Guest guest Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Heads up, future cyborgs! Implantable chips are back in the news, with the current focus on a tiny chip that can be injected into your body, then used to identify and monitor you. Media reports are calling it “the stuff of science fiction,” and Reuters likened it to something from the 1999 blockbuster film, “The Matrix.” Referring to the chip, David Coursey of ZDNet contends that “even paranoia has a point,” and John Soat of Information Week predicts that now “the call for a national ID system takes on a whole new meaning.” At the center of the worldwide media stir: the announcement by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Fla. (Nasdaq: ADSX) of its implantable “VeriChip.” In a post-9/11 landscape, where various high-tech security systems are vying for supremacy and a lasting relationship with the government, ADS wants its piece of the pie. These high-tech security systems have sparked a renewed debate over how best to profit from emergent identification technologies while maintaining a fair balance between civil liberties and the increased need for homeland security. Critics of the chip express concerns over the specter of persons being injected with the chips against their will, perhaps surreptitiously in conjunction with a routine vaccination. In addition, they are concerned about the possibility of such chips eventually being mandated by the government as a form of ID. But let’s separate the science from the fiction. What is the VeriChip? How does it work? What is its potential relationship to government? Is it really a potential threat to civil liberties - or a life-saving miracle of science? ‘Enhance present forms of ID’ The VeriChip is a syringe-injectable radio-frequency device about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. It’s designed to carry a unique ID number and other critical personal data. Once injected, the chip can be activated by an external scanner, and radio frequency signals then transmit the ID number and other stored information to a telephone, the Internet or an FDA-compliant data-storage site. Its initial use is being touted as an ID for medical implants, such as heart-regulating devices and artificial joints. The chip can hold info on required settings, the device’s original components, and other essential parameters. It is also a ready source of data about the implantee’s identity and medical condition. As WorldNetDaily reported in March 2000, Applied Digital Solutions is also pushing use of the chip for emergency and security applications, to “enhance present forms of ID,” to enable search-and-rescue operations, and assist in various law enforcement activities. The company contends that its technology is superior to biometric technologies, pointing out that implantation makes it a “tamper-proof” means of identification, “substantially diminishing theft, loss, duplication or counterfeit.” Are critics’ concerns over privacy and tracking capabilities of the chip legitimate? Or are they just the technophobic squawkings of a collective pen of “Chicken Littles”? The Los Angeles Times contends that “these chips are not true tracking devices” and that “the next generation of body chips, which transmit signals from a distance is still several years away.” Futurist Paul Saffo says, “This is rightly going to prompt a debate … but the good news is we still have years to figure it out.” Do we? To truly understand the future potential of this technology, it is necessary to look back to perhaps one of the most underreported events of 2000. Back to the future The event was the private unveiling of ADS’s prototypical Digital Angel technology - a technology centered around an implantable chip that, once injected into a human being, allows it to be tracked in real time via GPS (Global Positioning System), the information then relayed wirelessly to the Internet, where the person’s location, movements and vital signs can be remotely monitored and stored in a database. The company first announced that it had acquired the rights to this device in December of 1999. Company documents described Digital Angel as “an implantable transceiver … inserted just under the skin … that sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by GPS. When implanted in a body the device is powered electromagnetically by muscle movement and can be triggered by the ‘wearer’ or the monitoring facility.” Implantation of Digital Angel was said to be “future” and “subject to FDA approval,” with its preliminary use being outside the body, in the form of a wristwatch. The strategy implied a “Phase I - Phase 2” approach: using the technology outside the body first, followed by a Phase 2 for implantation, dictated by the need to wait for FDA approval as well as the need to gain popular acceptance. Prior to the unveiling of the prototype, Applied Digital Solutions CEO Richard Sullivan issued a statement intended to underline the “historic first” of this “breakthrough in communications technology.” He announced that Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta would attend the private event. “We’re extremely pleased that Secretary Mineta will attend our Digital Angel demonstration,” said Sullivan. “Secretary Mineta has been a champion of ‘digital inclusion’ - making access to digital technologies more widely accessible to all segments of society.” The CEO added: “He has been an advocate of creating viable partnerships between the public and private sectors as part of a national digital inclusion campaign. We believe our Digital Angel technology has enormous potential along these lines.” “In fact,” added Sullivan, “Digital Angel represents an exciting ‘new frontier’ in the digital revolution.” The announcement followed Mineta’s appearance as keynote speaker at the Inland Empire Technology Summit for ADS subsidiary Timely Technology Corporation. The focus of that event was said to be “sharing insight concerning current and future impact of technology on government, on education and on our daily lives.” The unveiling of Digital Angel was held the evening of Oct. 30, 2000, at Cipriani’s of 42nd St. in New York City. The invitation-only event was closed to the public, and was made up mainly of members of the government, the military, private investors and Wall Street analysts. Media presence was scant. Some of those in attendance were surprised to find that not only was Mineta in attendance, but he was featured as the keynote speaker of the evening. Advising Clinton on ‘digital inclusion’ On a futuristic set, bathed in a purplish light, CEO Richard Sullivan took the podium welcoming attendees to “the future.” He stressed that the evening was special because “we have a number of very important government officials with us this evening … including … Norman Mineta.” Sullivan emphasized Mineta’s role in “helping to develop technology and e-commerce” and added: “As if all that weren’t enough … Secretary Mineta personally advises the president of the United States [then President Clinton] on