrees, however, that it's only > >a few years out. > > > > "It's a bit of a stretch to say in just a few years we'll be able to > >track all sorts of people with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) > >technology and read all sorts of information about them," Stewart says. > >"The developers of Digital Angel would like to convince investors of that. > >But in reality, we're talking about a significant amount of functionality > >in one very small space. I suspect it's going to be 10 to 15 years before > >we see the successful, wide-scale use of this technology." > > > > The ability to simply scan and identify pets, for example, was a > >long row to hoe. Destron began developing the technology in Boulder back in > >1970s. Only in the mid 1990s did the technology advance to the point where > >veterinarians, pet owners and animal shelters trusted it enough to start > >buying chips and scanners. Today, however, the system works well. Lost pets > >are scanned. If a small glass rice-sized capsule containing a chip has been > >installed in the pet, it transmits a number. A coinciding number on a > >central registry reveals the pet owners address and phone number. > > > > But Digital Angel promoters counter critics, such as Stewart, by > >reminding them that technology advances exponentially. And with commercial > >interests hard at work to spread the gospel of human tracking and > >monitoring voluntarily, and for our own good, of course and others > >normalizing chip implantation, it might not be too soon to start preparing > >for a whole new silicon craze. Excuse me, but is that a chip in your ass? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > The power problem > > GPS technology already exists to track us wherever we might care to > >go the problem is keeping the sensor up and running, giving off signals all > >the time from inside of our bodies. Thus far, the biggest technological > >challenge is energy; a tracking chip needs a power source. Think how > >annoying it would be to have to plug your arm into the wall to recharge > >yourself like a pesky cellphone; besides, it would make it near-impossible > >to thwart kidnappers or retrieve lost kiddies if rescuers didn't find the > >missing subject before the charge died. There's also the vexing dilemma of > >getting the chip and its power source small enough for comfort and > >aesthetics. Who wants an unsightly chip bulge? > > > > Chris Hables Gray, an associate professor of computer science and > >the cultural study of science and technology at the University of Great > >Falls in Montana, says that researchers have been working to find just such > >a small, self-generating power source by tapping everything from body heat > >to the electrical pulses in the muscles. There's even been talk of putting > >teensy-weensy nanotechnology machines to work as miniature waterwheels in > >the bloodstream so the heart itself could be the power source. The heart > >running your chip: It's practically poetic. > > > > Dr. Daniel Man, a famous plastic surgeon in Boca Raton, Fla., holds > >the patent for an implantable microchip, encased in glass, with a battery > >he says can be recharged by radio signal. > > > > And one company claims that it has the ultimate solution to the > >power-source conundrum. It has a patent on "the solution," although > >executives won't yet reveal the technical details of how it actually works. > >Applied Digital Solutions didn't invent it, but purchased the patent for a > >"personal tracking and recovery system," which the company has dubbed > >Digital Angel. > > > > According to CEO Richard Sullivan, Digital Angel combines GPS > >wireless communications with biosensors, powered by body heat in the form > >of a dime-sized chip, which can be embedded in a watch, bracelet or > >medallion, even under your flesh should the FDA approve such an invasive > >thing. > > > > "It's like a live radio signal all the time," he says. Sullivan sees > >a $100 billion potential market for the technology, which is still under > >development with help from researchers at Princeton University and the New > >Jersey Institute of Technology. The company will hold a gala in New York in > >October to show off the prototype, and try to drum up investment to finance > >actual products. > > > > "They're going to use this event to stir up a lot of excitement, and > >will probably try to make it sound as if this is all just right around the > >corner," says Stewart. "It's on the horizon, but I'm skeptical that this is > >going to work the way they say it will anytime in the next few years." > > > Miracle cures > > Considering the potential applications, should the thing actually > >work as the company claims it does? Just use your imagination, folks. > >Sullivan envisions kiddies having their own Digital Angels watching over > >them in case of a snatching. Or caretakers installing them in patients with > >Alzheimer's disease to prevent the old folks from wandering off. And just > >wait until the military gets a load of this one in every soldier to track > >not only their whereabouts, but their very mortality, in real time. No > >future questions about prisoners of war are they dead or alive and where > >are they? some 30 years after a conflict on foreign turf. > > > > The device could save the lives of employees in extremely hazardous > >workplaces, such as nuclear power plants. > > > > Come to think