Even though a program to begin using implantable ID chips was scrapped by the Food and Drug Administration in 2010, the debate over whether we need to implant a barcode on babies at birth is still going strong.
The New York Daily News (NYDN) is reporting that the idea of barcoding people came back into the limelight last week after the BBC aired an interview with American science fiction author Elizabeth Moon.
‘I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,’ Moon said.
The 67 year-old Moon advocates use of the chips because current surveillance and identification methods are too slow and expensive. If we just placed an implantable barcode on each person at birth, it would solve these problems, she opines.
As outrageous as it sounds, the FDA approved an implantable ID chip called VeriChip in 2002 which could be inserted into a person’s arms. When scanned, pull up a 16 digit ID number that contained all of their vital information. However, the program was scrapped in 2010 due to concerns about privacy and safety.
But that doesn’t mean the idea died. Some scientists and engineers are still working on the idea.
For instance, according to the NYDN, the biotech company MicroCHIPS has developed an implantable chip that will deliver medicine to people without an injection.
Another biotech company, BIOPTid, has a patent on a noninvasive method of identification called the “human barcode” which relies on atomic science to analyze fingerprints and sweatglands within seconds and verify a person’s identity against a worldwide database.
Advocates of electronic verification methods say they can be used by parents and caregivers to keep track of children and/or the elderly. They can also be used to easily access medical information and would make airport screening obsolete.
However, the methods could also be used with ill-intent in a variety of ways, from giving the government access to everyone’s whereabouts to exposing one’s personal information to hackers from every corner of the globe.
“To have a record of everywhere you go and everything you do would be a frightening thing,’ said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, to the NYDN.
“We can have security, we can have convenience, and we can have privacy,” Stanley said. “We can have our cake and eat it too.’
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