all matters concerning commerce, economics and Digital Inclusion. …” Mineta was further portrayed as a “champion of forging effective partnerships between the public and private sectors.” Sullivan made clear that “this idea of forging ‘partnerships’ is one of the main reasons the secretary is here this evening … and why we’re so excited about having him here with us.” After introducing Mineta, the two shook hands as Sullivan announced: “I just want to say how delighted we are at Applied Digital Solutions to launch an exciting new partnership with you and the federal government in the important area of digital inclusion.” Mineta, flanked by four bodyguards, gave a keynote address underscoring the value of working together to build coalitions, and of partnering with “firms like yours” so that the “elderly and less fortunate” might benefit from the “great technological revolution.” He underscored the historic chance to spread the benefits of the information technology to everyone in society, and emphasized the importance of digital technology to America’s economy, emphasizing the importance of information technology in the economic success of the U.S. Mineta added: “I applaud you, Dick Sullivan, for your success and the direction you are taking with Applied Digital Solutions. … As a nation, we cannot afford to miss out on this technology.” $100 billion marketplace Much was made throughout the evening of the importance of digital technology to the U.S. economy. Economically, what was at stake was a projected $100 billion marketplace for Digital Angel. Critics have claimed this figure is impossible unless universal implantation mandated by government was being considered. Conservative estimates for use in the U.S. were said to be $70 billion, characterized as 26 potential vertical markets. A company spokesman, who asked not to be named, revealed that the $70 billion projection was provided by McKinsey & Co. management consultants. Randy Geissler, CEO of Digital Angel.net Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, said that strong alliances were key to Digital Angel’s success, and that the company’s close partnerships with Raytheon-Hughes, the U.S. Department of Energy and pharmaceutical giants like “Schering-Plough” meant that the company was well-positioned for success. Geissler was the former head of the animal-tagging company Destron Fearing. ADS acquired the company in order to leverage its management experience and relevant technologies, like its trademarked “BioBond,” a polymer sheath used to coat the glass-encased chip, causing fibrocytes and collagen fibers to grow around the chip, preventing migration of the chip through body tissue. Under the guise of Destron Fearing, Digital Angel has won FCC licensing approval of the frequencies needed for widespread tracking of humans. The most anticipated part of the event was the actual demonstration of the technology, described as a “show” by Chief Scientist Dr. Peter Zhou. A former research scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, and a holder of advanced degrees in solid state physics and materials science from the Beijing University of Science and Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, Zhou also has numerous patents in the field of electronic detection systems. Zhou announced that an ADS engineer equipped with the chip would be tracked through the streets of Manhattan. Attendees watched as the engineer’s location and movements were tracked in real-time via GPS, relayed wirelessly to the Internet, and displayed on a large screen before the audience. The computer screen represented the engineer’s location as a red arrow on a large color street map of New York City. The red arrow moved forward, backward, to the left or right, as the engineer, miles away, moved through the city. A separate Internet screen displayed the employee’s pulse and body temperature for the past two weeks. Not all of the medical monitoring capabilities of the technology were displayed, such as monitoring heart patients, or using blood-oxygen analysis to determine if the subject being monitored is awake or asleep. The person monitoring the subject can even tell exactly where on the continuum between waking and sleeping he is. How it works The building blocks of Digital Angel technology are a convergence of micro-electronics, information technology and life sciences. The centerpiece is an implantable microchip. It includes an antenna that receives signals from GPS satellites and collects biological information from embedded bio-sensors. At the request of the ground station, it will send these two groups of information to the monitoring center, through different levels of ground stations and Internet systems. It has a built-in GPS receiver and a wireless transceiver. To communicate potential uses of Digital Angel, a video of edited news reports was shown, depicting human tragedies that might have been avoided had the technology been used. These included the death of a tractor-trailer driver who fell asleep at the wheel, as well as the search for missing children. The potential applications for Digital Angel advocated by ADS were stunning in their scope and novelty. Also notable were the number of items that would make the government a customer. Applications included medical monitoring: enabling a doctor to remotely access a “wearer’s” vital signs and analyze them, as well as detect potential problems before he was even aware of symptoms. Of course, “the doctor would know where to locate the patient.” Security applications included locating kidnap victims, lost children, autistic persons and the elderly. Warfare applications promised to enable commanders to “always know where their soldiers are located and whether they are alive or wounded.” In this capacity, Digital Angel was said to be “an invaluable aid, both tactically and strategically.” In the realm of personal identification, the company stressed that “requiring this ID for logon would prevent unauthorized access to computers.” The suggestion was also made that in this context, Digital Angel could conceivably become a universal standard for computer access security, superior to all other systems, because other systems reside in the machine, not the person. However, this estimate discounted viable biometric logon set-ups, such as Compaq’s fingerprint scanner. Law enforcement uses recommended for Digital Angel included its use “to track parolees, people under house arrest, and individuals in witness protection programs.” Use of the chip was even advocated as a method of gun control, preventing “unauthorized use of firearms.” It was predicted that overall, “Digital Angel will become an interface between the human and electronic networks.” Early press coverage of Digital Angel was scarce, but news reports and commentaries by WorldNetDaily and a few others generated sufficient grass-roots protests to ADS over implantation plans that the company backed away temporarily from talking about subcutaneous microchips, and using terms like “cashless