of it, a medallion worn around the neck that's powered > >by your very body heat doesn't seem any more invasive than some of the > >things that companies already do to their employees, so why not a chip in > >every last cube? Better still, dispense with those pesky keycards to get in > >and out of the office, and just have the whole thing implanted in your left > >butt cheek. > > > > If you're not already wondering how you and your loved ones made it > >this far without a single chip implant, just consider all the medical > >applications. Picture a system that would constantly monitor a heart > >disease sufferer's pulse rate or a diabetes patient's sugar levels and > >notify medical help when things were looking dangerous. We accept > >pacemakers as a necessary and important technology to extend and enhance > >the quality of lives. How is this any different? > > > > Sullivan brushes off concerns about privacy by promising that the > >chip-wearer will be able to control when he or she is, uh, switched on, > >although he won't yet say how exactly that will work. The Digital Angel > >website puts it bluntly: "The unit can be turned off by the wearer, thereby > >making the monitoring voluntary. It will not intrude on personal privacy > >except in applications applied to the tracking of criminals." > > > > > > Inevitable abuse > > Maybe so, but the potential for abuse is so ludicrously high that > >it's almost impossible to overstate. You can just see the Michael > >Douglas-Sharon Stone Hollywood version, where the jealous husband gives an > >opulent anniversary watch with the chip inside it to his cheating wife, so > >he can obsessively monitor her movements, her body temperature, the very > >acceleration of the pounding of her heart rate...until she figures it out, > >and puts the chip to work against him. > > > > To makers of tracking technologies, these Big Brother worst-case > >scenarios sound like the same griping that has met all sorts of other > >advancements we now blithely accept, like Social Security numbers, credit > >cards that catalog our every purchase and even e-mail. > > > > "We believe that the benefits of the technology to a parent looking > >for a child at a theme park or a student feeling safe walking across campus > >far outweigh some of those concerns," says Tom Turner, senior vice > >president of marketing and business development for a company called > >WhereNet, which makes a technology that can be used to find people or > >objects in a specific, local environment. "It's individual choice." > > > > So far, WhereNet has licensed its technology to companies that make > >bracelets worn on the wrist or pager-like devices carried in a pocket or > >purse. It's in use at Water World, a water theme park southeast of Boulder, > >and on the campuses of the University of South Florida in Tampa and the > >University of South Alabama in Mobile. Turner sees a future for such > >gadgets on cruise ships, in gated communities and at shopping malls. > > > > Stewart says once the technology is reliable, chips could be > >programmed to screen potential customers. Imagine a world in which one must > >be embedded with a microchip in order to enter major shopping malls. > >Imagine if the courts could program the chips in repeat-offender > >shoplifters to set off a buzzer if they enter stores that want to screen > >them out. > > > > How about chips that warn potential employers of applicants with > >criminal records? All of this may sound extreme today, but the potential > >economic ramifications could make such exercises politically popular. > >Americans have shown time and time again a willingness to exchange privacy > >and a variety of civil liberties for safety and security. A recent survey > >determined that the average American, for example, is subject to the > >scrutiny of public and private surveillance cameras installed in > >businesses, on highways and in a variety of public venues three times a > >day. Yet there's little public outcry from the public. TV executives have > >even managed to popularize the practice with low-budget shows in which the > >audience watches tape of people involved in crimes and automobile > >accidents. > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Just keep us safe > > Brendan Fitzgerald minces no words regarding the profit potential in > >products that enhance safety and security to consumers. Fitzgerald is > >president of Microgistics, which produces a device call WalkMate. It's to > >be used by college students to alert campus police if they're in danger. > >Remember the gang rape of a University of Colorado Student last year? What > >if cops could have found her while the crime was in progress? The > >potential, in cases like that, give some Americans warm and fuzzy feelings > >about Big Brother. Bring on Big Brother and let him kick the criminal > >element's collective ass. > > > > Fitzgerald thinks the benefits of human tracking technology are > >clearly greater than the risks. "If you were working in a hazardous > >industrial environment, you would want to know that you could push a button > >and have someone help you if you need help. 