No

by Michael Bock

Created on: July 27, 2010   Last Updated: July 28, 2010

The idea sounds good on the surface: implant a microchip (usually an RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification) under the skin and, presto-practically everything about you is always on your person and secure.  You can check out at the supermarket without waiting in line; just walk through the scanner and you’re done! Need to prove your identity but don’t have your paper ID? That’s okay, because you have a built-in chip that provides all of this. Plus, you can probably sleep much better knowing that your personal information, as well as overall identity, is safe and secure. Sounds great from a marketing perspective, right?

Stop and think about it. Chip implants have not been proven to curtail any more identity theft than the unfortunate victims that identity theft happens to. Added to that, do you really think that people with nefarious intentions will still not try to “crack the code?” If you if said yes, you’d be wrong. Crackers and hackers have, so far, succeeded in breaking almost every security system ever devised.

Take this into account:

•Symantec, a billion-dollar anti-virus/anti-malw are company that sells the popular Norton anti-virus software, itself was hacked in 2007.

•CACI (one of the U.S. government’s largest defense contractors) has been hacked.

•Allscripts Healthcare Solutions is an IT corporation that services healthcare providers globally. The Electronic Health Record Solutions (EHRs) is one of their products. It was a victim of hacking.

•Pharmaceutical giant Merck, Cardinal Health and Paramount Pictures were hacked and infected with the globally-disastrous Zeus virus only at last January.

That’s the [very] shortlist of high-profile victims. There are well over three thousand more that have been hacked and have had information stolen. The businesses range from healthcare, to IT, to government and contractors, to retail giants and to security firms themselves.

That is only part of the part of the problem. Not only will chip implants fail to stop identity theft, they will also rob people of any privacy that they even have left. Government surveillance exists in practically every nook and cranny on Earth. Legislation like the Patriot Act, while its premise of catching terrorists is a very good thing, forgoes many more freedoms and privacies we used to enjoy. Furthermore, even third-party (private) government contractors are allowed to spy on everyday citizens. Given the totally corrupt landscape of the corporate world, that makes the idea of a chip implant terrifying.

Also:

•Transponders are used in conjunction with RFID’s. If they fail, removing a chip implant is very hard, if not virtually impossible.

•Having a chip implant is, essentially, having a barcode stamped on your forehead.

•In Christianity, it’s a very popular belief that this will be used as “the mark of the beast”.

•Human rights/liberties will suffer.

•If and when hackers finally gain access to a person’s chip implant, there is no question about. Forget just a credit card # or social security number-this hacker will OWN that person.

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security deserves neither and will lose both” –Benjamin Franklin

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