society.” Implantation? What implantation? Indeed, two weeks prior to the Oct. 30, 2000, prototype demonstration, references to human implantation were removed from the company’s website, including references in archived press releases, and the fact that the implantable “future” version of Digital Angel would be “subject to FDA approval.” Also removed from the site was a description of the company as the “pioneer and developer of syringe-injectable, miniaturized microchip technology for implantation under the skin,” the method of implantation said to be “similar to a routine vaccination” - the microchip said to contain the “individual’s unique ID number,” which would be “stored permanently, just under the skin, where it cannot be lost or altered.” The microchip was said to remain for “the life of the individual with the unique ID number intact.” The wording was exactly the same as that used under the Destron Fearing animal-tracking page, with the substitution of “individual” for “animal.” Although these references to human implantation were removed from the website, there are archived versions in various forms preserved on individual home pages and other areas of the Internet. During his speech, Sullivan sought to allay concerns over implantation, by denying that the company ever had such plans: “Let me be very clear on one important point,” he said. “This potential marketplace is for an attachable device … something worn on the outside … close to the skin. We’re not even planning on or even considering any other applications at this time. Only external uses! All our energy, all our focus … all our effort is in this direction, period. Any other approach or suggestion is purely hypothetical speculation at this time.” Following Sullivan’s speech, this reporter asked Dr. Zhou if he had been quoted correctly by WorldNetDaily in a previous interview, when he reportedly said: “Before there may have been resistance, but not anymore. People are getting used to implants. New century, new trend.” And, “We will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence and our own soul.” He indicated that he had, in fact, been quoted correctly. In comments following the demonstration, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Keith Bolton, drink in hand, expressed exasperation over implantation protests coming from a “noisy 20 percent,” whom he identified as Christians who believe the Digital Angel chip is the “mark of the beast.” He was sure “the other 80 percent wouldn’t mind.” “Besides,” he added, “FDA approval could take years, and we can start making money off of this thing now!” As recently as June, 2001, the company continued to deny implantation plans, when it offered a response statement to be posted on Declan McCullagh’s Politech website. The statement asserted, “We are not now developing, nor do we have any plans to develop anything other than an external, wearable device.” At the conclusion of the event, private investors like Nathan Rosenblatt indicated that they were waiting to see more details of the partnership with the government unveiled before investing. Dr. Yongguang Chen and Dr. Duanyi Wang called Digital Angel a “great invention” and added for “final success” they hoped that the U.S. government would “further loosen” military restrictions on the use of GPS satellites. The scientists were part of a research team that worked on developing the technology. The prototype was originally scheduled to debut in December of last year, but in July ADS signed an agreement with Princeton University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, for additional scientists to work on the project, under Zhou’s leadership. They worked on issues like “antenna size” and “body tissue absorption.” As a result, the agreement “helped implement an accelerated schedule for delivery of a working prototype of Digital Angel,” resulting in it debuting nine days before the presidential election. Following the October event, Mineta had been scheduled to appear with Sullivan at a Boca Raton school, along with business leaders in a PR event, to be held the day before the election. Free computers would be offered for schools, but the centerpiece of the appearance was to be the showing of an edited five-minute video of the New York City event. When questioned about the nature of the partnership with the government, company spokesman Matthew Cossolotto suggested it would include the subsidizing of Digital Angel for “minorities, the disadvantaged and the elderly.” He added that a formal public announcement of the full extent of the partnership would not be made until one to two weeks after the election. The event was cancelled at the last minute, perhaps due to the difficulty in securing mass media coverage as a form of free advertising, the day before a presidential election. Sept. 11 opens door to implantation As the saying goes, the Chinese character for “crisis” is similar to the one for “opportunity,” and in the wake of Sept. 11 the company is strongly pushing its product - and openly discussing implantation - adding that now people are more open to it. Recent company statements have underscored that the VeriChip is superior to biometric technologies, since it is designed to be implanted and is thus “tamper-proof.” The company is looking to bring these products to “market as quickly as possible.” A week after the tragedy, Digital Angel offered its GPS tracking devices (currently in wristwatch form) to New York City’s fire department, as well as to the U.S. Department of Transportation, saying that they could “aid in continued search-and-rescue efforts.” CEO Sullivan remarked, “With the recent tragedy, it is our duty to expedite the development process and offer Digital Angel in its current beta form to the rescue efforts of all agencies connected with national and personal safety and security,” adding that “Digital Angel has many applications that can be used during this national tragedy.” Then in a revelation that gives “profiling” a whole new twist, Palm Beach Post writer Deborah Circelli reported that CEO Sullivan complained that the 9-11 tragedy proved “today’s security measures don’t work very well,” and he has a better idea. Namely, implant all foreigners passing through customs or immigrations with the chips. The implanted chip would replace green cards, “allowing officials to monitor their activities better and keep terrorists out.” In the wake of Sept. 11, he said, “the government is more prepared, for the overall benefit of our citizens, to advocate some of these changes.” Circelli continued: “In five years, Sullivan said he can see the chips being used in children, the elderly, prisoners, and by employers at facilities such as airports and nuclear plants. Society in general could use them instead of ATM or credit cards.” Meanwhile, Mineta is still the company’s point man in Washington, a fact underscored by Sullivan’s comment that, “We chose the NYC Fire Department and the U.S. Department of Transportation due to existing relationships. In fact, Norman Mineta … was the keynote speaker at the Digital Angel World Launch in October of 2000.” Financial hopes Applied Digital Solutions has high hopes for this intense product push. In 1999 it boasted a five-year revenue growth of 64,012 percent and was ranked the fifth-fastest-growing technology company by Deloitte and Touche’s “Fast 500.” Earlier in 2000, the company won the prestigious “Technology Pioneer’s” award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The award is given for contributions “to worldwide economic development and social progress through technological advancements.” The World Economic Forum gives such awards as part of its commitment to foster entrepreneurship in the “global public interest.