Paranoid about RFID?

One of today's topics on the Edmonton network of Facebook is about the "Mark of the Beast" and how Big Brother is going to Microchip all the people in the world. The chip will be placed in the right hand or on the forehead, hence the moniker "Mark of the Beast".

The topic originator is convinced that this will happen in the near future - "just Google it, you'll see!" He is also convinced that we will have no choice in the matter.

So, I did. The one that sounded like it might be a real article can be found here, and it was on the third page of Google. The rest were paranoid, tabloid type hysteria. "This will be published in the AP next week" The original date of that comment was Sep 9th! I haven't heard or read anything in legitimate press about it, nor was there anything in Google.

I Googled RFID (radio frequency identification) as well and there I found several articles that were not from the paranoid. It seems that yes, people are being tagged in certain instances, but with their knowledge and consent. Passports are using RFID, as are books, grocers, pet owners and pretty much any company that has a large inventory they need to keep track of for example the US Defense Department. In fact RFID has been around since WWII when they used it to keep track of planes.

One of the potential uses it can be put to in humans, is to keep medical history. If a patient arrives in the ER unconscious, they can be scanned to find out if they are allergic to medications before having them administered and possibly killing them. Another is to keep track of children, especially those that would be at high risk of kidnapping. Keeping track of parolees and sex offenders, pedophiles and the like. That is where the line starts to blur and where the paranoids get their fuel from. Once a child has become an adult, does the chip die? Does it have to be surgically removed? Will governments remove them? Again, more fuel for the paranoids. I can just hear the paranoids saying "Oh, but my medical chip can be altered to provide them with everything I do, everywhere I go, what I think". With the population as large as it is and the number of other things out there that are tagged, tracking individuals to see what they are up to (are you really so important?) based on a tag that was not intended for that purpose, it just isn't likely to happen.

I can see potential for abuse and yes, it infringes upon my rights - if it becomes a requirement. I am not going to get all up in arms about the government trying to tag me without my knowing it though. Just like I am not going to worry that they can track where I am by the gps locator in my cell phone (well, if I ever get a new cell phone that is).