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Not long ago, in response to public criticism, company officials for Applied Digital Solutions protested that their Digital Angel was and would be nothing more than a device worn about the wrist, no more intrusive or sinister than wearing a watch, easily removed. They made this claim despite earlier publicity they broadcast touting the advantages of an implantable digital chip they were developing, the VeriChip. Technically, they were correct, I suppose, since the Digital Angel was an external device...but Applied Digital Solutions had their sights set higher -- or lower -- than that technological curiosity.
The company made national news when it implanted chips as "medical devices" in an eager family to help monitor and deal with the physical problems one of the children had. Applied Digital Solutions intended to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for approval to make the chip more widely available.
The FDA, however, had concerns about the long-term effects of the VeriChip and dragged its feet in giving government approval for marketing the VeriChip as a medical device.
Then, lo! and behold! the VeriChip was given the go-ahead by the feds. Julia Scheeres reported the details in an online story for Wired.
For a mere two Benjamin Franklins, you, too, can be the proud recipient and owner of your very own VeriChip. Why, the company is so generous, it is even offering a discount of a U.S. Grant to the first 100,000 adventurous folks who register to be implanted. For the additional cost of a doc to inject the sucker and a mere Alexander Hamilton a month for the service, you can get a unique ID number linked to your very own database. Yes, boys and girls, if you ever wanted to be turned into a radio accessible to those with the proper scanner, you don't want to miss this wonderful opportunity. Be the first on your block! Don't delay!
Nothing to worry about, of course. Only the information you desire will be entered into your own personal database...for now, anyway.
Amazing how the glacially slow FDA suddenly and unexpectedly found the VeriChip not subject to its regulation when it is used for "security, financial and personal identification/safety applications." Amazing, as well, that this unconstitutional governmental body has done the inexplicable and uncharacteristically not sought to extend its control into areas none of its nominal concern.
Hmm. No ulterior motives, of course. The State always has our best interests at heart. Right? Right...
And we all trust the State, right? Right...
There's no denying that, in many ways, a chip implant would be convenient when fully implemented and extended throughout society. Think of the possibilities!
No losing your national identification card, er, driver's license.
The VeriChip is always with you!
No need to swipe a card -- smart or dumb -- when accessing sensitive areas at work.
The VeriChip is always with you!
No need to carry or use a credit card or ATM card or phone card or even cash. No one could access your financial world in your absence.
The VeriChip is always with you!
No need to worry about identity theft or even that someone might be able to use your home computer in your absence.
The VeriChip is always with you!
No need to worry about getting lost or kidnapped...or having your children go missing or abducted. The eventual link to a GPS will ensure your whereabouts are not a secret. And don't forget old folks with dementia and criminals!
The VeriChip is always with you!
No need to memorize your NID, er, Social Security number for all those "voluntary" forms you have to fill out.
The VeriChip is always with you!
No need to request copies of or rely upon your faulty memory for your credit history, your legal history, your employment history, your medical history, your consumer history, or your address history.
The VeriChip is always with you!
Yes, "getting chipped" (as the ADS slogan suggests) might well be very convenient for individuals.
Unfortunately, when such chips expand in usage and capabilities, they will surely be convenient for the State.
Maybe -- maybe -- in a free society, implantable chips might have overall benefits. If they were wholly offered by private companies and truly voluntary; if there were no State-mandated NID, no State-maintained databases, no State-issued licenses or permits, no State-regulated health care, welfare, or social security, no State-imposed taxes, no State-coerced gun control, no State-mandated employment requirements, no State-run educational systems...
Hmm. That's running up quite a total of "ifs"...
Unfortunately, there is little evidence that the State is mending its meddlesome ways. From cameras sprouting everywhere to the fingerprinting of foreign visitors to a growing clamor for "uniform" ID cards, the State is constantly thinking up new ways to wiggle its dirty fingers into every nook and cranny of our lives.
If the potential abuses of a national ID card are scary, imagine the abuses inherent with a chip implant.
When the State combines its NID's with those of the private sector -- "voluntarily" at first, of course -- then we will lose one of the prime identifiers of a civilized society, i.e., privacy. The hard-fought and hard-won right to anonymity that is a touchstone of progress will be eliminated in one fell-swoop.
The State has lied about its intentions throughout history. Incrementalism is its stock in trade. I see no reason to trust the pols yet again when they tell "this law will never be used for X." That's a certain sign that "X" is a virtual inevitability. What were once seen by average Americans as truly abhorrent practices -- e.g., SSN's, taxes, licenses, permits, regulations, etc. etc. etc. etc. -- are now taken for granted and unquestioned by all but a handful of individuals who know that those who are ignorant of the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.
This is not an issue of safety or security or any Luddite-like opposition to a novel technology. It's about authorization, about control by the State. Even if the average person never felt the heavy hand of the State for running afoul of some chip-related law, the potential for oppression would always be there. Already we have "safety" checks on highways checking for drugs, alcohol, seat belts, and who knows what else...all without even the pretext of probable cause. Add random "chip checks" on the highways or on the sidewalks or in your homes to ensure compliance and that "your chip is functioning properly" and the American Police State will swell well beyond its present nascent cancerous limits.
It is almost a truism that if the State can abuse something, it will.
Once the State has observed how this test-balloon flies in the private sector, if the VeriChip succeeds, the State will commence its insidious infiltration of chip-sociology. Chips will remain "voluntary" only in the ludicrous sense that the SSN is "voluntary," i.e., not at all, if one wants to work or lead anything even remotely resembling a normal life.
Some people might argue that the chip will never be widely used since the end user will gain little more benefit from the chip than from current technology such as ID cards. But this view neglects the fact that new technology always engenders uses unthought of at first...for example, using cars for procreation rather than their originally intended purpose as transportation.
This stance also overlooks the fact that the real users here will not be your average citizens. What they want will not be the deciding factor in chip deployment. Throughout the past century, whether in regard to taxes or regulations or permits or laws, whether the Drug War or anti-self-defense initiatives or financial restrictions, the question of adopting these policies did not rest on how many net benefits accrued to individuals. In the long term, even immediate beneficiaries of such heinous coercion were and are net losers.
Just ask the citizens of the old Soviet Union.
The real end-users, the consumers, if you will, of all these atrocious practices, the pushers of every bad idea from taxes to mandated implantable chips, was and will be the agents of the State. You see, for those people, there most definitely will be benefits...and when they move to impose their will, you can rest assured that they won't ask permission of those they target for suppression.
Just ask those Jews who still retain the blue-black numbers tattooed into their very flesh.
Yes, liberty can be messy. Many people prefer the "solidity," the "comfort," the sameness promoted by the State in which the radicals, the malcontents, the "different" folks who resist the status quo, the received wisdom, are kept hidden or prevented from upsetting others, from rocking the boat that provides the average American ostrich with his bread and games; a world in which uncertain choices and uncertain results are removed from the hands -- and the minds -- of individuals and replaced by the gentle guidance of the State.
Personally, however, I prefer freedom to "convenience."
Hopefully, you do, as well.
Scheeres, Julia. "Implantable Chip, On Sale Now." Wired. 10-25-02. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,55999,00.html