“ But the company lost $11.4 million in the first quarter of 2001, and $33.9 million for all of 2000, leading it to gain a 2001 “Turkey of the Year Award” from the South Florida Business Journal, for “gushing red ink faster than you can say ‘pass the gravy please.’” Called a “troubled company” that had “suffered sizable losses over the past few years,” SFBJ noted that the company had been “cautioned over a possible delisting from Nasdaq,” that it was earlier in the month “out of compliance with its line of credit,” and that a “recent SEC filing said the company couldn’t predict whether or when it would be profitable.” The Turkey column concluded with the plea for someone to “stick a fork in this turkey. It’s done!” Even though the company has a lot riding on this recent public relations push, questions over involuntary uses of the chip remain amid contradictory company communications and recent news reports. A Silicon Strategies article reported that the company was “backing away from involuntary ID applications, such as the tracking of prisoners or parolees,” while a Wired magazine article said that Digital Angel technology was “designed with people who stray in mind, such as parolees.” Reuters had, in fact, already reported in December that the company had won a 3-year trial contract with California to provide its technology to track parolees in Los Angeles. The Silicon Strategies report quoted CTO Bolton as saying, “we are advocating that this technology be totally voluntary,” while a Washington Post article said Bolton indicated use of the chip should be voluntary unless the law allows otherwise. Regarding the California project to track parolees, Amro Albanna of Digital Angel said, “we hope this program will serve as a model for other counties in the state.” Civil libertarians agree that technology is value-neutral, amoral. But they add that the key issue at stake is who will control the technology, and whether it could ever be used against the will of people. Referring to the broad gamut of implantable chips, Dr. Ellen McGhee, director of the Long Island Center for Ethics, at Long Island University, writes: “A paramount worry is who will control the technology … the prospects for sinister invasions of liberty and privacy are alarming.” Lucas Mast, an Internet privacy and telecommunications analyst at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., expresses the same worry: “My biggest concern from this technology is the unknown variables. If the government becomes a customer, will they have access to all databases maintained by ADS? For example, if they implant the technology in felons, will they also be able to track people and items which have the technology for other purposes like e-commerce?” He adds that “the slippery slope argument may come into play here - using it for felons, using it for lost persons, and all of a sudden it moves from being a voluntary program to one mandated by our government for the alleged good of society. Now that is scary.” The use of the technology in felons also raises the problem of removal, since such chips are said to be “virtually impossible to remove,” once implanted. In her ethical assessment of implantable chips, McGhee and Dr. Gerald Maguire of the Royal Institute of Technology in Kista, Sweden, wisely called for public debate and a multi-disciplinary evaluation from thinkers in fields of computer science, biophysics, medicine, law, religion, philosophy, public policy and international economy. Such a debate and evaluation is “urgently needed,” they said. And although such implantable chip technology undoubtedly has many beneficial and even potentially life-saving uses, Mast warns that “if the technology of Digital Angel falls into the wrong hands, be that of terrorists or our own government, we may all be concerned and it may be too late to turn back.” He adds: “It will be interesting to see public reaction to this technology - comparisons to Orwell’s 1984 and even the Nazis seem obvious.” The potential misuses of the implantable technology underscore the role that independent public policy think tanks can play in serving the interests of society. Along with the type of public debate and evaluation called for by McGhee, Maguire and others, policy think tanks could recommend legislative initiatives designed to ensure that the benefits of the technology can be reaped without involuntary implantation of the technology ever becoming a government mandate. Five years ago, a Chicago Tribune writer held that implantable chips were “long a popular delusion among paranoids” - but he nevertheless predicted they were “likely to be marketed as a consumer item early in the next century.” That prediction is now true. The chips are real, they’re here to stay, and they’re coming soon to a syringe near you. Welcome to the future. Related stories: ‘Digital Angel’ not pursuing implants Digital Angel unveiled Human ID implant to be unveiled soon Big Brother gets under your skinConcern over microchip implants Related columns: Meet the ‘Digital Angel’ - from Hell Revelation about ‘Digital Angels’ Sherrie Gossett is a free-lance researcher and writer. SRI/Surgical Express, Inc. has successfully implemented Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology in all ten of its processing facilities across the United States. SRI will install RFID chips in over one million of its reusable surgical gowns and drapes. SRI believes that this is the first full integration of RFID Technology into Class II Medical Devices and among the largest uses to date of “Multi- Read” applications of RFID technology. