Coming Soon to a "Good Cause" Near You

How can we use implantable Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology? Let me count the ways . . .

1 – Implant them into your pets – of course – unless you are an irresponsible, unloving owner
2 – Implant them into our soldiers so that we will never have to leave a body behind
3 – Implant them into people who have access to areas requiring security clearances

What else? What else?

Oh, here’s one! How about implant them into everyday people so that their entire medical history and all of their records can be accessed through a software program just in case they arrive at a hospital unable to communicate:

VeriChip Corporation, a provider of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, today announced that its personal health record used in conjunction with its VeriMed Health Link system will be accessible through Microsoft(R) HealthVault(TM), an online platform designed to put consumers in control of their health information. Through this agreement, Health Link members will have the ability to open free HealthVault accounts and input, store, view and interact with their health data. Further, the data within Health Link members' existing accounts will be directly accessible through their HealthVault accounts.

VeriChip Corporation, headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, markets its VeriMed(TM) Health Link System for rapidly and accurately identifying people who arrive in an emergency room and are unable to communicate. This system uses the first human-implantable passive RFID microchip, cleared for medical use in October 2004 by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Full Story: VeriChip Corporation Selected by Microsoft to Offer Personal Health Record through Microsoft HealthVault


Oh, and here’s another great use. Let’s stick ‘em in “HIV positive” folks so we can keep tabs on their nefarious activities. And track them down and punish them if need be:

“ . . . legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of "sexually aggressive" patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others . . . ”

Full Story: Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring


What other “Good Causes” can we think of for these things? Ex-convicts & parolees? Gun owners? Children? Babies? You & me?

I guess time will tell. In the interim, feel free to use your imagination, and as you do so, don't forget that a knife can cut both ways.

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UPDATE (11/25/08) - Boy, time apparently tells quick! Saw the below story just this morning. Granted, it doesn't deal with RFID chips that are physically implanted into the human body, but wouldn't that just be the next logical step?
New machines scan IDs at border crossings