'I fell into the vat of boiling > >acid!'" The safety-first logic is hard to argue with, even when it starts > >to veer from help when you need it to totally transparent surveillance when > >you're at work. > > > > Sullivan, of Applied Digital Systems, dismisses nagging doubts about > >what it means to literally wire ourselves up. "By our own nature, we tend > >to avoid things we know the least about and gravitate towards those that we > >do know. Some of the things that have made the most positive contributions > >to our lives are the things that there are the most concern about. Like any > >technology, it's really in the hands of the user," he says. Translation: > >It's Galileo vs. the Church all over again. > > > > OK, Dr. Jekyll, you've convinced us. We're ready for our implants. > >Let us be the first to sign up for our very own chip body modifications. > >What list do we put our names on? In fact, we want our chips secured on the > >outside of our skin in order to show them off and impress everyone as to > >just how wired we've become. Surely it will be the next big thing filling > >the void left by the waning trendiness of tattoos, piercing, scarification. > >Visualize "chipification." > > > > However fashionable or discreet tracking devices might become, not > >everyone is titillated by the possibilities. "I think most people would be > >repulsed by the idea. This is just a sort of modern version of tattooing > >people, something that for obvious reasons the Nazis tattooed numbers on > >people no one proposes," says Bob Gellman, a Washington privacy consultant. > >"You can do anything you want voluntarily. You can tattoo a bar code on > >your forehead if you want." > > > > But the real question, as he sees it, is who will be able to demand > >that a chip be implanted in another person a parent in a child; a prison > >warden in an inmate; the INS in an undocumented illegal alien found in the > >country; an employer in an employee as a condition of being hired? A judge, > >tired of seeing the same shoplifters, or drunk drivers, over and over > >again? > > > > Isn't this illegal? > > > > "I'm sure there's a strong argument that implanting a chip in a > >person is unconstitutional. It would be cruel and unusual punishment," > >Gellman says. And for now the legal and social questions of who could turn > >such a chip on or off and who would have access to the information > >generated by such a chip is "a totally unexplored area," says Gellman, > >adding: "And probably one better off left unexplored." > > > > Others see the chipification of humans as all but inevitable. > >Professor Chris Hables Gray, a self-proclaimed "cyborgologist" and author > >of the forthcoming book Cyborg Citizen, says it really doesn't matter > >whether or not the Digital Angel flies in October. "If this company doesn't > >do it, someone else will," he says. And watch out when they do. > > > > "They will start implanting them in prisoners, parolees, child > >abusers, sex offenders and drunk drivers," he predicts. Gray says that it's > >been a military project for some 20 years to find a way to track every > >soldier on the battlefield. Remember when Oklahoma City bomber Timothy > >McVeigh complained of having been a part of a Gulf War experiment that > >implanted a chip in his butt? "McVeigh kept saying that he was being > >controlled by a chip in his ass," says Gray. The cyborgologist isn't saying > >he believes the bomber, of course, but cites circumstantial evidence that > >the military may have been experimenting with such tracking devices, and > >"if the military starts to say we will put these chips into every Marine's > >ass, they have no protection from that." > > > > > "There's a chip in my head" > > For several years in the late 1990s, Boulder Weekly editors and > >writers were treated to routine visits by a former Disneyland employee who > >insisted the company had rendered him unconscious to implant a chip in his > >head. He begged Boulder Weekly to pay for surgery to remove the chip, in > >return for the opportunity to photograph the procedure. We passed, but > >couldn't help but wonder what types of conspiracy theories would emerge > >should society ever accept the overt use of human implant technology. > > > > No matter how creepy some Americans find the prospect of implant > >technology, no one can stop its creation. "Technology is continually > >trumping the constitutional guarantees that we have," says Gray. He'd like > >to see protections against the misuse of such chips as they become > >commercially available: "Citizens could ask for a law that made it a crime > >to put these into a person without their permission, and to forbid, under > >any conditions, for the government to put these into prisoners, parolees, > >illegal aliens, soldiers, citizens." He's even proposed "only half joking" > >a "Cyborg Bill of Rights" to help ensure that "new technologies are chosen > >democratically and we do not have to accept every new technology that > >invades our freedoms." > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Social security is the bane of individual liberty. - SAM > ====================================================================== > Don't believe anything you read on the Net unless: > 1) you can confirm it with another source, and/or > 2) it is consistent with what you already know to be true. > ====================================================================== > Reply to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > ====================================================================== > This is a copy of ScanThisNews, sent to contributors. 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