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology is a powerful method for identifying and tracking a wide range of objects in diverse environments based on the use of a small tag (or ‘transponder’) that stores a unique code, together with additional information that the user may specify. A ‘reader’ is used both to transmit a signal to a tag and retrieve stored information from it; no contact or line-of-sight is required, and long operating ranges are possible. SRI incorporated “multi-read” RFID tags into its surgical gowns and drapes, replacing its use of labor intensive bar code scanning to track product usage. I saw a commercial last night for the new Lexus, and the owner simply placed their fingers under the car door handle and opened the car. The ad said, " Wouldn't it be nice if your car knew who you were? " (something to that effect). They are calling it the new security keyless entry...when in truth it is based upon biometrics. The chips or " tags " ...RFID, remote frequency ID tags are being used and have been used extensively. When human chipping is launched agressively on the media it won't be called that...AND it will be marketed to be as popular as the cell phone. Currently in bars for example, singles can wear a badge, or tag, necklace style...or like a pin on their shirt. It contains all thier personal information. The tag will alert them when another single, that is compatible to their own interests, passes by. Then they can talk and see how the evening goes. It's becoming very popular. The FIRST way it's being marketed is medically. The chip contains your medical info, blood type, etc...so it's being marketed as a safety device for the elderly and chronically ill. I have alot of information saved on the current and planned applications of this technology if anyone is interested. I can either post it, or email personally. Peace - Anna - Chip implants on the news & Patent #s Chip implants on the news & Patent #s http://www.geocities.com/brojongazette/front page/bj1203html http://www.ecologynews.com/cuenewshaarp13.html http://www.above top secret.com/pages/secgov.html-50k. http://www.above top secret.com/pages/grandtour.html-44k http://www.world-action.co.uk/vaccinate.html http://www.world-action.co.uk/vaccinate.html. i have the urls but everything is in hidding bob - Chip implants on the news & Patent #s New York City. October 2000 at an invitation-only event, a diminutive, high-tech microchip device will be available commercially. The tiny mechanism slightly smaller than a dime could be implanted under the skin. It is actually a transmitter powered by the host’s muscle and can be followed by global positioning satellites. Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) has the patent (U.S. Patent #5,629,678) for the invention which is known as the Digital Angel. The CEO of ADS, Richard Sullivan, envisions a multi-billion dollar business for the new product. Recently, ADS has signed a preliminary partnership with Axiom Navigation (GPS industry). Axiom products will be featured in the prototype to be demonstrated in October. Experts say Digital Angel could have a multiplicity of uses for public or individual safety such as a life-saving device for those with severe health problems or a method of locating a lost or kidnapped child. Civil libertarians worry about invasion of privacy while Sullivan insists " We don’t see that as an issue because it’s a voluntary thing. " Emily Whitfield, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union warns, " This is a situation that can go in the blink of an eye from being voluntary to being mandatory. " Cox News Service / December 27, 1999 http://www.businesswire.com / August 29, 2000 Chip implants From SCAN THIS NEWS 10/19/98 http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0798/mothernature.html Can we 'fool Mother Nature'? Do we want to? " The more things change, the more they remain the same, " is just a cliché, right? The story of the Tower of Babel is read publicly in synagogues across the world on Saturday. This modern-day version would make great sci-fi, or maybe even satire, if it weren't so pathetic --- and true. By David S. Oderberg IMAGINE THAT YOU have been fitted with a tiny electronic device, measuring nearly an inch long and a third of an inch wide. This device receives and emits radio waves in the presence of transceivers in 'intelligent' buildings fitted to recognize the unique signal emanating from the tiny 'smart' chip in your body. This chip, implanted just under the skin on your arm, has immense advantages. With it you can open and close doors, pass through security channels set up to recognize your identity, operate machines such as computers and faxes, and generally negotiate your technological world with greater ease and convenience than at present. You can even use your chip to carry out daily commerce. Swipe your arm over a scanner and you can make payments, have your account debited automatically, check you bank balance. In short, you can do everything which currently requires you to lug around a walletful of credit cards. One small catch, though: because of this chip, your whereabouts are known to others at every minute of every day. You can be tracked like a car or airplane. Orwellian nightmare? Delusional apocalyptic fantasy? One would have thought so, until it emerged in the British press a short while ago that Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading -- my own university, as a matter of fact -- has decided to try out such a scenario on himself. Seeing himself as a latter day Edward Jenner -- the pioneering scientist who tried out the smallpox vaccine on his own body -- Prof. Warwick has entered the hallowed halls of self-experimentation by having just such a silicon chip injected under the skin near his elbow. He is, as far as anyone knows, the first person to do so. The results of his experiment are not yet known. He has to take antibiotics against the risk of infection, and is a little concerned his body will reject the alien device. Speaking of the doctor who agreed to implant the chip, Prof. Warwick says: " If it all goes wrong and my arm explodes, which I have been warned could happen, my wife will probably sue... " . The good professor is, nevertheless, sanguine about the possible side effects. For he sees himself as a crusader at the cutting edge of cybertechnology. Already famous for his little machines -- looking a bit like cockroaches on wheels -- which, he glows, behave for all the world as though they have intelligence (something I and others doubted when we saw them in action), Prof. Warwick is thrusting forward in the attempt to fulfil the prophecy of his own recent best-seller, March of the Machines. " It is possible, " he says, " for machines to become more intelligent than humans in the reasonably near future. Machines will then become the dominant life form on earth. " Is this a tragedy? No, he adds blithely: " We are just an animal, not much better or worse than the other animals. We have our uses [sic], because we are different. We are slightly more intelligent than the other animals. " The professor looks forward to the day when machines rule our lives. The fact that his microchip enables him to be traced is no great worry. His secretary finds it a boon: " It was often hard to find Prof. Warwick .. but since the implant we always know where he is. " And so would your employer if you were similarly implanted. You would be monitored every time you clocked in and out of work, or left the workplace. Prof. Warwick surmises the chip could carry all sorts of information, such as medical records, past convictions, financial data. " It is quite possible for an implant to replace an Access or Visa card. There is very little danger in losing