Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS

Ever since a Wisconsin company implanted microchips into their employees to do away with company badges, concerns have been rising about how widespread this practice might become in the future – and what threats this practice will pose to American freedom.

USA Today is reporting on the debate which started last month when Three Square Market, a Wisconsin firm that makes cafeteria kiosks, offered to implant a microchip into any willing employee that would enable them to do away with the company badge. Even though some saw the move as a publicity stunt, it kicked off a firestorm of debate about the ethics of implanting chips into employees that could track their every move and perhaps even gather all kinds of sensitive, private information. And what if an employee refused to be chipped? Would they be at risk for losing their jobs?

Although these questions have yet to be answered in a way that is acceptable to the American public, Noelle Chesley, 49, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, says the day is coming with microchipping will be a way of life.

“It will happen to everybody,” Chesley told USA Today. “But not this year, and not in 2018. Maybe not my generation, but certainly that of my kids.”

Gene Munster, an investor and analyst at Loup Ventures, also believes that the invasive practice, which involves implanting a rice-sized chip under the skin, is on its way, but not until the distant future.

“In 10 years, Facebook, Google, Apple and Tesla will not have their employees chipped,” he says. “You’ll see some extreme forward-looking tech people adopting it, but not large companies.”

This is because the idea of being chipped has too “much negative connotation” today, but by 2067 “we will have been desensitized by the social stigma,” he said.

Some of the uses for the technology would be to allow chipped customers to simply wave their hands in lieu of using debit or credit cards, Apple Pay or other mobile payment systems. They might also allow passengers to speed through airport checkpoints without having to provide passports or drivers licenses.

Even though the chips being implanted today are not GPS trackers, future models might include this technology, which is why several states have already moved to prevent any potential infringement on the privacy of American citizens.

Pennsylvania State Representative Tina Davis (D) recently introduced a bill that will protect employees from companies who might want to force them to be chipped.

“My legislation will require that any employer that offers a microchip, or any kind of subdermal device to be implanted for use during the employee’s work, must make it a voluntary decision,” Davis wrote in a July 28 memo to the House of Representatives.

“An employee’s body is their own and they should have the final say as to what will be added to it. My bill will protect employees from being punished or retaliated against for choosing not to have the subdermal microchip or other technological device implanted. As technology advances, we need to make sure we provide employee protections that keep up with these advances and do not allow employers to have control over their employees’ bodies.”

Thus far, California, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have laws prohibiting the mandatory implantation of RFID’s (radio frequency identification technology).

The faithful are also very much against this practice.

Years ago, Father John Echert, S.S.L., answered a question about whether or not microchipping was the “mark of the beast” referred to in the Book of Revelation and here is what he had to say:

“And while I generally exercise caution when it comes to matters that may manifest aspects of the Apocalypse, I will state this definitively: I will not submit to such a procedure or allow such a chip or device to be planted on my person, regardless of the consequences. Such is an invasion of privacy, represents excessive government control upon the individual, and corresponds too closely to a possible fulfillment of the ‘mark of the Beast’ of the Apocalypse.”

He continues: “No doubt the argument will be that we need such chips implanted for security purposes, and to many people this seem reasonable or preferable to stolen identities or violence by unknown perpetrators. But I would prefer take [sic] my chances with the uncertainty of terrorism to the absolute control of a government over us by such devices. None of us can know with absolute certitude whether or not we are approaching the enigmatic warnings of Revelation regarding the rise of the Anti-Christ and the mark of the Beast, but I view a microchip under the skin as sufficient evidence along such lines to refuse it.”

He advises the questioner not to overreact to the idea, but to resolve to live more faithfully to Christ.

“ . . . [A]nd if the day does come that something so terrible is attempted as this chip, I recommend its refusal. God has marked His own and will spiritually protect them.”

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