-------- Original Message --------
Subject: More on the FDA approval of the Verichip RFID
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 09:09:19 -0400
From: Scott Courtney <scott@private>
Organization: Fourth Corner Systems
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private>
If you post this, please remove my email address. I don't mind my name being
attached.
Today's NY Times is running the story about the Verichip RFID implant being
approved by the FDA. What is interesting to me is the wording they've chosen
in the story:
"The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to bring
to public attention a simmering debate over a technology that has evoked
Orwellian overtones for privacy advocates..."
That's pretty strong wording from the Grey Lady.
I personally am creeped out by the *other* places the chips are already
being
used. From the same article:
"VeriChip announced last week that it had signed a distribution
agreement with
a British company, Surge IT Solutions, which it said intended to use the
technology to control access to government facilities."
Want to do contract work for the government? Fine. Here's your chip implant.
And...
"This summer, Rafael Macedo de la Concha, Mexico's attorney general,
announced
that he and scores of his subordinates had received implanted chips that
control access to a secure room and documents considered vital in Mexico's
struggle with drug cartels."
Then there's this reassuring quote, from an advocate for the technology:
"You can have all the benefits of radio identification...but now it is
inside your body."
This is supposed to make me feel *better*? Oh, yeah...I was a little nervous
about RFID when I thought I'd have to carry it in my wallet, but now that
you're going to implant it under my skin, well, I'm all for it. Sure. Right.
The full article is at this URL (free registration required):
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/technology/14implant.html?th
By the way, your e-list is IMO the best resource around for privacy
advocates.
Keep up the great work.
Scott
--
-----------------------+------------------------------------------------------
Scott Courtney | "I don't mind Microsoft making money. I mind them
scott@private | having a bad operating system." -- Linus
Torvalds
http://4th.com/ | ("The Rebel Code," NY Times, 21 February 1999)
| PGP Public Key at http://4th.com/keys/scott.pubkey
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