[Copied to press and investor relations reps for Digital Angel. I invite the company to reply. Background: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02153.html --DBM] --- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 19:13:27 -0700 From: David Alban <extasiaat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Subject: Re: FC: Digital Angel may -- or may not -- soon implant chips in humans Declan, On Sun, 17 Jun 2001 at 03:40:56 Dwayne Gradin <elchapulinat_private> wrote: > http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=23232 > > 'Digital Angel' set to fly tomorrow > Implant technology to be beta tested on humans If I were someone who advocated the use of technology to track and ultimately exercise power over individuals, I would be feeling now like my wildest dreams were about to come true. David --- Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 17:05:18 +1000 From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochraneat_private> Organization: The Age newspaper To: declanat_private Subject: Re: FC: Digital Angel may -- or may not -- soon implant chips in humans Hi Declan This looked interesting, so I looked a little further, as you did no doubt. The "Mark of the Beast" tag is very accurate, given the circumstances. Digital Angel owns patents on implanted transmitter technology following Applied Digital Solutions' $130 million acquisition September 2000 of Destron Fearing, a company that specialises in implanted animal trackers. The CEO is trained vet and patent holder, Dr Randolph K. Geissler. "Prior to joining Digital Angel Corporation, Geissler served as Chief Executive Officer of Destron Fearing, a position he held since November 1993. He also served as Interim Chief Executive Officer during the merger of Destron/IDI and Fearing Manufacturing Co., Inc., a company he owned since 1987. Geissler also was President and Chief Executive Officer of Fearing. Prior to 1987, he held a variety of positions with Fearing, including product manager and director of corporate research and development-ectoparaciticides" http://www.digitalangel.net/about/exec.htm An ectoparaciticide is a drug for external use intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate parasites in or on animals. This is what Geissler said about the merger, March 6, 2000: "Our background, skill set and established track record of success are an excellent fit with Applied Digital's plans for competing in the tracking and monitoring business," Geissler said. - http://www.digitalangel.net/press/pr_2000/pr_03_06_00.htm Parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, chairman and CEO, Richard J. Sullivan went further. "Clearly, Destron Fearing is a highly successful and respected company in the animal monitoring arena," Sullivan said. "The fact that it's a leader in electronic monitoring technologies fits right in with our focus on e-business-to-business solutions. We're particularly excited about the potential for incorporating Destron Fearing and Digital Angel.net's data and technologies into the ASP (Application Service Provider) strategy we announced recently." - http://www.digitalangel.net/press/pr_2000/pr_03_06_00.htm Why would you put the CEO of an implant animal tracking company in charge of an e-commerce division? This is from the background to the acquisition, from a press release at the time, mirrored below: "In December of 1999, Applied Digital Solutions announced that it had acquired the patent rights to a miniature digital transceiver -- which it has named Digital Angel -- implantable within the human body that could be used for a variety of purposes, such as providing a tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-commerce security, locating lost or missing individuals, tracking the location of valuable property and pets, and monitoring the medical conditions of at-risk patients. The implantable device sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) technology." - http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/world/updatedigitalangel.htm Digital Angel chief scientist is Dr Peter Zhou counts among his patents anti-shoplifting tag systems -- "US5146204: Theft detection apparatus and flattened wire target and method of making same" and "US5029291: Electromagnetic sensor element and methods and apparatus for making and using same". His former employer, Knogo, holds 38 patents over similar technologies, all related to tracking things, usually via surreptitious means. There is nowhere on Digital Angel's site where it says it will not introduce similar implants for people. If it will never introduce them, let that be declared to the market. But it appears Destron Fearing was bought specifically for these patents. "Destron Fearing is the pioneer and developer of syringe injectable, miniaturized microchip technology for injection under the skin of animals." - http://www.destronfearing.com/elect/elect.html The images of the Destron Fearing implants look a lot like patent US5963132: Encapsulated implantable transponder, developed by Avid Identification Systems. That's not surprising. In its prior art claims, Avid references Destron/IDI's US5211129: Syringe-implantable identification transponder: "An improved transponder for transmitting an identification of an animal or the like is described which is sufficiently miniaturized to be syringe-implantable, thus avoiding the necessity of surgical procedures." Destron/IDI holds patents: US5166676: Identification system - passive integrated transponder (PIT) is attached to or embedded in an item to be identified US5041826: Identification system - A passive integrated transponder (PIT) is attached to or embedded in an item to be identified. Destron Fearing has gone so far to find a way for the implant to attach itself inside a human host once injected: "The patented BioBond anti-migration cap is a porous polypropylene polymer sheath attached to RFID microchip implants to impede migration of the device within animal tissue. The use of the patented BioBond cap results in increased retention by promoting the development of fibrocytes and collagen fibers around the implant, thus inhibiting movement of the implant within the animal." - http://www.destronfearing.com/elect/elect.html For Dr. Lawrence Webber to say there are no plans for implant trackers in humans in the followup article is not consistent with the company's strategy to acquire intellectual property. You don't pay $130 million for a company for its intellectual property and then not use it. If you want to see someting particuarly scary, check out Destron Fearing's 9 Feb 1998 patent US6095915: Premise identification system. Geissler shares a credit on the patent. "An animal tracing system having a parasitic premise information panel for attachment to the stud of an ear tag for use in determining the history and origins of an animal after the animal has been slaughtered, the premise information panel contains a bar code and a numeric code to reveal an animal's history and origin, the panel having sufficient strength to remain attached to the identification panel in day-to-day wear but of sufficient weakness so that a user can remove the premise information panel from the animal ear tag without removing the ear tag from the animal carcass and, along with a blood sample, store the panel therewith until a later date, at which time the premise identification information can be referred to a blood test reveals that the animal has a disease. The tainted carcass can be quickly identified by cross-referencing the premise information panel to the ear tag remaining on the carcass." http://www.delphion.com/cgi-bin/viewpat.cmd/US06095915__?OUT_FORMAT=pdf&MODE=fstv Other patents: US4885855: Antibacterial attachment US4741117: Animal ear tag US4497321: Ear tag applicators US4209924: Marking tag BTW Digital Angel COO is Mercedes Walton, who was chair of Project Nigel, an online music selling joint venture between AT&T, BMG Entertainment, Matshushita Electric, Inc., and Universal Music Group. Nigel crashed and burned. Can you imagine a tracking system that could tell when you had swapped songs over Napster, then dobbing you in to the local police, complete with your location accurate to within a few meters? http://www.bizreport.com/news/2000/01/20000119-3.htm --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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