Surveillance Company Implants Workers With RFID Chips

Posted Feb 13th 2006 7:15AM by Michael Sciannamea
Filed under: RFID, Government, Applications, Security, Business

You knew this was going to happen sooner or later. In what has been classified as the first known instance of this practice in the U.S., CityWatcher.com has embedded RFID chips in two employees in order to control access to a room where security video footage is held. The company provides security cameras and digital video storage services for government agencies and the police. The chips were implanted in the upper right arms of the employees and then flashed in front of a reader to gain access to the aforementioned room.

Of course, this practice will raise questions by some over the rights of employees in the workplace as well as civil liberty issues. However, when you're dealing with sensitive files of this sort, where people face conviction of serious crimes, the thought of protecting evidence and making sure only authorized people have access to it may supersede the rights of a worker.

Reader Comments

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1. The sanctity of a worker's body remaining his own superceeds any policy of any company. I look forward to the first lawsuit from an employee who was fired for refusing this implant.

Posted at 1:22PM on Feb 13th 2006 by thenobot

2. Or the first lawsuit because a body part was removed so that someone else could gain access.

Posted at 2:52PM on Feb 13th 2006 by a2liter

3. I agree with both posters (thenobot and a2liter). while there is certainly positive applications for this kind of technology (which the media, government, pharmy companies, etc. will spend billions to convince the masses of the "pros"), there is *far too much potential for abuse*. as for any chip in any person, it stands to reason that some hacker, criminal, or even extremist organizations can and *will* develop scanners of their own for sale on the black market. for a few dollars worth of parts from a local Radio Shack, people will be building their own chip scanners, and possibly equipment to also *send* binary code to the implanted chips' rom. thus, such info thought so "secure" by putting it directly inside a human body will be up for grabs to anyone with a scanner. such chips are being used in South America to track the ugly kidnapping problem there, which is certainly a great cause. in the US, they've mainly been used to track or ID lost pets (thus far). but more and more industries are pushing towards this type of technology to the point where eventually we'll all be "required" to have chips for "our own good" and/or "national safety".

then one day some 14-15 year old will spend 2 hours and find a way to scan such chips via satellite or cell-communications, meaning that the technology *will* be available on the black market for someone thousands of miles away to pinpoint a specific person via GPS, and transmit that person's vital info/accounts, etc. to their handheld digital do-it-all device.

this technology *will* be abused. regardless of any guarantees of security to the contrary. any security scheme ever created has been cracked. the newest DVD/video game/CD protections are broken typically long before the products even hit stores. determined meanies always find a work-around. i for one will never get chipped, nor any member of my family (not even the dog).

think i'm crazy? young teens in the past couple of years have managed to hack into the FBI/CIA databases as well as steal hundreds of thousands of credit card accounts from "secure" online transfer agencies. imagine what well-funded, organized, and highly determined organizations can or could do.

Big Brother is watching, and soon he, followed by everyone else, will literally be "under your skin".

Posted at 11:33PM on Feb 13th 2006 by USPatriot

4. Actually, USPatriot in the above post stated the issues very well. I agree with him, including his comments about not "participating". However, as much as this scares the hell out of me, it is slowly and gradually going to be incorporated into our future way of life, just like stem cell research. Neither of these, obviously, scare me for the good things they can do(and both WILL do good). What is scary is the consequences of their misuse(which there will be also). More and more, we will find ourselves facing these dilemmas as technology increases beyond the comfort zone of our natural and healthy instincts to analyze the wisdom of it. What this means for us as citizens is that we may no longer just sit on our butts and watch as decisions are made for us. We MUST contribute our thoughts and ideas, so that proper safeguards are built into the laws governing the inevitable future. The American way has always been for US to define the way for our country, NOT our politicians. It's time we revisited these time honored traditions with increased urgency. Otherwise, our politicians will be more than happy to make those decisions for us. The day that YOU personally think that you are the ONLY voice crying in the wilderness WILL be the day that this beautiful American tradition will die. Because it will mean that you have given up.

Posted at 8:18AM on Mar 2nd 2006 by Jim

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