Step Right Up for Your Microchip Implant!

Tiny implantable chips have long been available for your pets: The microchips are about the size of a grain of rice, and they are permanently inserted under the skin of your dog or cat. The chip includes a unique ID number that, once read by a veterinarian, can be traced back to you via an online database.

Well you know what I'm about to say had to happen eventually: A similar chip is being proposed for use in humans.

Before you can say "the sign of the beast," lets get some details out of the way. The plan, being lobbied for by the company VeriChip, would replace military dog tags with implanted RFID chips containing information about the soldier's identity and medical history. The plan calls for the chip to be optional and that, of course, they're perfectly safe.

I've no doubt that the chips are medically safe, but I'm deeply worried about how such a system could be abused. In the absence of any other identification, would an RFID implant serve to identify a soldier? RFID data can be faked or cloned relatively easily, and the possibility for someone to masquerade as a legitimate soldier is huge. The implications for the military are especially scary, and that of course is just an obvious first step. Could "chipping" the public follow suit in a few years? I for one am scared silly by the thought of how easy these RFID chips could make identity theft. All a would-be thief would potentially need is an RFID scanner and a convenient bump into you in the street.

The good news is that Congress so far seems pretty unthrilled with the idea, and so far the plan hasn't gotten very far. But the lobbies behind the chip are powerful and have money to burn, so don't expect this idea to go away any time soon. Meanwhile, educate yourself about the technology, write your congressmen, and have your pets spayed and neutered.