Implantable Microchips Spark Big Brother Concerns*

 Feb 13th, 2007 8:21 AM

KOTV

Imagine a world where you have microchips implanted under your skin, and
employers track your every move. It sounds like a movie, but it's close
enough to reality that one Oklahoma Senator thinks we need protection
from it. The News on 6's Steve Berg reports the lawmaker has a bill that
would prevent companies from making chips a requirement to work there.

State Senator Brian Crain says he first heard about Radio Frequency
Identification, or RFID, from a worried constituent.

"I'll be honest with you, my first thought was that this is some kind of
conspiracy theory, and I was not interested in it," he said.

But Crain says the more he learned about it, the more interested he
became, and the more concerned. The microchip is tiny, about the size of
a grain of rice, it's inserted under the skin and contains a 16-digit
number that can be read with a scanner. Implantable microchips started
as a way to identify lost animals. Its most common use in people is to
connect to a person's medical information when they're hurt or
unconscious. The chips have also been used to keep track of Alzheimer's
patients or newborn infants. But what caught Crain's eye is on the
website for Verichip, the company that makes the chips, where it markets
the chip as a tool for company security.

"My concern when you look at it is that this can also be expanded into
large corporations who, for security purposes, want to track people who
go through their building, or for employment payroll purposes, want to
track when a person is at their desk and when they are not," said Crain.

So far, Crain says there's been no incidence in the U.S. where a company
has required its workers to have a chip implanted. But he says there
have been examples in other countries, and Crain doesn't think it's too
far-fetched to see where a company here might pressure its workers to
"chip in."

"I think we've got some really good technology here," he said.
"Unfortunately it runs the risk that it could become a big brother
approach."

Senator Crain says if people want to volunteer for this kind of thing,
more power to them. He says he will not try to stand in their way. As of
now, the chips don't have any kind of GPS support, so they can't track
people if there's not a receiver nearby. The receivers have a range
between one and 100-feet, depending on the type of chip

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