an implant or having it stolen, " he said. But it seems Prof. Warwick is alive to the dangers of the microchip implant: " I know all this smacks of Big Brother, " he comments. Where the technology will ultimately go " I really don't know and would not like to envisage. " By now, you may well be feeling a little spooked. This is not surprising. Nor should the experiment itself be such a shock. After all, on October 11th 1993, The Washington Times reported on the " high-tech national tattoo " made by Hughes Aircraft Company --- an implantable transponder which the company called " an ingenious, safe, inexpensive, foolproof and permanent method of ... identification using radio waves. " In 1994, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it was reported that a local humane society offered pet owners, for $25, to inject their dogs or cats with a microchip, to prevent their being lost or stolen. A Dr. Carl Sanders, electronics engineer and inventor of the Intelligent Manned Interface biochip, told the Monetary Economic Review that satellites could be used to track people fitted with the IMI chip: " We used this with military personnel in the Iraq war where they were actually tracked using this particular type of device. " Whether soldiers have actually 'volunteered' to be surgically implanted with the chip, as opposed to carrying it on their clothing, is not made clear by Dr. Sanders. But what we do know is that proponents of this technology envisage first using it on animals (now widespread, particularly dogs, cats and cattle), then prisoners (more effective than electronic ankle tags), then children (e.g., newborn babies, so as to prevent their being switched or lost) and elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease (to prevent their wandering and getting lost). After that, who knows? The potential for the chips to replace credit cards and cash is huge, and will tempt financial institutions in turn to tempt their customers to 'try out' the chip with no obligation to carry it permanently, and monetary rewards for those who persevere. Supporters of the injectible microchip say it is just the logical extension of a technology that already allows the heavy monitoring of people through pagers, cellular phones, 'smart' cards, and cars fitted with Global Positioning System transponders. On the other hand, could it not be said that the advent of the chip implant is the final outrage which demonstrates the inherent unacceptability of its technological ancestors? We are, it seems, fast approaching a world that even George Orwell was not able to envisage. Had the microchip implant been known in his day there can be no doubt it would have replaced the 'telescreen' in his dystopian novel 1984. The fact that the corporations and individuals promoting its use are not being bombarded daily with protests from millions of outraged citizens is itself cause for wonder. How, particularly in countries such as the USA and Britain in which civil liberties are so prized, is it possible for so much propaganda to reach the mass media with barely a hint of contrary opinion? Prof. Warwick has gained enormous publicity, and is flooded with calls from journalists wanting to know how his little experiment is going. Until, however, a sufficient number of citizens make known their implacable opposition to the totalitarian trend of a technology which threatens to reduce most humans to the status of cattle, the likes of Prof. Warwick will go about their evil work unperturbed. JWR contributor Dr. David S. Oderberg is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Reading, England, and a freelance journalist. From SCAN THIS NEWS 10/12/98 007 implant to protect kidnap targets by Maurice Chittenden and David Lloyd from http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/98/10/11/stinwenws03015.html?1124027 THIS is the bleep that says: " Rescue me. " A microchip under the skin that can help to locate hostages is being marketed to combat one of the world's biggest growth industries - there were a record 1,407 abductions for ransom worldwide last year, up 60% since 1990. The victim's " little helper " uses natural body energy with James Bond-style technology devised by scientists working for Israeli intelligence. Space satellites will follow the bleep to detect a victim's movements or hiding place. The information will then be relayed to a control centre to be used for a rescue operation. The device has come too late for three British engineers and a New Zealand colleague abducted in Chechnya last weekend. But film stars and the children of millionaires are among 45 people, including several Britons, who have been approached and fitted with the chips in secret tests during the past three months. The chips, costing £5,000 a time, are being launched in Milan this week. However, kidnap experts are divided on whether the Sky-Eye chip is just another fashion accessory for the painfully rich or a valuable weapon in the fight against extortion. The Gen-Etics company, which makes the chip, says it is being targeted at people in the public eye such as Leonardo DiCaprio, the Titanic star whose family originates from an area of southern Italy steeped in kidnapping, and companies that send employees to potentially dangerous places such as Colombia, Mexico and Chechnya. The company developed the chip for commercial use after it was invented by Mossad, the Israeli secret service, and used by agents on special missions. Nicholas Ventura, in charge of marketing the device, said: " Film stars like DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are the kind of personalities this is aimed at - basically millionaires, VIPs and captains of industry who for family or work reasons go to places where kidnap gangs are active. " He refused to identify any clients. Customers on his doorstep could include the Duchess of York, who regularly visits the castle of Count Gaddo della Gherardesca, her Tuscan boyfriend; Sting, the rock star, who has a villa in Tuscany; and Greta Scacchi, the Anglo-Italian actress born in Milan. The 43 Europeans and two Americans who have so far adopted the chip had surgery under a light anaesthetic. Gen-Etics claims the surgery is intended to daze the patient and prevent him or her remembering exactly where the incision was made, so he cannot reveal the chip's location to his abductors even under torture. Every chip is made of synthetic and organic fibres and measures 4mm by 4mm (.16 inch sq.). It does not need a battery and runs instead on four milliamperes of neurophysiological energy. Only a small scar is visible and the chip escapes detection by x-rays. It is inserted under the skin, but not on areas that can be amputated, including the hands, nose and ears. Posting an earlobe to the family of a victim is a favourite technique for kidnap gangs. John Paul Getty III, grandson of the oil billionaire and one of 700 people kidnapped in Italy in the past 30 years, suffered such a fate in 1973. The whereabouts of the carrier are followed by six satellites through