I don’t wonder. I know.
Below is an email I just received from my electrical engineer (enginerd) father (and it makes me wonder what they’re working on, shifty eyes):
And you wonder why I want to move to the back woods of Montana.
Love,
Mountain Man Dad
RFID taggin g
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging is the use of very small electronic devices (called ‘RFID tags’) which are applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. The tags can be read from several meters away. They are extremely inexpensive, costing a few cents per piece, so they can be inserted into many types of everyday products without significantly increasing the price, and can be used to track and identify these objects for a variety of purposes.
Many companies are already “tagging” their workers, who are monitored while on the job. Workers in U.K. went on general strike in protest of having themselves tagged. They felt that it was dehumanizing to have all of their movements tracked with RFID chips.[90] Some critics have expressed fears that people will soon be tracked and scanned everywhere they go.[91]
Verichip is an RFID device produced by a company called Applied Digital Solutions (ADS). Verichip is slightly larger than a grain of rice, and is injected under the skin. The injection reportedly feels similar to receiving ashot. The chip is encased in glass, and stores a “VeriChip Subscriber Number” which the scanner uses to access their personal information, via the Internet, from Verichip Inc.’s database, the “Global VeriChip Subscriber Registry”. Thousands of people have already had them inserted.[91] In Mexico, for example, 160 workers at the Attorney General’s office were required to have the chip injected for identity verification andaccess control purposes.[92][93] It may be that soon every object that is purchased, and perhaps ID cards, will have RFID devices in them, which would broadcast information about people as they walk past scanners (what type of phone they have, what type of shoes they have on, which books they are carrying, what credit cards or membership cards they have, etc.). This information could be used for identification, tracking, or targeted marketing.[94]
