RFID Gazette

September 19, 2006

10 Types of People Who Should Be RFID-Tagged (And 5 Not)

If you've been following along pretty much anywhere in the media, Radio frequency identification technology is the subject of huge controversy. In no particular order, camp 1 created the technology and has an agenda based on business need to promote it. Camp 2 thinks it's evil. Camp 3 doesn't know any better. Camp 4 is the government and is subdivided on what to do. Camp 5 doesn't care. Anyone else? Probably lots of middle-grounders.

The biggest controversy is the issue of whether there is actually a conspiracy afoot to tag all human beings. Well, it's not even a conspiracy. Companies like Verichip have been openly pushing their agenda to tag anyone they can get away with and even recently suggested to the US government that soldiers in the military be RFID-tagged. Like common household pets and livestock. There are also reports that prisoners in some European countries have already been implanted subdermally with RFID chips against their consent, and there is talk of doing the same in the US.

I say, bring it on. But let's have a trial run first. Here are my ten candidates for RFID microchipping, in no particular order:

1. The Presidents of the United States. I don't mean just G.W.B., but all presidents who take the Office. They represent the populace and should be accountable to each and every citizen. And really the only way that's possible is to implant an RFID chip in them.
2. Every head of state in every country. If they belong to the United Nations, like the US, then they should be chipped as well, for the same reason.
3. Every politician, especially those of the party that holds the House majority during an administration.
4. Visitors to Camp David. Don't we have a right to know? (Detecting a theme here?)
5. Every CEO of every tech company whose technology potentially invades a citizen's privacy, especially those pushing the ideology that we should all be tagged like animals. Hey, turnabout is fair play. Heck, every CEO and board member period? Doesn't Sarbanes-Oxley maybe stretch just enough to cover that? Surely Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn wouldn't have had to illegally obtain phone records if she knew where everyone was.
6. Law enforcement officers, especially government ones such as in the FBI and the CIA. Or maybe just them because police officers are the ones doing the real law enforcement work. And while we're at it, we can embed a secure-communication device into agents' wrists.
7. Lawyers, especially criminal lawyers. And maybe even Attorney Generals. Why not, right?
8. Outside postal workers. Hey, what if one of them falls into a snowbank and our mail doesn't get delivered?
9. Athletes, especially those being paid multi-millions per season, including soccer players?
10. Hollywood stars. Just because, and with hybrid RFID/GPS tracking devices. I mean, wouldn't you like to be able to get on a website and see where your fave celebrity is? While we're at it, lets tag the members of Supernova, too, especially Tommy Lee and their new monkey boy, winner Lukas Rossi.

Hmmm. Three categories of politician. Of course, there are those who just want to be microchipped (watch for a follow up to this post). But other than them, here are 5 types of people who shouldn't be microchipped:

1. Your children. I mean, really. Do you believe the crap that your newborn baby needs to implanted with an RFID chip for protection? Past research shows that over 90% of kidnappings are perpetrated by a disgruntled parent after a divorce or separation. To be resolved, this situation doesn't require every newborn baby in the country being microchipped like Fido.
2. Ex-politicians. When a politician retires from office, their chip should be removed. (And their memory downloaded. How's that for accountability?) But that excludes senators, governors, and presidents. Why? Just because. Let's see how they feel about invasion of privacy issues after the fact.
3. Ex-law enforcement officers. Why not. If they aren't representing the country any longer, why should they be chipped?
4. Pretty much everyone else, with the exception maybe of dangerous criminals. Again, really. Do you really want to be microchipped like an animal? Do you sense any common threads here?
5. Dogs and cats. They're people, too, right? Okay, I'm stretching things just a little.

So basically, the government has it backwards. It's not the private citizen who needs to be RFID-tagged, it's the public figure whose salary is paid by us, the private citizen.

--
Did you enjoy this post?

September 19, 2006 in Applications, Consumer Use, Government, Healthcare, Identification, Privacy | Permalink

« 5 Uses of RFID In Automotive, Transportation + Related Sectors | Main | Volkswagen + Jaguar Using RFID »