the global positioning system, which has a 150-metre margin of error and has previously been used to track the movements of stolen luxury cars. The absence of a signal suggests that the victim has been killed because the body no longer supplies the energy to make the chip function. The Sky-Eye is seen as an alternative to surrounding the children of the rich and famous with teams of burly bodyguards. Donatella Versace, sister of the murdered Italian fashion designer, appears to be well aware of the risks. Her two children, Allegra - who inherited the larger part of her uncle Gianni's fortune - and Daniel, are watched over by a phalanx of security men whenever they step out of the family's 18th-century palazzo in Milan. Others are more cynical about the microchip, however. Robert Davies, a special risks underwriter for Hiscox, an insurance group that holds 5,000 kidnap policies, said it might work in Britain or the United States but could prove hazardous in less developed countries, where victims were likely to be shot in rescue attempts and the police were sometimes in league with the kidnappers. " We are aware that kidnap gangs in Mexico, the most sophisticated in the world, are searching victims for scars that might hide such devices. There is also the effect on morale if a victim thinks he will be quickly rescued, but his family decides that would be a stupid thing to attempt, " he said. Terry Waite, who was a hostage in Beirut for 5 1/2 years, said: " It is very dangerous because once kidnappers get to know about these things they will skin you alive to find them. There were rumors when I was kidnapped that I had been planted with locator devices. " I was given rigorous searches, my clothes were changed and I even had my teeth checked. " Source: London Telegraph UK News Electronic Telegraph Saturday 19 September 1998 Issue 1212 Passports for pets in new rabies law By David Brown, Agriculture Editor BRITAIN'S stringent anti-rabies quarantine laws are to be swept aside in favour of electronic scanners and animal passports under plans to be published by the Government next week. A scheme relying on microchip implants that can be electronically monitored, together with documentary proof that animals have been immunised against rabies and other diseases, are among a raft of proposals that could mean the demise of mandatory six-months quarantine for all imported animals. Microchip Implants, Mind Control, and Cybernetics By Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland December 6, 2000 In 1948 Norbert Weiner published a book, Cybernetics, defined as a neurological communication and control theory already in use in small circles at that time. Yoneji Masuda, " Father of the Information Society, " stated his concern in 1980 that our liberty is threatened Orwellian-style by cybernetic technology totally unknown to most people. This technology links the brains of people via implanted microchips to satellites controlled by ground-based supercomputers. The first brain implants were surgically inserted in 1974 in the state of Ohio, USA and also in Stockholm, Sweden. Brain electrodes were inserted into the skulls of babies in 1946 without the knowledge of their parents. In the 1950s and 60s, electrical implants were inserted into the brains of animals and humans, especially in the U.S., during research into behavior modification, and brain and body functioning. Mind control (MC) methods were used in attempts to change human behavior and attitudes. Influencing brain functions became an important goal of military and intelligence services. Thirty years ago brain implants showed up in X-rays the size of one centimeter. Subsequent implants shrunk to the size of a grain of rice. They were made of silicon, later still of gallium arsenide. Today they are small enough to be inserted into the neck or back, and also intravenously in different parts of the body during surgical operations, with or without the consent of the subject. It is now almost impossible to detect or remove them. It is technically possible for every newborn to be injected with a microchip, which could then function to identify the person for the rest of his or her life. Such plans are secretly being discussed in the U.S. without any public airing of the privacy issues involved. In Sweden, Prime Minister Olof Palme gave permission in 1973 to implant prisoners, and Data Inspection's ex-Director General Jan Freese revealed that nursing-home patients were implanted in the mid-1980s. The technology is revealed in the 1972:47 Swedish state report, Statens Officiella Utradninger (SOU). Implanted human beings can be followed anywhere. Their brain functions can be remotely monitored by supercomputers and even altered through the changing of frequencies. Guinea pigs in secret experiments have included prisoners, soldiers, mental patients, handicapped children, deaf and blind people, homosexuals, single women, the elderly, school children, and any group of people considered " marginal " by the elite experimenters. The published experiences of prisoners in Utah State Prison, for example, are shocking to the conscience. Today's microchips operate by means of low-frequency radio waves that target them. With the help of satellites, the implanted person can be tracked anywhere on the globe. Such a technique was among a number tested in the Iraq war, according to Dr. Carl Sanders, who invented the intelligence-manned interface (IMI) biotic, which is injected into people. (Earlier during the Vietnam War, soldiers were injected with the Rambo chip, designed to increase adrenaline flow into the bloodstream.) The 20-billion-bit/second supercomputers at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) could now " see and hear " what soldiers experience in the battlefield with a remote monitoring system (RMS). When a 5-micromillimeter microchip (the diameter of a strand of hair is 50 micromillimeters) is placed into optical nerve of the eye, it draws neuroimpulses from the brain that embody the experiences, smells, sights, and voice of the implanted person. Once transferred and stored in a computer, these neuroimpulses can be projected back to the person’s brain via the microchip to be reexperienced. Using a RMS, a land-based computer operator can send electromagnetic messages (encoded as signals) to the nervous system, affecting the target's performance. With RMS, healthy persons can be induced to see hallucinations and to hear voices in their heads. Every thought, reaction, hearing, and visual observation causes a certain neurological potential, spikes, and patterns in the brain and its electromagnetic fields, which can now be decoded into thoughts, pictures, and voices. Electromagnetic stimulation can therefore change a person's brainwaves and affect muscular activity, causing painful muscular cramps experienced as torture. The NSA's electronic surveillance system can simultaneously follow and handle millions of people. Each of us has a unique bioelectrical resonance frequency in the brain, just as we have unique