I just had to put this up. The article goes on a bit longer with a bit more informaton, however the point here is that just because it was in a science fiction novel a couple of years ago, don't mean it's still fiction. If you thought it was distressing to read about it then, think of how it should frighten now that it is being used now as you read this! (The book I speak of is in fact Shaun Saunders book Mallcity 14)
CityWatcher.com, a provider of surveillance equipment, attracted little notice itself -- until a year ago, when two of its employees had glass-encapsulated microchips with miniature antennas embedded in their forearms. The "chipping" of two workers with RFIDs -- radio frequency identification tags as long as two grains of rice, as thick as a toothpick -- was merely a way of restricting access to vaults that held sensitive data and images for police departments, a layer of security beyond key cards and clearance codes, the company said. News that Americans had, for the first time, been injected with electronic identifiers to perform their jobs fired up a debate over the proliferation of ever-more-precise tracking technologies and their ability to erode privacy in the digital age.
CityWatcher.com, a provider of surveillance equipment, attracted little notice itself -- until a year ago, when two of its employees had glass-encapsulated microchips with miniature antennas embedded in their forearms. The "chipping" of two workers with RFIDs -- radio frequency identification tags as long as two grains of rice, as thick as a toothpick -- was merely a way of restricting access to vaults that held sensitive data and images for police departments, a layer of security beyond key cards and clearance codes, the company said. News that Americans had, for the first time, been injected with electronic identifiers to perform their jobs fired up a debate over the proliferation of ever-more-precise tracking technologies and their ability to erode privacy in the digital age.
2 comments:
This is the 'thin edge' of a very dangerous wedge...I also challenge those people who claim that 'privacy is dead anyway' or 'I'm not worried about being tracked and watched' to give a little thought to what they do each and every 24 hrs of every day, and decide how much of that they'd like to have made available to 'nameless & faceless' entities...also, some amount of privacy is what separates 'me' from the masses...(unless you're happy being a sheeple :-) )
Very much in the vein of private thoughts are dangerous. How prophetic! These people that are not afraid of being monitored have so totally missed the point. You have a RIGHT to be safe in your own mind. If you choose not to be, well that's your choice, but you have the right to it. Give it away, and now you don't have the right. Just like free speech. You might not climb up on a soap box, but at least you have the right to do so.
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