Beta Testing The Mark Of The Beast *

A chip on my shoulder

John Diaz

Sunday, August 12, 2007

TECHNOLOGY is not solely to blame for the erosion of privacy in this
nation. Government and businesses have been trying to keep track of you
and your habits since the days of the quill pen.

But the ability to blend vast databases containing personal information
-- and the sophistication of tracking devices that can announce your
presence along with myriad vital statistics when you cross a bridge or
enter a room -- have brought Americans to a crossroads.

Do we shrug and concede that privacy is lost -- "get over it," as one
titan of tech declared so bluntly? Or do we look for ways to draw the
line, to identify means and places where employers and governments
should not dare to tread?

One such place: Our bodies.

Life has begun to imitate art -- as in the futuristic film "Minority
Report" -- with the refinement of toothpick-thick microchips that can be
implanted in your arm and packed with loads of personally identifiable
information that can be beamed to the world.

These radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices -- or "talking bar
codes" -- amount to miniature antennas that transmit the types of
information that might otherwise be held on a swipe card.

Even if you've shrugged through the debates about warrantless
wiretapping and said "what the heck" at the prospect that everything
from your spending habits to your Web site travels are being compiled
and crunched for commercial purposes, you might think twice about
letting your employer insert a microchip under your skin as a condition
of getting a job.

As of today, it is both a technical and a legal possibility.

Just last year, a Cincinnati-based provider of video-surveillance
equipment inserted glass-encapsulated microchips into the arms of two
employees to increase the level of security to the company's datacenter.

Those two workers volunteered, but it's not hard to imagine the
lightbulbs going off in Corporate America. Is Joe really making a sales
call or is he taking in a baseball game at AT&T Park? How many smoke
breaks is Mary taking?

Amazingly, there is no California law against "chipping" workers as a
condition of employment. Even more incredible -- outrageous, really --
is the resistance state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, has encountered
in trying to pass legislation (SB362) that would prevent an employer or
anyone else, including government, from coercing an individual to accept
a microchip implant.

Simitian's bill cleared the Senate on a 25-11 vote, despite continued
apprehensions from the American Electronics Association, which fears
that even this most reasonable checkpoint on RFIDs might somehow
"demonize" the technology. The industry group has remained neutral on SB362.

As with any technology, an RFID implant can be used for good or ill.
RFID chips have become the ticket to access in VIP lounges in certain
trendy clubs from Barcelona, Spain, to Miami Beach. A patron can even
buy a round of drinks without having to even roll up his sleeves, let
alone reach for his wallet. What Simitian is trying to do is ensure that
it is voluntary and subjected to basic privacy safeguards.

Some folks may enjoy the convenience or perhaps the status of having an
embedded microchip that whisks them through lines. But the ease of the
"chipped" is accompanied by a potential for abuse by the "chippers" --
companies or governments that want to keep track of people. The
technology has not yet reached the point where it can pinpoint an
individual's precise location in real time, but that day is coming.

The issue is preservation of choice.

"I may not think my house is going to be robbed when I leave in the
morning, but I lock the door anyway," Simitian said. "I want the option
to lock the door."

While nothing is as intrusive as an implant, some of the same principles
about privacy and potential misuse apply to RFID in other forms.
Simitian is also pushing sensible legislation to restrict the use of
RFIDs in driver's licenses, student cards and other government-issued
badges until better privacy-protection standards can be developed.

One of the concerns with such implants is that the information could be
cloned -- or "spoofed" -- by someone with a receiver and malicious intent.

Microchips have plenty of beneficial purposes in society. They can get
you through the toll plaza without braking, they can help locate your
lost dog, they can speed you through the checkout line with a
"contactless" credit card.

This isn't about "demonizing" a technology. It's about using it
judiciously. The microchip in your arm -- unlike the toll transmitter on
your windshield or the credit card in your wallet -- can't be put away
in a vault or tossed out easily. It's there, radiating your identity and
perhaps much more, for 10-15 years unless you have it removed at great
pain and expense -- assuming your government or employer allows you to
do so.