fingerprints. With electromagnetic frequency (EMF) brain stimulation fully coded, pulsating electromagnetic signals can be sent to the brain, causing the desired voice and visual effects to be experienced by the target. This is a form of electronic warfare. U.S. astronauts were implanted before they were sent into space so their thoughts could be followed and all their emotions could be registered 24 hours a day. The Washington Post reported in May 1995 that Prince William of Great Britain was implanted at the age of 12. Thus, if he were ever kidnapped, a radio wave with a specific frequency could be targeted to his microchip. The chip’s signal would be routed through a satellite to the computer screen of police headquarters, where the Prince’s movements could be followed. He could actually be located anywhere on the globe. The mass media has not reported that an implanted person's privacy vanishes for the rest of his or her life. S/he can be manipulated in many ways. Using different frequencies, the secret controller of this equipment can even change a person's emotional life. S/he can be made aggressive or lethargic. Sexuality can be artificially influenced. Thought signals and subconscious thinking can be read, dreams affected and even induced, all without the knowledge or consent of the implanted person. A perfect cyber-soldier can thus be created. This secret technology has been used by military forces in certain NATO countries since the 1980s without civilian and academic populations having heard anything about it. Thus, little information about such invasive mind-control systems is available in professional and academic journals. The NSA's Signals Intelligence group can remotely monitor information from human brains by decoding the evoked potentials (3.50HZ, 5 milliwatt) emitted by the brain. Prisoner experimentees in both Gothenburg, Sweden and Vienna, Austria have been found to have evident brain lesions. Diminished blood circulation and lack of oxygen in the right temporal frontal lobes result where brain implants are usually operative. A Finnish experimentee experienced brain atrophy and intermittent attacks of unconsciousness due to lack of oxygen. Mind control techniques can be used for political purposes. The goal of mind controllers today is to induce the targeted persons or groups to act against his or her own convictions and best interests. Zombified individuals can even be programmed to murder and remember nothing of their crime afterward. Alarming examples of this phenomenon can be found in the U.S. This “silent war” is being conducted against unknowing civilians and soldiers by military and intelligence agencies. Since 1980, electronic stimulation of the brain (ESB) has been secretly used to control people targeted without their knowledge or consent. All international human rights agreements forbid nonconsensual manipulation of human beings — even in prisons, not to speak of civilian populations. Under an initiative of U.S. Senator John Glenn, discussions commenced in January 1997 about the dangers of radiating civilian populations. Targeting people’s brain functions with electromagnetic fields and beams (from helicopters and airplanes, satellites, from parked vans, neighboring houses, telephone poles, electrical appliances, mobile phones, TV, radio, etc.) is part of the radiation problem that should be addressed in democratically elected government bodies. In addition to electronic MC, chemical methods have also been developed. Mind-altering drugs and different smelling gasses affecting brain function negatively can be injected into air ducts or water pipes. Bacteria and viruses have also been tested this way in several countries. Today's supertechnology, connecting our brain functions via microchips (or even without them, according to the latest technology) to computers via satellites in the U.S. or Israel, poses the gravest threat to humanity. The latest supercomputers are powerful enough to monitor the whole world’s population. What will happen when people are tempted by false premises to allow microchips into their bodies? One lure will be a microchip identity card. Compulsory legislation has even been secretly proposed in the U.S. to criminalize removal of an ID implant. Are we ready for the robotization of mankind and the total elimination of privacy, including freedom of thought? How many of us would want to cede our entire life, including our most secret thoughts, to Big Brother? Yet the technology exists to create a totalitarian New World Order. Covert neurological communication systems are in place to counteract independent thinking and to control social and political activity on behalf of self-serving private and military interests. When our brain functions are already connected to supercomputers by means of radio implants and microchips, it will be too late for protest. This threat can be defeated only by educating the public, using available literature on biotelemetry and information exchanged at international congresses. One reason this technology has remained a state secret is the widespread prestige of the psychiatric Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV produced by the U.S. American Psychiatric Association (APA) and printed in 18 languages. Psychiatrists working for U.S. intelligence agencies no doubt participated in writing and revising this manual. This psychiatric " bible " covers up the secret development of MC technologies by labeling some of their effects as symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Victims of mind control experimentation are thus routinely diagnosed, knee-jerk fashion, as mentally ill by doctors who learned the DSM “symptom” list in medical school. Physicians have not been schooled that patients may be telling the truth when they report being targeted against their will or being used as guinea pigs for electronic, chemical and bacteriological forms of psychological warfare. Time is running out for changing the direction of military medicine, and ensuring the future of human freedom. This article was originally published in the 36th-year edition of the Finnish-language journal SPEKULA (3rd Quarter, 1999). SPEKULA (circulation 6500) is a publication of Northern Finland medical students and doctors of Oulu University OLK (Oulun Laaketieteellinen Kilta). It is mailed to all medical students of Finland and all Northern Finland medical doctors.http://conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/microchip_implants_mind_control.htm http://us.f420.mail./ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=2766_287152_7378_2555_61254_0_\ 20797_166205_3830609341 & YY=1157 & inc=200 & order=down & sort=date & pos=0 & view=a & head=b\ & box=Inbox would like to comment on Consumers' Union. Has anyone got any more info on this organisation? Or any method of tackling it? Attilio Regards, Pete Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway - Enter today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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